A nice tribute...
http://www.luminomagazine.com/mw/content/view/3252/4/
Amy Winehouse: A Tribute
Written by PATRICK MAY
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Where does one start when talking about Amy Winehouse? It makes sense to start off addressing the tragedy that was her life, the international fame and relationship problems that led her down a dangerous and ultimately fatal path. Amy wasn’t made to be a star, she was made to love and to be a musician. It’s important to first acknowledge her troubles, if only to get them out of the way. They have nothing to do with Amy and her musical legacy.
As a lover of soul music, I am often unimpressed by the majority of throwback soul records that come out every year, attempting to recapture “real” music but coming off as cheap imitations. I’m talking to you Joss Stone, Duffy and even you, Adele. None of these women even remotely touches the level of genius that Amy possessed. On her first album, Frank, she showed us she could sing and write a kick ass song, on Back to Black, her second and last, she showed us that she was a musical movement.
Back to Black was not just some British girl pretending to have soul; it was a revolutionary reworking of old school Motown arrangements from the 60s, with the hip hop swagger of the 90s, sung in the style that Dinah Washington and Sara Vaughan made popular in the 50s. All of this coupled with Amy’s blunt, humorous, painful and eye opening observations about real life made for a perfect storm of a record, an instant classic. When she sang, she often looked off into the distance, seemingly unaware that the best voice of our generation was coming from her. She created magic simply by opening her mouth and her seemingly oblivious stage behavior made her seem like a musical inevitability, something that had to happen. It didn’t have to, but we’re so lucky it did.
Amy Winehouse sang her brilliantly poignant lyrics with the same nonchalance, taking her musical statement to a new level. They transmitted the feelings of a woman who was suffering breakups and crushes and frustration in a way few can do. Each word was given intense weight, and the jazzy way she strung them together made the listener double-take: “wait, did she really just say ‘kept his dick wet?’” She did. And it sounded amazing. And above all, it was truth! Some men are unfaithful, most keep their dicks wet, some men look at you adoringly while others “lick [their] lips as [you] soak your feet.” Her way of discussing relationships—and sex—was so human that it hurt sometimes. When she sings “I stay up / clean the house / at least I’m not drinking / run around just so I don’t have to think about thinking,” the picture is clear and identifiable: we’ve all been there.
That was Amy’s legacy; using the music of the past and the language of now to create music that makes our modern day troubles seem timeless and just as important as Aretha’s or Etta’s. Amy was self aware and vulnerable, but brutishly so. Anyone who listens to her music can tell that she was a sensitive person who felt deeply and lost herself to everything she did, whether it was writing autobiographical lyrics, falling for Blake or ingesting entire pharmacies worth of drugs. On her first album she sings, “I’ll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing,” a lyric she surely had no doubt would go on to define her life and her career. Maybe no one can really sing like that unless they feel as much as she was feeling. Amy communicated her darkness through her golden, glowing voice and created fireworks on records and disaster in the streets of Camden. She let everything in, and in the end, all of it took her out.
Rest in peace, Amy.
http://www.luminomagazine.com/mw/content/view/3252/4/
Amy Winehouse: A Tribute
Written by PATRICK MAY
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Where does one start when talking about Amy Winehouse? It makes sense to start off addressing the tragedy that was her life, the international fame and relationship problems that led her down a dangerous and ultimately fatal path. Amy wasn’t made to be a star, she was made to love and to be a musician. It’s important to first acknowledge her troubles, if only to get them out of the way. They have nothing to do with Amy and her musical legacy.
As a lover of soul music, I am often unimpressed by the majority of throwback soul records that come out every year, attempting to recapture “real” music but coming off as cheap imitations. I’m talking to you Joss Stone, Duffy and even you, Adele. None of these women even remotely touches the level of genius that Amy possessed. On her first album, Frank, she showed us she could sing and write a kick ass song, on Back to Black, her second and last, she showed us that she was a musical movement.
Back to Black was not just some British girl pretending to have soul; it was a revolutionary reworking of old school Motown arrangements from the 60s, with the hip hop swagger of the 90s, sung in the style that Dinah Washington and Sara Vaughan made popular in the 50s. All of this coupled with Amy’s blunt, humorous, painful and eye opening observations about real life made for a perfect storm of a record, an instant classic. When she sang, she often looked off into the distance, seemingly unaware that the best voice of our generation was coming from her. She created magic simply by opening her mouth and her seemingly oblivious stage behavior made her seem like a musical inevitability, something that had to happen. It didn’t have to, but we’re so lucky it did.
Amy Winehouse sang her brilliantly poignant lyrics with the same nonchalance, taking her musical statement to a new level. They transmitted the feelings of a woman who was suffering breakups and crushes and frustration in a way few can do. Each word was given intense weight, and the jazzy way she strung them together made the listener double-take: “wait, did she really just say ‘kept his dick wet?’” She did. And it sounded amazing. And above all, it was truth! Some men are unfaithful, most keep their dicks wet, some men look at you adoringly while others “lick [their] lips as [you] soak your feet.” Her way of discussing relationships—and sex—was so human that it hurt sometimes. When she sings “I stay up / clean the house / at least I’m not drinking / run around just so I don’t have to think about thinking,” the picture is clear and identifiable: we’ve all been there.
That was Amy’s legacy; using the music of the past and the language of now to create music that makes our modern day troubles seem timeless and just as important as Aretha’s or Etta’s. Amy was self aware and vulnerable, but brutishly so. Anyone who listens to her music can tell that she was a sensitive person who felt deeply and lost herself to everything she did, whether it was writing autobiographical lyrics, falling for Blake or ingesting entire pharmacies worth of drugs. On her first album she sings, “I’ll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing,” a lyric she surely had no doubt would go on to define her life and her career. Maybe no one can really sing like that unless they feel as much as she was feeling. Amy communicated her darkness through her golden, glowing voice and created fireworks on records and disaster in the streets of Camden. She let everything in, and in the end, all of it took her out.
Rest in peace, Amy.
Comments
Rest in the light, Amy.
God is good :)