Back to Black

I must admit it was with ghoulish curiosity that I picked up Amy Winehouse's 2006 album Back to Black, which won her several Grammys and made her a star. Unfortunately, stardom was not kind to her, and she died, presumably from drugs and/or alcohol, last July.

I was familiar with a few of her songs, notably "Rehab," which won the Grammy for Record of the Year. It's a fantastic song, with a desperate message. "I don't ever want to drink again, I just need a friend," she sings, conversely to an upbeat brass tempo. Equally good is the second track, "You Know I'm No Good," which is another toe-tapper that has a negative subtext. It also manages to make a rhyme with Tanqueray, which is just one of the bits of evidence of her skill as a songwriter. She wrote or co-wrote every song on the album, with the kind of assuredness that was way beyond her years.

I think the strongest cut on the album is the title song. It's about a woman who's man has left her for another woman. Going "back to black," given that she refers to "black" as alcohol in "Rehab," would suggest that his leaving has sent her back to the bottle, or worse: "You go back to her, and I go back to black." The production value on the song is also top-notch, with brass and strings that provoke a strong emotional response. It's a powerful song.

For many years Winehouse was one of the entertainment biz's biggest train wrecks, fodder for snarky gossip sites. She had a distinct look and was a tabloid's dream come true. It also seems that she was not a well person and led a very sad life. It is unfortunate that she died so young--at 27, the age when so many rock legends have died (Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain). Her voice was so amazingly good, a combination of jazz and soul and R&B. Though she didn't sound like her, she reminded me of Billie Holliday, who also had a life cut short by abuse. Such is the way of the music industry.