| Product Summary | | Label: Republic | | UPC: 00602517229679 | | Release Date: 3/13/2007 | | Buy.com Sku: 204135023 | | Item#: M3GWEY | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 24321 | Format:  CD |
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(P) 2006 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
(C) 2006 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
| 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.
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | 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. |
Producer: Mark Ronson; Salaam Remi |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Amy Winehouse - Back to Black - CD By: Aspi - Blogcritics.org Reviews Published on: 3/5/2007 7:55 AM | | What is remarkable about Winehouse is how mature and diverse her vocal talents are. Her voice morphs so much on songs, it feels like a vocal multiple personality disorder. Back to Black is produced by Mark Ronson (Robbie Williams, Christina Aguilera) and Salaam Remi (Fugees, Toni Braxton, Ini Kamoze) who smartly put the focus on Winehouse’s pipes, allowing them to play out her personality....read the full review |
| Amy Winehouse - Back to Black - CD By: Patrick - Blogcritics.org Reviews Published on: 3/6/2007 6:27 PM | | Amy Winehouse is a big in Britain, not quite there yet in the States, singer-songwriter, and Back to Black is her second album. Sonically, it draws on 60's girl group and classic R&B sounds, and without major revamping makes them sound relevant for today. ...read the full review |
| Amy Winehouse - Back To Black - CD By: Sterfish - Blogcritics.org Reviews Published on: 4/12/2007 9:16 AM | | Is it great, a gimmick, or possibly both? Amy Winehouse has gained a lot of critical acclaim for her second album (and first U.S. release) Back To Black. It's features the style of 1960's pop/soul updated ever so slightly for the 2000s. This is certainly a fun album to listen to and in the current music landscape, it feels fresh. However, as I listened to this album, cynicism came creeping in....read the full review |
| Amy Winehouse - Back to Black - CD By: Janine Macdonald - Blogcritics.org Reviews Published on: 5/18/2007 5:07 PM | | Back to Black is Amy Winehouse's second album, and the soul singer gives it her all. The whole album is a highlight and a music lover’s delight in not just the vocals but the chimes, sax, bass drums, piano and harmonies. The talented singer also had a hand in writing her songs and the style of her writing is fresh and refreshingly honest.
...read the full review |
| | Artist Overview | | London singer Amy Winehouse was initially marked as a neo-jazz diva. Although the tag may have been beneficial in terms of press coverage, it was misleading; unlike the inoffensive Katie Melua and Joss Stone, Winehouse had no fear of displaying the seamier side of her life. Her debut album, the aptly titled FRANK, was a solid collection of jazz-inflected pop, but it was the 2006 follow-up, BACK TO BLACK, that really set her apart. Displaying the marked influence of 1960s soul music, girl groups, and Motown, the album also boasted clever, sexually explicit lyrics and punchy pop arrangements, all pulled together by Winehouse's powerful vocals. Her hit "Rehab" became something of a personal theme song, as the singer became a permanent fixture in the tabloids, due to her wild behavior and infamous live shows. |
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| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 03/13/2007 | | Original Release Date : 2006 | | Catalog ID : B000842802 | | Label : Universal Republic | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Runtime : 36m : 4s | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00602517229679 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (p.76)
- 3 stars out of 5 -- "Winehouse is a nervy, witty songstress whom indie rockers, pop fans and hip-hoppers can dig."Rolling Stone (p.115)
- Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "[W]ith a brassy, intensely personal sorrow that is true blues, not nouveau soul." Entertainment Weekly (p.67)
- "It's precisely Winehouse's lyrics...aching, flirty, and often straight-up nasty -- that raise this expertly crafted set into the realm of true, of-the-minute originality." -- Grade: A- Q (Magazine)
(p.134)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "Winehouse is one of the best things to have happened to British pop recently." Rolling Stone 6 of 10
"Rehab," the must-hear song that opens the second album from British soul singer Amy Winehouse, is a Motown-style winner with a banging beat and a lovesick bad girl testifying like Etta James about how she won't clean up her act. It's followed by the excellently funky "You Know I'm No Good" and "Me & Mr. Jones (Fuckery)," the latter of which begins, "What kind of fuckery is this?/You made me miss the Slick Rick gig." Winehouse is a nervy, witty songstress whom indie rockers, pop fans and hip-hoppers can dig. On Black, she gets help from producers Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, who turn classic soul sounds into something big, bright and punchy. The tunes don't always hold up. But the best ones are impossible to dislike: Witness "Addicted," a wistful gem in which Winehouse chooses weed over a lover. - Christian Hoard
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