Amy Winehouse Back To Black

Amy Winehouse has a voice that can only be described as sultry. Her voice is reminiscent of Billie Holiday, Lauryn Hall and Ella Fitzgerald. Back to Black is Amy's sophomore album following her successful first album, Frank. Amy Winehouse has got one of the best R&B voices around.

The lyrics on this album are based on Amy Winehouse's life experiences. The album starts off with the catchy song, Rehab. I guess this is Amy's response to her former record labels attempt to get her to enter rehab. Anyway, the lyrics and rhythm of this song is infectious. You'll be singing this tune in your head for hours.

There are two versions of this album available, one with explicit lyrics and the second version is cleaned up for those of you that are uncomfortable with explicit language.

If you want to catch a rising star, then you should hurry up and buy this album. Amy Winehouse is destined to be one of the great contemporary R&B singers. So long as she doesn't burn herself out. I highly recommend this album for anyone that enjoys great female R&B music!

Personnel: Amy Winehouse (background vocals); Binky Griptite, Thomas Brenneck (guitar); Helen Tunstall (harp); Perry Montague-Mason, Chris Tombling, Tom Pigott-Smith, Warren Zielinski, Boguslaw Kostecki, Liz Edwards, Mark Berrow, Peter Hanson, Everton Nelson, Jonathan Rees (violin); Jon Thorne, Katie Wilkinson, Rachel Bolt, Bruce White (viola); John Heley, Joely Koos, Anthony Pleeth (cello); ANDY MACKINTOSH, Chris Davies (alto saxophone); Jamie Talbot, Mike Smith, Neal Sugarman (tenor saxophone); Ian Hendrickson-Smith, Vincent Henry, Dave Bishop (baritone saxophone); Steve Sidwell, Dave Guy (trumpet); Bruce Purse (bass trumpet); Richard Edwards (tenor trombone); John Adams (Fender Rhodes piano); Salaam Remi, Nick Movshon (bass guitar); Troy Auxilly-Wilson, Homer Steinweiss (drums); Vaughan Merrick, Mark Ronson, Victor Axelrod (hand claps); Frank Ricotti (percussion).
It doesn't take much listening to Amy Winehouse's 1960s pop period piece to realize that this is a tribute with an edge--nice girls back then didn't sing about boozing and rehab. Since her 2003 debut album, FRANK, Winehouse has been a frequent presence on the gossip pages of the U.K. tabloids, and her songwriting here candidly reflects her experiences with drinking, sex, and drugs.
BACK TO BLACK's production is an artful blend of sophisticated '60s R&B and 21st-century stylistic poaching, with "Tears Dry on Their Own" incorporating elements of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," and Winehouse sounding like Billie Holiday fronting a reggae band on the old-fashioned cheating song "Just Friends." Densely packed with musical history and often conjuring a dark, Portishead-esque atmosphere, BACK TO BLACK is a sumptuous-sounding collection freighted with blunt confessionals of a lush life.