Back To Black [PA]

Performer: Amy Winehouse
Producer: Mark Ronson; Salaam Remi
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Amy Winehouse (background vocals); Binky Griptite, Thomas Brenneck (guitar); Helen Tunstall (harp); Perry Mason, Chris Tombling, Pigott Smith, Tom, Warren Zielinski, Liz Edwards, Mark Berrow, Peter Hanson, Boguslaw Kostecki, Everton Nelson, Johnathan Rees (violin); Jon Thorne, Kate Wilkinson, Rachel Bolt, Bruce White (viola); John Heley, Joely Koos, Anthony Pleeth (cello); Andrew 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.

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."

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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