Birds is the third solo album by New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 artist Bic Runga

Bic Runga

Briolette Kah Bic Runga MNZM is a New Zealand pop recording artist whose first solo album, Drive, debuted at number one on the New Zealand RIANZ charts. She has since become one of the highest-selling New Zealand artists in recent history...

, released in
New Zealand and Ireland on 28 November 2005. The "Limited Australian Tour Edition" was released in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 on 4 March 2006. Release is the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 is expected to be on 15 May.

Birds was the New Zealand Herald's 2005 album of the year, and was Bic's third #1 album chart entry in New Zealand, garnering platinum status in its first week. It went to double platinum by the end of its second week, and has been certified triple platinum thus far.

RIANZ ranked Birds as 20th in the New Zealand Top 50 Albums of 2005

New Zealand Top 50 Albums of 2005

This is the list of the Top 50 albums of 2005 in New Zealand.-Chart:...

 even though it has only charted for five weeks—from its release until the end of the year.

Birds entered the Australian charts

ARIA Charts

The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

 at position 26 on the week ending 13 March 2006. It peaked at #20 in the Irish and Dutch Charts respectively.

The album was mixed in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 with the help of Simon Gogerly.

Track listing

1. "Winning Arrow
   Winning Arrow
   "Winning Arrow", Bic Runga's first single from her third studio album, Birds, was released in two formats. The CD single features the music video of the title track, whereas the 10" vinyl version contains two additional tracks from the album....
   
   " – 2:53
2. "Say After Me" – 4:36
3. "Listen" – 3:32
4. "Birds" – 3:46
5. "Ruby Nights" – 4:23
6. "No Crying No More" – 2:03
7. "If I Had You" – 4:48
8. "Captured" – 6:03
9. "That's Alright" – 3:22
10. "Blue Blue Heart" – 3:32
11. "It's Over" – 5:38

Limited Australian Tour Edition

The Australian release included a second disc of live material recorded at the Civic Theatre

Civic Theatre

Civic Theatre may refer to one of the following theatres:*Auckland Civic Theatre, Queen St, Auckland, New Zealand*Bedford Civic Theatre, Bedford, England*Newcastle Civic Theatre, Wheeler Place, Newcastle, Australia*Civic Theatre, Doncaster, England...

 in November 2005. The disc incorrectly identifies the recording date as November 2006 — eight months after the release of this edition.

1. "Birds" – 4:30
2. "Blue Blue Heart" – 3:48
3. "Ruby Nights" – 4:42
4. "Listen" – 3:38
5. "The Be All And End All" – 3:51

International version

Features an alternate tracklisting.

1. "Captured" – 6:03
2. "Birds" (with birds intro) – 3:58
3. "No Crying No More" – 2:03
4. "Winning Arrow
   Winning Arrow
   "Winning Arrow", Bic Runga's first single from her third studio album, Birds, was released in two formats. The CD single features the music video of the title track, whereas the 10" vinyl version contains two additional tracks from the album....
   
   " – 2:53
5. "If I Had You" – 4:48
6. "Say After Me" – 4:36
7. "Listen" – 3:32
8. "That's Alright" – 3:22
9. "Blue Blue Heart" – 3:32
10. "Ruby Nights" – 4:23
11. "It's Over" – 5:38
12. "Somewhere in the Night" – 4:06

Special Edition

Released in NZ with 2 bonus tracks (Somewhere in the Night and Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart

Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart

"Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" is a popular song written by Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook.Originally recorded by David and Jonathan, and then Gene Pitney in 1967, the song reached #5 on the UK singles chart but failed to chart in the USA...

 (Birds Version)) plus a DVD featuring 5 live performances and 2 music videos.

DVD:

1. "Birds"
2. "Blue Blue Heart"
3. "Ruby Nights"
4. "No Crying No More"
5. "Captured"
6. "Winning Arrow" (music video)
7. "Say After Me" (music video)

Performers

• Bic Runga – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  s
• Tim Arnold – guitar
• Ben "Boxcar" Maitland – vocals, guitars, harmonica
  Harmonica
  The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
  
  
• Shayne Carter
  Shayne Carter
  Shayne Carter is best-known for being the Straitjacket Fits' principal singer/songwriting/guitarist in the late 80s/early 90s, and later on a founding member of Dimmer.Carter comes from a musical family...
  
   – backing vocals
  Backing vocalist
  A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
  
  
• Anna Coddington – backing vocals
• Neil Finn
  Neil Finn
  Neil Mullane Finn, OBE is a New Zealand Pop recording artist. Along with his brother Tim Finn, he was the co-frontman for Split Enz and is now frontman for Crowded House...
  
   – vocals, guitars, piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , psalterian
  Psaltery
  A psaltery is a stringed musical instrument of the harp or the zither family. The psaltery of Ancient Greece dates from at least 2800 BC, when it was a harp-like instrument...
  
  , vibraphone
  Vibraphone
  The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
  
  
• Rikki Gooch – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  
• Rebecca Harris – harp
  Harp
  The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
  
  
• Anika Moa
  Anika Moa
  Anika Rose Moa is a New Zealand pop recording artist. In 2001 she signed to Atlantic Records in the United States and released her debut album, Thinking Room, the album reached the top of the New Zealand Singles Chart and was a commercial success.Moa was raised in Christchurch, New Zealand...
  
   – backing vocals
• Joanna Satomi Schulz – French horn
• Conrad Standish – vocals, bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  

Strings

• Miranda Adams
• Mark Bennett
• Christine Bowie
• Artur Grabczewski
• Greg McGarity
• William Hanfling
• Claudia Price
• Katherine Uren

Additional

• Paul Crowther – drum tech
• Neil Finn – string arrangements
• Paul Jeffery – studio monitors
• Tom Rainey – string arrangements
• Marc Taddei – conductor
  Conducting
  Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
  
  
• John Walsh – guitar tech

External links

• Bic Runga's official website
• New Zealand Herald's album of the year