Back To Black

I bought this on vinyl and it is a great addition to my collection. It's on regular grade vinyl , where as most of my newer vinyl is on 180 gram vinyl or higher, but it sounds as if it is pressed on 180 gram vinyl. The sound of the album is indeed very haunting, in a great way. I noticed that the tracks that Mark Ronson produced sound the best on this album. But they are all great to listen to and it's very sad she became a member of the "27 club". Mark Ronson produced tracks 1,2,5,6,8 and 10. He really knows how to make a song sound great. Most people are more familiar with his DJ sister Samantha Ronson, Lindsey Lohan's ex-girlfriend. I think that he is however the star in the family. Mark has produced many artist throughout his career. He has worked with the likes of Jack White, Lily Allen and one of my all time favorites, Macy Gray. Amy Winehouse is no exception as a favorite either. He also DJ's and has a band called Mark Ronson & The Business Int. His band is worth a listen, as I really like a lot of their music. Not sure if they are still together, but still worth a listen. If you are a collector of vinyl or have a turntable, buy this on vinyl, even if you have the CD or iTunes version, you will not be disappointed. I bought this mostly because it was on sale. I do not know if the deluxe version is available or not, I did not look as I own that version on CD anyway, but the album sounds much better than the digital CD version. I guess everything old becomes new again and I am delighted to see the return and repressing of a lot of the old vinyl album I wish I still had. I think this particular album sound so great because it is the original pressing of the album. A lot of the older, remastered, re-pressings do not sound very well, even the 180 gram versions. A lot depends on the question if and by whom it was remastered. Pete Townshend did a great job with remastering Quadrophenia. A lot of people ask me, "Why spend so much on outdated material, everything is digital now?" One , it sound incredible with the right equipment, and two, it is the format I grew up on. I love albums, there is so much more to look at than a jewel box. I also like SACD's as well, but they are real pricey and hard to find the artist you might like. I own about thirty of these, some where more of a compromise of price and artist, but if you are an audiophile, you can tell a big difference between a regular mp3 and a 24 bit 160 kHz music stream. My DAC is the most important piece of gear I own. Luckily my Blu-ray player plays High Definition SACD's or I would have bought a different one a long time ago. I do think that the audiophile grade pressings, 180 grams and higher, are much better sounding on my system, but they are more expensive than the regular re-pressings. Usually an original, if it has been taken care of sounds the best but there are some exceptions and this one is a great example. I also have to say how much I love Amazons new way of packing albums, much better than the past. Great job on the new packaging technique.

I love music and have a very diverse collection of styles and artists in my cd collection including a lot of artists popular in the UK not known here yet. For some reason I never discovered Amy Winehouse with her superb first release FRANK. Had I, I would have been a huge fan from the beginning. Instead, the same as many, I was introduced to her through the single REHAB which sadly came hand in hand with her strong addiction problems. The paparazzi had a field day with her. And the joke was she was singing about rehab when it seemed she so obviously needed it. Even with her Grammy wins I didn't purchase this album. Regretfully, it took her very sad and untimely death with talk of her unique musical talents and gifts that I bought both FRANK and BACK TO BLACK. I have truly fallen in love with Amy. She indeed was a truly gifted artist. BACK TO BLACK is honestly one of the best albums I have ever heard. She wrote every track and by listening to this cd you can put all the gossip and drama aside and listen to Amy as an artist. It is very important to remember she wrote the lyrics to all these songs and it is obvious the poor woman wore her heart and soul on her sleeve. But for the listener it provided a great gift. The cd is a winner from beginning to end and speaks of love and relationships and all that comes with it. Her style combines retro soul with r&b and jazz with a hint of classic pop. It is a style new, unique and truly inspired. The songs BACK TO BLACK, LOVE IS A LOSING GAME and TEARS DRY ON THEIR OWN are instant classics. ME AND MR. JONES is a stunning and clever album cut. YOU KNOW I'M NO GOOD is also an instant classic and showns much insight into Amy's thoughts of herself. Listen to the words on the haunting WAKE UP ALONE and SOME UNHOLY WAR and you will feel so much what the life of this woman was like. The song REHAB is not a defiant song to those trying to get her help but rather a declaration of how she thought it wouldn't help. She talks of what rehab would give her but she could get the same advice and support at home listening to music like Ray Charles and waiting for the sorrow to pass. In her mind it was all about love and heartbeak. If the sorrow could pass she would not have to use. Addiction is a very serious illness and whatever was really going on we need to acknowledge the very sad fact that this musically gifted person Amy Winehouse left us and this life way too early. For her sake she managed to leave a musical legacy behind with only 2 cds. She will live on through her music and because of her gifts as a songwriter and expressive, superbly diverse singer we will always see her as the person by the music. May you rest in peace Amy and hopefully all your demons have been silenced and you have found peace. But rest assured you will be remembered.

