I never really used to like Amy Winehouse, but some how she's managed to produce what is perhaps* my favourite album of 2006. When she first came out I probably didn't actually even listen to her, I just foolishly dismissed her as akin to Melua and the like, but now, oh my god, she's amazing.
Nazza and I went down to the ever-pleasant Koko in Camden a couple of weeks to check her out live. We'd both seen her before in first album days - she played at my amazing graduation ball alongside The Scissor Sisters, Spooks, and Ash - but I don't think I paid any attention. This time, I was a bit worried she might show up too drunk to sing, but I was wrong, and she totally delivered.
"With lead single Rehab blasting its way into the charts, Mark Ronson's production has added a glamorous hip-hop beat to most of her Motown-inspired numbers and never is this more obvious than on the glorious second single, You Know I'm No Good, sounding here more Brooklyn than Camden.
Title track, the dark Back to Black is undoubtedly the jewel in the album's crown with its melancholy, staccato piano transporting you to a smoky, dingy soul club in the 60s, the kind that none of us are old enough to actually remember."
I cheekily think my original copy is slightly better than the slightly edited version but still, go read the rest of it at the lovely BBC London.
If you've not heard the album yet, and you like the sound of sixties soul-y girl groups, motown and brass all with a minor hip-hop twist then I totally urge you to check out Back To Black. Rehab even gets played at Miss-Shapes and the amazing Unskinny Bop, and I've no doubt You Know I'm No Good will be going the same way. In fact, everyone's favourite Pop Idol was at Miss-Shapes this week and stood drinking by the bar all night - only when we played Rehab did he dance, complete with a run-to- the-dancefloor -when-he-heard-it-start move. If you want to check out some songs that aren't the singles, then try the title track, Me & Mr Jones (Fuckery) and Tears Dry On Their Own first
I might start hanging out more in Camden, I want Amy to be my Chanukah drinking buddy.
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