Amy Winehouse Back to Black [Import]

Personnel: Amy Winehouse (guitar, background vocals); Vincent Henry (guitar, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, piano, celesta); Salaam Remi (guitar, piano, upright bass, drums); Binky Griptite (guitar); Steve Sidwell (harp, trumpet); Helen Tunstall (harp); Perry Mason, Warren Zielinski, Liz Edwards, Mark Berrow, Tom Pigott-Smith, Christopher Tombling, Peter G. Hanson, Boguslav Kostecki, Everton Nelson, Johnathan Rees (violin); Katie Wilkinson Khoroshunin, Jon Thorne , Rachel Bolt, Bruce White (viola); John Heley, Joely Koos, Anthony Pleeth (cello); Andrew MacKintosh, Chris Davies (alto saxophone); Jamie Talbot, Neal Sugarman (tenor saxophone); Cochemea Gastelum, Dave Bishop (baritone saxophone); Bruce Purse (trumpet, bass trumpet, flugelhorn); Victor Axelrod (piano, Wurlitzer organ, hand claps); Nick Movshon (bass guitar); Homer Steinweiss (drums); Mark Ronson (tambourine, hand claps); Vaughan Merrick (hand claps); Sam Koppelman, Frank Ricotti (percussion).
Audio Mixer: Tom Elmhirst.
Recording information: Allido Studios; Chung King Studios; Daptone Studios; Instrument Zoo, Miami, FL; metropolis Studios, London, England; Rapking Studios.
Photographer: Harry "Rockbarry" Benson.
Arrangers: Gabriel Roth; Mark Ronson.
It doesn't take much listening to Amy Winehouse's 1960s pop period piece to realize that this is a tribute with an edge--nice girls back then didn't sing about boozing and rehab. Since her 2003 debut album, FRANK, Winehouse has been a frequent presence on the gossip pages of the U.K. tabloids, and her songwriting here candidly reflects her experiences with drinking, sex, and drugs.
BACK TO BLACK's production is an artful blend of sophisticated '60s R&B and 21st-century stylistic poaching, with "Tears Dry on Their Own" incorporating elements of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," and Winehouse sounding like Billie Holiday fronting a reggae band on the old-fashioned cheating song "Just Friends." Densely packed with musical history and often conjuring a dark, Portishead-esque atmosphere, BACK TO BLACK is a sumptuous-sounding collection freighted with blunt confessionals of a lush life.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop