Amy Winehouse - Back to Black: Album Review
Amy Winehouse, Back to Black (Island, 2007)
Amy Winehouse is the broad from "You Know I'm No Good," one of the better songs on Ghostface's new More Fish. Her album Back to Black was released in the UK last year and is set to be released here this March.
REHAB
A song about how she doesn't want to be sent to rehab. Because quitting is for losers. It's got a nice sort of dancehall meets loung music feel not unlike some of the stuff Lily Allen has done, but with a lot more grit.
YOU KNOW I'M NO GOOD
The Ghostface song, but without Ghostface. It still knocks though. You can see why Ghost would want to rap over it, assuming it was his idea. Also, how come all pop songs don't have adlibs?
ME AND MR. JONES (FUCKERY)
Is this song's title a play on the Counting Crows classic? Probably not. Props though on using the term fuckery both in the song's title and in the song itself. I had to do a double take the first time I heard it.
JUST FRIENDS
Another of this album's more reggae-ish numbers. I wish there was more going on in the backing track, but I'm a cultural chauvinist like that.
BACK TO BLACK
This tracks bouncy pianos call to mind that one build me up buttercup song, which is probably no coincidence, since didn't Mark Ronson produce that buttercup track on the Rhymefest album? Otherwise though, there isn't anything particularly sunny about this.
LOVE IS A LOSING GAME
Not unlike that one Alicia Keys song where she sounds like a guy when she talks to Mos Def on the phone, this incorporates some choice elements from some long lost soul record. I especially like the drum bit at the very beginning.
TEARS DRY ON THEIR OWN
A rather obvious flip of that one "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" song, right? Or something that sounds more or less like it. Some brilliant singing though, especially the he walks away part. Some more nice casual swearing as well.
WAKE UP ALONE
The album's emotional centerpiece. Sounds like Amy's got some issues.
SOME UNHOLY WAR
Doesn't sound particularly different than several other tracks on here. Hence its placement in the middle of side two, we can presume. And what's this supposed to be about, anway?
HE CAN ONLY HOLD HER
Another one of the more sample-heavy, hip-hop-ish numbers. I especially like the horns, though I'm not as sold on the actual song itself.
ADDICTED
A humorous lesson in weed smokers etiquette. Way to end the album on a lighter note.
COMMENTS: You guys know I don't fuck around with a lot of R&B music, but I found myself enjoying this quite a bit. Most (maybe all) of this is steeped in sampling, and so naturally some tracks work better than others. In particular, I enjoyed some of the poppier numbers more so than the tortured woe-is-the-Jew-broad slower numbers. The singing is pretty damn good throughout though.
BEST TRACKS: "Rehab" "You Know I'm No Good" "Tears Dry on Their Own"
BONUS VIDEO: "You Know I'm No Good"
