Oct 2006

Two years ago, in the middle of the campaign for her universally acclaimed debut album 'Frank', Amy began thinking about what she'd like to do with her second record. I didn't want to play the jazz thing up too much again. I was bored of complicated chord structures and needed something more direct.” 'Back to Black' is that record.

As a songwriter Amy has grown and stretched her self, vocally she is in a new league breaking loose with Aretha-style vocal stylings on 'Just Friends' or going gospel on the opening single 'Rehab'. 'Love Is A Losing Game' is pure classic modern songwriting: brief, to the point and drenched in emotion. Other highlights include the Nas inspired 'Me and Mr Jones', the beautiful 'Wake Up Alone' and 'I'm No Good' - the personal epiphany that you can behave just as badly as all those guys that have messed you around and stamped all over you.

With 'Back To Black' Amy confirms, beyond any reasonable or unreasonable doubt, what a truly remarkable talent she is.

HMV CD Editor

Three years later, three years older – Amy Winehouse was back, sporting a mane of long curls, a svelte physique and the thickest eyeliner this side of Siouxsie Sioux.

Opening with the handclaps of Rehab, Winehouse is at the top of her game and obviously ready to give the critics what they had long been waiting for. Moving from the jazzy tones of Frank, Back to Black sees Winehouse apply her talents to a maturer more self-assured sound, with melodies and backing vocals comparable to the likes of the soul legends of motown. Admittedly heavily influenced by this Winehouse has infused her prior jazzy sound with a newer, more edgey feel. Sticking to lyrical themes of relationship angst, infedility and with tracks such as Love Is a Losing Game andBack to Black – the formula has remained a winning one for Winehouse.

Unlike the prior contendors for the nu-age queen of jazz throne, who have remained in the folk tinged jazz genre, Winehouse stands alone as the queen of modern day motown by still remaining true to the gutsier lyrics that her fans have come to recognise as hers.

Christina Warner, HMV Wimbledon

• 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."

'Back To Black' is the second album from London-based chanteuse Amy Winehouse. Combining a strong, jazzy vocal style with often frank lyrical content recounting tales of love and loss, Winehouse is a truly talented songwriter with a good ear for melody, making this album an essential purchase. Includes the single 'Rehab'.

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.

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.