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BUY THE CD
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If you didn’t know any better (and if you hadn’t already heard the first single, “Rehab,” on the radio a few thousand times), the first time you pop British singer Amy Winehouse’s latest album, Back to Black, in your CD player, you might think you’ve made a mistake. The face on the album cover doesn’t seem to match that powerfully soulful voice. And the music doesn’t really sound like something from a brand new album. It sounds more like something off one of your dad’s old Motown eight-tracks. The Supremes, maybe.
You might even eject the CD, check the label, and try again. But you’ve got the right CD. It’s just unlike anything you’ve heard in years.
From the album’s first lines (“They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no.”), you’ll know there’s something special about Back to Black—but it might take you a while to get used to its everything-old-is-new-again sound. At first, it feels like old-school retro-cool. Just a musical novelty. But then it’ll hit you—that voice. Winehouse’s rich, smoky voice reaches out of the speakers and grabs you. And by the time you get to the haunting title track, you’ll be sold. “Back to Black” is the album’s high point—and it’s powerful enough to give you chills on a hot summer day. But the album doesn’t really have any low points.
Winehouse sings the songs that Billie Holiday always wanted to sing but never could. Where Billie had to spend her career hinting and suggesting, Winehouse comes right out and says it. The lyrics are totally honest, whether she’s singing about her own unfaithfulness in “You Know I’m No Good” or about heartbreak in “Love Is a Losing Game” or about struggling to move on in “Wake Up Alone.” She holds nothing back—lyrically or vocally—and that makes for an incredible album.
From slow and soulful to catchy and rhythmic, Back to Black is more than just a quirky Motown copycat. It’s a spectacular album by a talented artist whose fresh yet classic sound will appeal to young and old listeners alike.
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