Back to Black

Amy Winehouse | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 13, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Republic
• ASIN: B000N2G3RY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (624 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #7 in Music > R&B > Contemporary R&B
  • #14 in Music > R&B > Soul > General AAS
  • #31 in Music > Rock

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk

Amy Winehouse's second album, Back to Black, is one of the finest soul albums, British or otherwise, to come out for years. Frank, her first album, was a sparse and stripped-down affair; Back to Black, meanwhile, is neither of these things. This time around, she's taken her inspiration from some of the classic 1960's girl groups like the Supremes and the Shangri-Las, a sound particularly suited to her textured vocal delivery, while adding a contemporary songwriting sensibility. With the help of producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, "Rehab" becomes a gospel-tinged stomp, while the title track (and album highlight) is a heartbreaking musical tribute to Phil Spector, with it's echoey bass drum, rhythmic piano, chimes, saxophone and close harmonies. Best of all, though, is the fact that Back to Black bucks the current trend in R&B by being unabashedly grown-up in both style and content. Winehouse's lyrics deal with relationships from a grown-up perspective, and are honest, direct and, often, complicated: on "You Know I'm No Good", she's unapologetic about her unfaithfulness. But she can also be witty, as on "Me & Mrs Jones" when she berates a boyfriend with "You made me miss the Slick Rick gig". Back to Black is a refreshingly mature soul album, the best of its kind for years. --Ted Kord

Product Description

Hailed by Newsweek Magazine as a cross between Billie Holiday and Lauryn Hill, British soul singer Amy Winehouse's U.S. debut, Back To Black hits the US amid a flurry of accolades, radio and TV buzz unprecedented in recent years for a young siren.

Her brassy mix of emotive vocals tinged with 60's girl-group stylings, sly funk, and anguished jazz, sparked the New York Daily News to crown Back To Black a "marvelous debut that would do Etta James proud" while New Yorker Magazine called her "a fierce English performer whose voice combines the smoky depths of a jazz chanteuse with the heated passion of a soul singer," and Spin Magazine affirming "there's never been A British star quite like her."

Back To Black smolders with a bristling fusion of old school doo-wop/soul inflected uprisings, (the charismatic singer/songwriter wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album) brewing instant classics such as the Shirley Ellis influenced "Rehab," the Supremes tinged title song "Back To Black," the aching "Wake Up Alone," and the album's closer, "Addicted."

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

128 of 131 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RETRO SOUL, March 13, 2007

By 

Amskeating - See all my reviews

This review is from: Back to Black (Audio CD)

In U.K. Amy Winehouse has been a tabloid regular recently with tales of anoxeria, addiction, and drunken TV appearances, but she really should let her music speak for itself . . . especially when it's as good as this.

Her debut, "Frank", was sometimes stodgy and definitely over praised, but no praise is too high for this unashamedly retro, but beautifully observed and realised take on classic girl group pop and Motown soul.

The 11 songs all sound like great lost classics from the 60s, snappily written with a mix of bitterly caustic lyrics and finger popping tunes, then delivered in a voice that alternates sexy smouldering with dismissive contempt.

She started last year amid criticism from all corners over her dramatic weight loss and ended it heralded as the new queen of UK cool; with hair messier than a sleepover with Pete Doherty, a mouth like a drunken fish wife and an album swelling with the kind of lump-in-throat emotional soul last heard sometime in the late 70s, somewhere in Detroit

Hence it was somewhat of a surprise when it reared its sultry head again in 2006. With near genius production from hip pop mainstay Mark Ronson (who also had a finger in the tasty pie that was Lily Allen's debut), stomping, romping punk-rock-jazz was the order of the day as Ms Winehouse showed everyone what being a real lady is all about.

152 of 165 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Motown's jazz stylings., March 13, 2007

By 

Adarsh Amin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Back to Black (Audio CD)

The sassy 23 year old Londoner delivers the goods with swagger and panache. 2003s single "Stronger Than Me" and album "Frank" weren't exactly great sellers, despite being hits with the critics. This time it's a totally different situation, because she's appealed to fans and critics alike. Winehouse has a new-found confidence, having slimmed down four dress sizes with more aggressive make-up; she's turning into the UK's most promising talent in years.

" Back To Black" is a masterstroke of contemporary Jazz-crossover material, all delivered with supreme style. Her razor-sharp singing is a major highlight, however, this album is all about truly brilliant songs, all written by Winehouse herself, with some collaborations.

Using Robbie Williams' and lily Allen's studio wizard Mark Ronson, Amy is going into a totally different stratosphere with this one, leaving Katie Melua and Norah Jones in her wake.

Amy said, "I didn't want to play that jazz thing up too much again. I was bored of complicated chord structures and needed something more direct". That said, Jazz is very much a prime element, though this time.

Jam-packed with superb songs and impressive production, she's breaking new ground, though the past plays a big part. Delving, in places, into Tamla Motown and The Specials' musical ideas ("You Know I'm No Good"), she's proved to be a top class songwriter.

"Rehab" is an out and out classic, with many shades of Motown with modern twists. "Me And Mr.Jones" is textbook 60s swing, which other singers like Christina Aguilera are adopting. There's no question where the title track came from - right out of the Motown school of classic pop - you could just see the Funk Brothers doing their inimitable thing on this - brilliant.

The stunning Soul ballad "Loving Is A Losing Game" could again be a Motown classic, taking Diana Ross head on, possibly her finest moment, as is the sprightly "Tears Dry On Their Own" : a (slight) remix could well be the next single - and another hit for sure. The triumvirate run-in has ballads using R'n'B beats, and yes, even more Motown stylings on the addictively punchy "Addicted".

For one so young, "Back To Back" is truly remarkable, invigorating, and genuinely sensational. She's not only a diva, but a phenomenal talent, with her best years to come.

58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excruciatingly honest , sexy and smouldering., March 22, 2007

By 

peterhoof (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Back to Black (Audio CD)

As for her voice: where does it come from, this extraordinary sound?
The music poures out of her, a stream of weathered, seasoned phrases, seemingly without effort, and mercifully without any of the ululating and over-emoting that blights so many performances in the soul-jazz field in which Winehouse operates.
For her, what matters is the quality of the notes, not the quantity.

Amy Winehouse is, of course, almost as famous for her behaviour as for her music; tabloid newspapers in recent months have been peppered with the striking visage of this north London Jewish girl, accompanying lurid reports of her latest night on the razz. But here, on this fantastic set, she'd done so in moderation, because she seemed focused and together.
"Back to Black", is a more soulful and stripped-down collection than her jazzier debut, "Frank". The influence of girl groups from the 1950s and early '60s is plain: plinky keyboards, parpy brass, trebly guitar.

Some excellent background vocals provide weight and depth, while she and her band do a brilliant job of recreating the big soulful sound conjured up in the studio by producer Mark Ronson.
In songs such as "Me & Mr Jones", "Back to Black", "Love is a Losing Game" and "Rehab", we may hear the sound of Phil Spector, of Muscle Shoals, of the Shirelles and the Supremes.

But this is no mere retro soul show: these are not pastiches, but real emotional journeys from a woman with real emotional experiences.
She is a standout talent with a nice line in bitchy put-downs and a wondrous voice reminiscent of Dinah Washington.
Even so, her second album has surpassed all expectations.
This is the best British soul album in absolutely ages, a complete package of lovingly recreated Motown/60s girl group sounds, caustic, often excruciatingly honest lyrics, great finger popping tunes and a voice that does sexy and smouldering and dismissive contempt with equal alacrity.