Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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90 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
RETRO SOUL, March 13, 2007
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.
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148 of 161 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Motown's jazz stylings., March 13, 2007
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.
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65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jazz meets Soul in the land of bliss. Her reputation is already assured., March 13, 2007
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.
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