amy winehouse - C or D? [RIP 7/23/11]

i've been avoiding watching this because i know i'll just be a wreck

worrrd

yea i was never a fan of her really but the doc is v well done + tragic obv

Blake was a real shit for sure but her dad was worse imo

nah

Tony Bennett gets almost inadvertently comical when he keeps repeating his "true jazz singer" schtick. OTOH his line that "Life teaches you how to live it, if you live long enough" was great, probably the most heartbreaking sentiment in the whole movie in relation to the subject.

I liked that the doc allowed both the dad and the boyfriend the rope they needed to hang their sorry selves.

her father has complained that the film misrepresents him

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/01/mitch-winehouse-interview-amy-documentary-film

Her father is exploitive but I think you could make a strong case that she might be alive today if she had never met Felder.

Bennett is kind of a caricature at this point but I was pretty touched how kind he was she was so upset about the takes and he just kept encouraging her felt like he could tell she needed some kindness

Considering how she was all about the music, there's not much about music. It was disappointing that they didn't include even one complete song performance. Just 40 second snippets.

I think you could make a 10x stronger case that she'd be alive today if her dad had been a dad to her from the beginning.

Also based on the events in the film, I don't even think that's true -- the doc believed it was mostly alcohol + bulimia that killed her, which were both problems before him. Heroin doesn't even take that much toll on the body -- addicts who die mostly do so because of overdose, dirty needles or just the junkie lifestyle. She kicked heroin and crack after he was put in prison and even had a brief improvement before spiraling down again. So I don't really think Fielder killed her.

Yeah, to me it seemed they were presenting the case that it was the pressures of fame that killed her, and the alchohol she was using as an escape from that was the physical manifestation.

Certainly I can remember seeing her perform slightly erraticly immediately around the time of Back to Black, which I mention in this thread, at Brighton Concorde 2 - a medium sized venue. At the time I just thought this was due to drugs, but after viewing the doc I got more of a feeling looking back to that that she really did not enjoy performing at gigs where the personal touch was lost.

i haven't been able to watch the doc yet, but her dad is 100% a piece of shit imo

I've never gotten more of a feeling of an empty, worthless person than from him in that doc.

saw this on a plane yesterday. a great documentary, and so terribly sad (not much to add to everyone else in this thread tbh).

Classic always

Maybe I'm old-fashioned but this reeks of exploitation:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/12/amy-winehouse-hologram-tour

these things are mildly gross but there's worse ways they exploit you when you're dead

Amy Winehouse has always been one of these acts I've struggled to understand quite why she's so highly rated...

A good voice and an remarkable, tragic history (and RIP of course), but I could never hear much beyond a sanded-down All Bar One-friendly retread of sixties soul-pop with most of the character sucked out by flat 2000s production. Am I missing something? Or is it just not for me?

I suspect you're missing something *and* it's not for you. Not sure what anyone can tell you. Soul is in the ear of the beholder, I guess.

Yes, I really like and enjoy soul.. But this is quite hollow-sounding to me. Like a ritzy, gestalt 'La La Land' tribute to soul which doesn't really enhance or improve upon its influences save for chucking in a few swear words and modern references..
Always found 'Rehab' very clunky as a song, while Back to Black sounds like a Shirley Bassey tribute act.. I mean, I get that people like to hear this, but for the level of praise heaped on, I'd have expected something more... original?
Perhaps it's down to set and setting. Her music immediately transports me to depressing provincial bars and clubs in mid-2000s UK.

Anyway, I'll shut up now as it's NAGL to denigrate a deceased star on her own thread when clearly she has a lot of stans here.

oh man. I'd say so. possibly blunted a bit by all of the retro people that tried to catch the same wave in the early 10s.

I had heard her name a bunch around 2007, but sadly, more for her "lol she's a trainwreck" escapades and less the music, but I remember hearing "Rehab" and being so taken by her voice, every inflection, and the immediacy of the track. so I bought the album.

had it been all "Rehabs", I think I woulda enjoyed it for a novelty and then never listened to it again, but Back to Black has this aire of authenticity without kitsch that many of the other retro acts were missing. and the anachronisms, ie the profanity/modern slang, that she brought to the sound worked, without coming across as ironic or detached. she was just infusing her own personality onto the existing template.

