eMusic Review 0
Death tends to romanticize art — particularly when you die at 27, bowing out in a slow, spiraled haze of pitiful decadence. Yet there’s no exaggerating the acclaim that’s always shrouded U.K. retro soul-stress Amy Winehouse’s 2006 sophomore landmark Back to Black, which remains one of the decade’s most consistently rewarding pop albums regardless of the controversy surrounding it. Racking up five Grammys and praise from critics, the album (and its note-perfect singles, like the pounding horn-stomper “Rehab”) quickly cemented the smoke-voiced siren as the figurehead of an old-fashioned R&B movement. But following her one masterstroke proved more than challenging, delayed in no small part by drugs, alcohol and relentless media obsession. That long-delayed, supposedly brilliant third album never came, and ironically, it’s only through Winehouse’s tragic death that we’re given a follow-up: Lioness: Hidden Treasures, a mixture of leftovers, alternate takes and seemingly random cover songs.
So, as with any posthumous release, the question with Lioness is, “How much, if any, of these ‘treasures’ should have stayed hidden?” It does seem apparent that Winehouse, ever the studio perfectionist, wouldn’t have approved of some of these unfinished and rough-sounding takes, but then again, there’s so much quality here that… read more »
