A few months ago, after she’d once more hit the headlines, I asked my son Alexander – keen musician that he is – what Amy Winehouse’s music was like. “I think it’s not bad,” he said. A more cynical parent might translate that as “dunno”. I decided to find out, but then forgot.

Last night, she was all over the telly for all the wrong reasons , again, and I resolved again to have a shufty behind the news and the striking looks. Easier said than done, as I was away from home and straightforward access to the Internet. Aha! “Virgin Bites”, on the phone. So I downloaded the MP3 of Back to Black (the single) last night, and got around to playing it this morning waiting for my lift into work.

It blew my socks off.

What a lovely big fat smoky voice, somewhere between Billie Holiday and Shirley Bassey: and some more. And an excellent arrangement, production, the whole bit. One listen, and that was me. I envisage that voice keeping me company in Libya.

It’s not all good news, though. The download cost me thirty bob, for just that one track, and when I tried to Bluetooth it onto the laptop, found out that it’s somehow locked into the ‘phone, where it must stay. Bugger them. It was a good enough sample to persuade me to get both of her albums, as soon as poss.

I had thought recently that I would stay with all my old music, that there was nothing new around I wanted to hear. I was wrong.


Comments

  1. MichaelWed Dec 19, 06:13:00 pm GMT

    Back to Black is great. I saw her do a duet with Paul Weller on Jools Holland a New Year's Eve or two ago and was hooked. Much better than those repressive tools at iTunes: no wonder so many people choose to get their downloads by 'alternative means'...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Garry NixonThu Dec 20, 09:31:00 am GMT

    Indeed. And if you really like something, far better to buy + synch the cd: then you've got all the details.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSat Dec 22, 07:39:00 pm GMT

    The girl is a vocal genius. Hope she survives her twenties. Get the albums. They are great.

    ReplyDelete
  4. PETER SHAWThu Dec 27, 08:07:00 am GMT

    Like many who have such talent, she will be lucky to be a live by the end of 2008. Fame, fortune, money and bags of talent, but surrounded by idiots, drug dealers and hangers on. Not a good mix!

    ReplyDelete
  5. DexterFri Jan 04, 05:17:00 pm GMT

    She's fantastic isn't she? Superchou had me buy the CD in the UK and post it to her in the US because the US version had some rap chap on it that her hubby didn't like :O)

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousSat Feb 09, 10:20:00 am GMT

    If you like Amy Winehouse you will REALLY love Sia Furler. So, so much nicer.

    ReplyDelete

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