That she was trying to recreate 60s girl group sound was obvious, but a lot of retro acts focus too much on the aesthetics, and hope it'll do the job even with subpar songwriting. Obviously, Amy did care about the aesthetics - the harmonies on "Me and Mr Jones" are produced in a way that practically SOUND out of the 60s, but the songs almost feel like they could also work in a modern context.

"Love is a Losing Game" is so understated compared to the rest of her songs, the lyrics devastating, her voice a bit more muted, the strings gorgeous and not feeling "tacked on". "Tears Dry On their Own" is the type of song I woulda danced to as a kid on oldies radio, and that she later released a different stylistic version of that song that was equally amazing just proved her brilliance.

I couldn't stop listening to this album and only this album for probably two months. I got Frank later and I love it too, but it doesn't quite hit the heights of B2B.

I was legit devastated when she died.

There's so much to love on Back to Black, not least the nerve (and skill) to write a great new song on the backing track of an old one (Tears Dry/Ain't no Mountain High) and have it sound genuine and personal instead of just a gimmick.

Great post Neanderthal. I'll go back and listen to some of the deeper cuts with that in mind

Rehab was the one I never really got into till much later. Until I'd watched the Amy documentary, to be specific.

the production is what’s retro 60’s sounding, and it’s easy to think she’s copping on a trend but it’s her style of singing & natural affinity for it that is what made & makex her special

her voice is more on par with jazz singers like Dinah Washington. that’s what’s special - her voice, and her instincts & phrasing, turning her own voice into an instrument of its oen. check out her live covers of old standards, or any of her early live performances & it’ll make more sense

or she’s just not yr bag & that’s ok too

damn neanderthal is otm as fuck

my appreciation of her grew significantly after her death and in my mind Back to Black is one of the greatest albums of the century so far. Ronson's production can be overbearing and gimmicky sometimes but in this case it was in service of an amazing talent.

i absolutely love her 2-tone tracks on the expanded edition of B2B.
no production excess, just her live in the studio with a band providing her with the sounds she clearly loves.

dog latin, the Al Usher remix of Tears Dry On Their Own (lush disco) or the Mylo or MJ Cole remixes of Fuck Me Pumps might provide a way in for you?

(or the More Fish version of You Know I'm No Good)

I'll check em!

also a good reason to finally take a deep dive into Ghostface's catalogue which is long overdue

More Fish version of You Know I'm No Good

love this track

i absolutely love her 2-tone tracks on the expanded edition of B2B.
no production excess, just her live in the studio with a band providing her with the sounds she clearly loves.
― mark e

There's so much to love on Back to Black, not least the nerve (and skill) to write a great new song on the backing track of an old one (Tears Dry/Ain't no Mountain High) and have it sound genuine and personal instead of just a gimmick.

― dinnerboat, Thursday, December 5, 2019 10:12 AM (five months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Huh, learned from this that the song was written first, and then adapted to Ain't No Mountain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKW3upDoxsg

that was superb, thank you!

I kind of forgot about all my mp3s and have had a few fantastic nights digging through them. I ran across a Rhodes piano demo of Love Is A Losing Game that is A+++

Of course it's on YouTube now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Pn6DH7zlU

new biopic looks fucking shit

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/apr/12/its-a-grotesque-insult-for-back-to-black-to-suggest-amy-winehouse-died-of-heartache-over-her-childlessness

yeah this looks stupid. the nick cave song for it is boring too.

Neando otm <3

Man it's like they think even in death she hasn't suffered enough indignity

Wait until the AI holo-projection tour, or have they done that already?

god, I thought that movie looked pointless and clueless, didn't realise it was absolutely fucking poisonous as well.
I really wanted to dislike Amy at the time because her stuff was popular with the dummies, but I made the mistake of listening to Back to Black and realised what a great artist she was. Likewise shocked and angry at her death.

First album is a banger too, I think I prefer that one. I saw her in Brighton just before Back to Black came out and it was scary how different she seemed by then - basically had a few mental breakdowns between songs too :( It was still a very good gig.

I liked the actor who play Amy in this film when she was in the Industry TV series… but I don’t have much confidence in this Biopic being good.

I saw Amy play just once, Bestival 2008. She was over an hour late on stage and could barely stand. She sung about 20% of the songs, putting the mic in front of the audience to sing the rest. Her band were very professional, but it was all just really sad, it was obvious she didn't want to be there and shouldn't have been there.