Customer Reviews

Back to Black (Dlx)

5 star:		(469)
4 star:		(122)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Addiction to alcohol, marijuana, sex - just about anything you can get hooked on, Amy has been there, written a song about it, and is now looking for something else to feed her dependency.

Well, it makes for an interesting record.

As a songwriter Amy has grown and stretched her self, vocally she is in a new league breaking loose with Aretha-style vocal stylings on "Just Friends" or going gospel on the opening single "Rehab".

"Love Is A Losing Game" is pure classic modern songwriting: brief, to the point and drenched in emotion. Other highlights include the Nas inspired "Me and Mr Jones", the beautiful "Wake Up Alone" and "I'm No Good" - the personal epiphany that you can behave just as badly as all those guys that have messed you around and stamped all over you..

After a strident opening with (refusing to go to) "Rehab", she works through a patchwork of vices and denials and just about every genre going in a self-dramatising sweep of trauma and Tanqueray.

Swept along in the tide of her addictions, over waves of Aretha Franklin influences, her cigarette-tinged voice croons, twists and occasionally screeches to a complement of guitars, trumpets, even the odd flugelhorn.

You name it, she's not afraid to use it.

Experimental and confident, she flirts variously with R&B, soul and hip hop before returning to her home key: JAZZ.

Just a short note to say that the mastering on this version is much better than the standard edition. The dynamics are much better, and is not mastered as loud as the standard edition. Plus, the bonus disk of covers is outstanding! Very nice book with lyrics also.

Listening to her voice, you continually have to carry out the aural equivalent of rubbing your eyes to remind yourself that it's not a seasoned black session singer in a jazz club- but a skinny 23-year-old Jewish girl from Camden, UK. Almost impossible to categorise, as she once boasted, endearingly: "I'm at least a five trick pony".

Any album that features the lines "What kind of f***ery is this?/ You made me miss the Slick Rick gig" demands closer investigation. Of course, 23-year-old Londoner Amy Winehouse demonstrated her aptitude for a tart couplet on her debut album three years ago, but this time the music, too, packs a similar punch, and the upshot is a 21st-century soul classic.

Starting with the pungent single "Rehab", everything is in its right place: the exuberant neo-Motown swing supplied by producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi; the rich, sinewy vocals, somewhere between Lauryn Hill, Beth Gibbons and Etta James; and the thoroughly modern songwriting, in which infidelity is betrayed by a telltale carpet burn ("You Know I'm No Good") and a lover is less desirable than a good supply of weed ("Addicted").

On the latter song she triumphantly declares: "I'm my own man."

Only a fool would argue.

This girl is seemingly channeling a retro soulful singer through these modern times. The combination is undeniably penetrating. The whole album is impressive. I watched Winehouse sing on Youtube with just a microphone and herself, it seems to come pouring out of her effortlessly. Winehouse sounds like no one else, yet sounds so familiar. Her voice is deep, rich and confident. She has a natural edge and fills her lyrics with unabated self confessions. I had bought her previous album (Frank) and wasn't sure if it was going to be as stylized as this one, but it was! If you saw her video on t.v. and you liked it, you won't be disappointed, there will be many more powerful songs of hers that you like. I highly recommend this album and her earlier work as well. She is an all around super talented songwriter and singer.

I remember getting this CD as an import way before she was flickering as being something on the brake in the U.S. -- I was pleased with her first CD, but not blown away. This is a revelation. This is the kind of album that grabs you from the moment you hear it.

What is has working for it is Amy Winehouse, stomping all over her material in a smokey Billie Holiday tinge of a voice that's been kissed by Ronnie Spector. She has the sort of voice that goes beyond that utterly dumb label of "Blue Eyed Soul." A heavily teased bouffant wigged, Jewish girl from overseas with a severe dependence on self-medicating herself and being utterly honest about it in interviews has crafted a work that is jaw droppingly good.

