Back To Black (2006)

Artist: Amy Winehouse
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Disc 1
Song TitleAlbumSampleTime
5. Back To BlackBack To Black4:00

(P) 2006 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
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Release Date: 3/13/2007
UPC: 00602517229679
Buy.com Sku: 204217246

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

 
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.

Artist Influences
Billie Holiday
Billy Paul
Carole King
D'Angelo (R&B)
Dusty Springfield
Erykah Badu
Etta James
Ike & Tina Turner
Mary J. Blige
Minnie Riperton
Neneh Cherry
Nina Simone
Ronnie Spector
The Shangri-Las
The Supremes

Artist Contemporaries
Babyshambles
Corinne Bailey Rae
Jill Scott
John Legend
Joss Stone
Kate Nash
Katie Melua
Keren Ann
Lily Allen
Macy Gray
Madeleine Peyroux
Nellie McKay
Norah Jones
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
The Pipettes
 

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

 
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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