Amy Winehouse

Back to Black

November 15, 2007

By Mr. Marlowe

*** 1/2 / ****

Released 2007

Her voice is throwback to a time when singers could actually sing. Her antics away from the mic, thoroughly modern with airport drug busts, fits and tantrums, and all manner of public controversy. Together, the voice and persona combine to form an electric musical artist as interesting as she is talented. This is Amy Winehouse, the British bad girl with the golden pipes whose Back to Black is an old school revelation yet a thoroughly modern and entertaining affair from the first song to the last.

Back to Black is the lounge style album of the year. Lizards and wannabes everywhere will leap in praise of Winehouse’s effective channeling of many R&B legends of the distant past. But rather than merely mimic the classics, Winehouse takes the neo-soul style and makes it a thoroughly modern affair. How does she do it? With smooth soul music, a tip of her hat to the past, and most importantly tortured soul lyrics and a voice that inflects the true depth of her feelings, desires, and emotions, this is the stuff of conviction and talent without the feeling of manipulation or insincerity. Like a cup of black coffee after a night of heavy boozing, Winehouse is a straight up dose of sincere reality in the otherwise hazy atmosphere of pop music.

The best songs on the album are the ones with the most bite. Me and Mr. Jones finds Winehouse standing her ground against a former lover with sing-song female backing reminiscent of the girl groups of the 1950s. “What kind of fuckery is this?” she laments as she quickly escalates the fight, “nowadays you don’t mean dick to me.” You may not be able to imagine Billie Holiday crooning these particular words, but Winehouse’s intention matches the biting of Holiday at her best, albeit with modern phrasing. This is a diva to be reckoned with.

Other standout tracks include You Know I’m No Good, an ode to the bad girl any lady worth her salt dreams of being if only for one night, Back to Black, the haunting tale of a woman contemplating going back to the man she loves even though she knows she shouldn’t and never can, and Rehab, Winehouse’s personal decision to dictate life on her own terms rather than succumb to the pressures of the business. It’s definitely heavier and less “ladylike” than decades old classics of the genre, but that’s also what makes it modern, sexy, and thoroughly engaging.

If there is a negative to Back in Black it is a criticism that can be thrown at many soul records: the album lulls. No particular fault of Winehouse or the album’s producers, it’s just that the smoothness of the genre can often rub away all rough edges leaving a body of songs that are sharp but don’t quite cut the way they possibly could. This is especially apparent the last half of the ten-song cycle where you can almost imagine the band and Winehouse, herself, taking it easy as the chatter at the tables of the Copacabana begins to rise in volume. No matter, Back in Black is a great album and one that proves chasing trends isn’t necessary for achieving mainstream success, especially when the artist has the talent to do her own thing and do it well.

Best Songs: You Know I’m No Good, Me and Mr. Jones, Back to Black, Rehab