Perfect, plays beautifully!

Although it tends to be an American genre, England has produced a number of R&B vocalists. Perhaps the best known is Dusty Springfield (1939-1999), who took a cue from jazz artist Peggy Lee and combined it with the soul inflections of such girl groups as Martha and the Vandellas. In similar fashion, Amy Winehouse (b. 1983) works on the foundation laid by Dinah Washington and combines it the style of such 1960s girl groups as The Ronettes. But if Springfield is the white diamond of the R&B world, Winehouse is the black opal: the two may come from essentially the same musical space, but Springfield burns while Winehouse sizzles. Winehouse first gained fame with the 2003 recording FRANK, which won several awards, was critically applauded, and quickly went platinum in sales. Winehouse herself was less enthusiastic about it, considering too commercial and too slick, and when she went back into the studio she demanded and got greater control over the production. The result was the 2006 BACK TO BLACK, easily one of the best R&B scorchers since Springfield's 1969 DUSTY IN MEMPHIS. By the time of its release, Winehouse had become a controversial figure, adopting Ronnie Spector's beehive hairdos and miniskirt dresses while drifting into alcohol and drugs in a way that quickly became infamous. On-going speculation about her chemical dependencies led Winehouse to write and record the album's signature cut: "Rehab," a strange mixture of R&B, South American edges, and slap-in-the-face, tough-girl lyrics that startled virtually everyone who heard it. The remaining cuts--nine plus a remix--followed suit. Several of the cuts are very distinctly in the manner of Dinah Washington, perhaps most obviously "Me and Mr. Jones," but although Winehouse has clearly picked up licks from other artists she is never less than herself, an completely distinct and original voice, truly a "star" voice. Winehouse cultivates a slightly sleazy sound that proves a knock out on "You Know I'm Good," and each cut has a somewhat retro-quality that recalls the wall of sound, with the title "Back to Black" and its piano jitter, bell chords, and girl-voice-back-ups a marvelous case in point. While these four cuts leap off the album, every selection is very, very fine. No doubt about it, the woman can sing. But wonders if she will continue to do so. Drug and alcohol problems, troubled romances, and publicity disasters have kept Winehouse largely silent on the music scene since BACK TO BLACK proved such an international smash. The music world has lost too many talents to drugs, and it is a tradition more honored in the breach than the observance. There are a lot of people hoping Amy Winehouse will pull back from the edge. GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Tragic someone so talented was gone so soon! Album is so great to listen to.

