Amy Winehouse album 'not what she would have made'

IT'S probably safe to say that the release of Amy Winehouse's posthumous album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, was not an entirely un-cynical move. Put together over the summer just in time for Christmas, the album is a hodge-podge of new and old material, some of it from nearly a decade ago.
 
Half of Lioness is a classic, says Will Hodgkinson in The Times. Winehouse, whose music was a rare blend of soul, jazz, hip-hop and more, "cuts to the raw emotion inside the history of American music in a way that's magical". The other half, however, consists of unfinished or early tracks that "the world did not, strictly speaking, need to hear".

Winehouse was so creative, she could "flip a song five times, do jazz versions, doo wop, hip hop, trying to find the right arrangement," American producer Salaam Remi told the small group of reporters invited to hear a selection of tracks last night. "Musically she was the tops, not just a great singer, she was a great musician, a great writer, and a great producer as well."
 
But with this talent came a strong vision of what her music should sound like, writes Caspar Llewellyn Smith in The Guardian. "It is hard to believe that Winehouse... wouldn't have reworked much of the material that is to be put out. There are certainly times when her vocal on a song sounds more like a sketch."
 
Even so, Smith concludes, it "sounded like the basis for another hit album".
 
For Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph, the album is a "pick and mix of the best of the leftovers". She wasn't in the studio much over the last few years, he writes, and as a result, "Lioness is not even close to what her third album would have been". Only two tracks, Like Smoke and Between The Cheats, "give a flavour of where she was headed".
 
It is a sign of our times, McCormick continues, that deceased pop stars "are condemned to a career of ever diminishing quality control, a limbo of demo tapes, out-takes and rehearsal room jams".
 
Even producer Remi admits that "it's not the album she would have made". But the reward came when he played the album to her family. "It put a smile back on [father Mitch's] face," Remi said. "He kept saying, 'That's my daughter'."
 
THE TRACKS:
Our Day Will Come - Melancholic Ruby & The Romantics cover recorded in two takes when Winehouse was 18.
 
Between the Cheats - Doo-wop song recorded in 2008 about her marriage to Blake Fielder Civil.
 
Tears Dry – Down tempo version of the song already heard on Back to Black.
 
Halftime - A languid reflection on the changing nature of relationships, featuring the brilliant Amir 'Questlove' Thompson of The Roots.
 
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - Big, brassy cover of the famous Carole King/The Shirelles song.
 
Valerie - An alternative version of her previous cover of The Zutons song.
 
The Girl from Ipanema - Bossa nova classic recorded when Winehouse was just 18 during her first recording session with Remi.
 
Body and Soul - Already released duet recorded with jazz singer Tony Bennett before Winehouse died.
 
Best Friends - Jazz track recorded when Winehouse was younger.
 
Like Smoke - Song featuring a rap (recorded after her death) by Winehouse's idol, hip-hop legend NaS.
 
Wake up Alone - Alternative demo version of the song already released on Back to Black.
 
A Song for You - Cover of Leon Russell's classic ballad, made famous by the late Donny Hathaway, of whom she can be heard saying: "He couldn't contain himself. He had something in him, you know."
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