From the breaking hand claps of "Rehab," the stunning wall to wall sound of "Me and Mr. Jones," to the perfect Shangri Las-esque "Tears Dry on Their Own," Winehouse has crafed a disc with not a single fault. It's the disc Aguilera was going for but didn't have the emotive voice to pull off. Aguilera can sing but her voice has an empty quality, her overtly dramatic take on Brown's "It's A Man's World" at the Grammys is evidence enough.

Even though it is truly early in the year, I say without a doubt we are looking at a nom for Winehouse as best New Artist/Album of the Year at the Grammys. Is this the best soul album out there? No. But with just one disc (in release in the U.S.), she joins the early works of Millie Jackson, Mary J. Blige, and Mary Wells (an underrated solo debut).

Disc: 1
1. Rehab
2. You Know I'm No Good
3. Me & Mr Jones
4. Just Friends
5. Back To Black
6. Love Is A Losing Game
7. Tears Dry On Their Own
8. Wake Up Alone
9. Some Unholy War
10. He Can Only Hold Her
See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2
1. Valerie
2. Cupid (Deluxe Edition Version)
3. Monkey Man
4. To Know Him Is To Love Him (NapsterLive Session)
5. Hey Little Rich Girl
6. You're Wondering Now
7. Some Unholy War
8. Love Is A Losing Game (Original Demo)

Amy Winehouse's sophomore release "Back To Black" has received an incredible amount of critical praise and most of it is quite deserved. Her voice, songwritting, production harkons back to the days of a strange in theory but complementary combination of raw emotion and a Motown production. There are some touches of reggae and ska, but at the end of the day it's all about Winehouse's delivery, which some have described as Shirley Bassey meets Billie Holliday. Quite a lot to live up to, and, as is the case with many good releases, the critics go overboard with praise to then knock essentially the same artist to the ground.

In my view Amy certainly sounds like a singer from another generation and if you are looking for a pristine perfect pitch voice, she may not be up your alley. Maybe she will is you like a little more than the great pipes of say Christina Aguilera. While I like some of Christina's work, the perfect pitch always benefits when she digs deeper than just hitting notes. Amy sings in a smoky confessional style that leaves her with very little to hide behind. The genius here is that the production manages to sound very, very old school but not in a strictly mimicky fashion, but more as a point of departure.

It took me 3 good listens to really fall for this release, which I would give 5 stars to if the US version had (for whatever reason) not included the amazing "Addicted" (which closes the UK version) and stuck us with a ridiculous 2 rate remix of the already single worthy "You Know I am No Good." Said song does nothing but add unispired male rap that feels like a crude attempt to include somthing not to lose the "kids." Good music is good music and some of the very best stuff out there does not rely on tired formulas of grabbing any artist (whether a classic like Patty Labelle or someone like Mariah Carey) and trying to "ghetto" a release for wider mass appeal. Rap has a place in music and should not be cut and pasted into new or older artists in order to sound contemporary.

So listen to songs 1- 10, skip 11, and if we are lucky we'll get to hear "Addicted" somewhere down the line. I am amazed that this release is doing as well as it is and it just may be that people want to hear something different priced within reach. Some have taken issue with Amy's first single "Rehab" as it seems to make light of a serious alcohol/drug problem that Amy may have. She fired her previous handler who had a role in trying to get her alcohol/drug free and the song could be interpreted as saying that her emotional emancipation came from refusing to be "controlled." I obviously cannot opine on this matter, but that is why in part this release may have a parental guidance sticker on it. I generally don't like any third party to get in the way of the things that I may enjoy, but here I mention it only as this is def. an adult release talking about adult matters.

Enjoy the release for its own merits and let's not put it on a pedesal of perfection as it simply is a great release from a singer who got it right. Thanks to all the great people who give valuable input and to those who have writen. This forum can be quite amazing when used for more than fans giving 0 or 5 stars without letting us know why they thought that it was so good or worse than death.