When I first saw the video for Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good" on MTV, I was genuinely impressed. I heard numerous influences within her vocals and I was shocked that this 23 year old British Girl could sing like that. A mix of Etta James, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin. Just as fascinating was the production captivating the 1950s and 1960 R&B sound. We as listeners and musicians often throw around the notion of neo-soul, but Ms. Winehouse is most definitely more "soul" than neo. BACK TO BLACK in my mind certainly serves as a clear anachronism to 1960. Somehow, it does so in a way that doesn't turn off a younger group of listeners. I mean, somebody is certainly tuning into the multiple plays that the video clip for "You Know I'm No Good" is getting on MTV and VH1. The album opens like a classic Etta James affair with the repetitive (in a positive way) "Rehab" where the "bad-girl" Winehouse sings how "they tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no." The production is classic with acoustic piano, horns, and a classic drum groove. Everything sounds like the 1950s style of R&B coupled with the jazz of that time. Ray Charles would've been proud to hear Mrs. Winehouse shed through this number, or the equally great "You Know I'm No Good". Once again, Mrs. Winehouse's bad girl persona arises as she sings "I cheated myself, Like I knew I would, I told you I was troubled, you know that I'm no Good". Sure, "You Know I'm No Good" still keeps the jazz-influenced R&B sound alive, but there is enough of a modern sound here that it is clear why the clip is resonating with the youth viewing MTV. "Me and Mr. Jones" keeps alive a string of hits. Perhaps most alerting to fans is Winehouse's bad girl attitude (she belts: "what kind of f**kery is this"). If you stretch back to jazz history, one has to look no further than Mrs. Billie Holiday herself to her excesses of drugs and being "one of the guys". Maybe Winehouse isn't that much of a stretch after all. Vocally, she is superb! "Just Friends" isn't quite as impressive as the latter tracks, but it isn't terrible either. It is solid. "Back To Black" is better, and it is one of few title tracks that breaks the trend for a sub-par title track. The production once again stands out with its looped jazz-piano riff. Particularly impressive to me is how the production team managed to not only capture the 50s/60s R&B sound but also how the managed to arive at the same sound and timbre of the recordings of those tracks. "Back to Black" and "Rehab" in particular are great displays of that. "Love Is A Losing Game" is absolutely stunning and it is great to hear Winehouse shed through a ballad. Her vocal facility is nearly flawless; every nuance is perfect and perhaps she is what Holiday was-- technically a limited vocalist (where range is concerned), but she made the best of it and it turned out to make her one of the world's greatest and most important vocalists. "Tears Dry On Their Own" doesn't quite feel as authentic, merely because it samples the blatantly obvious Ashford & Simpson penned soul classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". It isn't bad by any means as the songwriting is still strong and Winehouse remains at her best. However, the originals sit better here. "Wake Up Alone" gets things back on point with its classicist six feel, harkening back to the doo-wop tunes of the mid-50s. "Some Unholy War" features some stunning background vocal works and subtle organ in the background. Not my favorite, but again, it is very solid. "He Can Only Hold Her" uses a classic soul sample, but does so much better than "Tears Dry On Their Own" (side: John Legend lifted this same sample for his exceptional "Slow Dance" from his ONCE AGAIN album). "He Can Only Hold Her" turns out to be one of my favorites and a nice end to the album (penultimate). "You Know I'm No Good [Remix]" featuring the ubiquitous Ghostface Killah isn't bad either. It is arguable to say whether or not Ghost truly adds any true substance to the remix, but it isn't in my opinion a bad way to end this phenomenal, perhaps MILESTONE album. All I have to say is that Amy Winehouse has it going on and BACK TO BLACK is most certainly the most innovative R&B album of this year and just perhaps of the past couple of years. It screams GRAMMY to me. 4 stars.

I'd avoided this early on due to the hype over Amy Winehouse, but when I saw her perform "Rehab" on The Brit Awards on BBC America, that did it for me. I loved her voice immediately, and figured the album couldn't be bad, but I was more surprised at how solid the album is all the way through, and have played it more than any other disc this year. I know a bunch of reviewers really dislike her voice, but I love it. Her delivery seems effortless, and not at all affected to my ears. You can certainly say she has listened to her share of Billie Holiday or any number of the greatest soul singers, but it never comes across to me as some bad or outright imitation - she sounds absolutely genuine. And you can basically make a case for any successful artist/band as having ripped off someone else. Didn't The Beatles themselves admit flat out they took ideas off Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly? Don't worry, I'm not trying to set her up as an equal to The Beatles in any way! But everybody is influenced by someone else to some degree and that's my point. From there, you have to give it something of your own, which I believe Ms. Winehouse has done here (her vocal delivery and lyrics bear this out in my opinion). If you don't, the hype machine can only carry you so far before sales start to slide dramatically. Anyway, the whole album is so enjoyable to me (and the production by Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson is a perfect fit), but some favorites are "Rehab", "You Know I'm No Good", "Me and Mr. Jones", and "Love Is A Losing Game". But the best of the bunch for me are "Just Friends", with her especially gorgeous delivery ("And no I'm not ashamed but the guilt will kill you...If she don't first"); and best of all is "Tears Dry On Their Own". Even though its base melody is lifted from (and duly credited to) "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", Amy makes this hers, and when she launches into the chorus, "He walks away...the sun goes down..." it's spine tingling stuff. Again, judging by many of the reviews here, she's a "like her or not" proposition and that's fine - you can't please everyone. I'll take her any day over any number of self-styled "divas" who over-emote simply to show off their alleged vocal prowess, which always rings false to me. For me, Amy is a true talent, sings with real emotion and power, and I look forward to hearing more from her in the future.

Ok a must have