Now Hear This

It’s a shame Amy Winehouse’s train wreck of a personal life has so overshadowed her professional output because she is one of the best vocalists I’ve heard in the last couple of years. Her second record Back To Black moves beyond the jazz chanteuse style of her debut to a sound (created with the help of producer and DJ to the stars Mark Ronson) that puts a firmly contemporary spin on 60’s R&B and Phil Spector’s girl group wall of sound. Kudos to the recording academy for looking past the tabloid hysteria and rewarding her music at last night’s Grammy Awards. Aside from the shock of Herbie Hancock’s win for album of the year her performance was the highlight of the evening. Damn the Dap-Kings are tight!

I was really worried her acceptance speech was going to stay as awkward as it started but she gets into it and you gotta love how she punctuates the whole thing with a shout out to Camden Town where a massive fire broke out the day before and was still smoldering as she took the stage. How refreshing was it to see someone looking like they didn’t expect to win all along?

Now maybe people who only know her as a media punching bag will get to hear her sing. To that end I’m posting a couple of tracks you won’t find on her current album.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? – from the Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason soundtrack
Moody’s Mood For Love – from her 2003 debut Frank

And a gorgeously spare rendition of Love Is A Losing Game she performed at last year’s Mercury Music Prize.