#162

Her voice can stop me in my tracks (not always for good reasons- some of her songs are so overplayed I’ll instinctively change the radio station if they come on.) However she had an incredible voice and musicality that was cut off before we could see its full development. I would give her a 4 but I’ve voted 5 because some of you are stupid.

3 Likes
#164

Quite a tricky one. She was obviously tremendously talented and had enormous potential, but she made one ok album and one great one so it’s hard to judge her alongside people with full length careers. Had she gone on to build on Back to Black she would rate very highly indeed but had she become a more generic pop star (not likely perhaps, but possible) things would be different

I thought about not voting but in the end I reflected on the fact that we gave Joy Division and Jeff Buckley a score based on not much more material. One great album out of two is worth a 3.5 I think and I’ve generously rounded up. Sad waste of talent whichever way you look at it.

#165

Right then…

#166

2.95 About right?

#167

Too low im oh

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#168

Feels harsh when you look up from there and good when you look down from there.

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#169

Genuinely surprised she didn’t warrant a 3+. Then again, given the late-thread Adele comparisons, for better or worse…

#170

I thought low, but then she has decent artists around her.

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#171

Never had you down as a Weezer fan lb

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#172

Two good albums apiece!

#173

I think it is a bit low but she had a number of things working against her, including the shortness of her active career.

#174

Interesting programme on at the moment about Back to Black, with Mark Ronson saying that his original version had a grittier more authentic 60s sound which was made more ‘modern’ in the mix.

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#175

Was on BBC4 last night, wasn’t it? Will have to watch it on iPlayer. Thanks for reminding me!

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#176

It was interesting. There looks like there is capacity for a reissue of the album at the some stage with some extra material. From the film it is plain that there are recordings of her demoing a lot of the songs just on acoustic guitar and of the original mixes of the Ronson tracks which sound a lot more organic than the final record. It also seems that some of the tracks she recorded with Salaam Remi exist in earlier versions which are more jazzy than the versions that ended up on the album.

#177

I’ve got a sound on sound mag with an interview with the guy who mixed the record. he was saying Ronson used 60’s recording techniques and recorded all the drums with one mic. however the fella that mixed it would swap out some of the drum hits with more modern samples. You can clearly hear it with the kick drum on the intro from ‘Rehab’.

#178

To be fair to Ronson (who’s taken a bit of stick elsewhere in this thread) it’s clear that he was completely in awe of the Dap-Kings and wanted to make a record that sounded like they do in their raw state. Others at Island intervened to make the record sound more ‘modern’ so that it would fit better on radio. They were probably right in terms of making the record commercially successful but it would have been interesting to hear the original version. Ronson did a good job in the documentary of making it absolutely clear how unhappy he was with what happened in the mix whilst actually saying exactly the opposite.

#179

Revisited Frank off the back of this thread, and it’s a better record than I remembered it. Maybe I wasnt as receptive to jazz standards influenced R&B back in the 00s? Still feels like there’s an air of pastiche about it though, and Back To Black a clear step up all round.

Also just remembered that years ago I worked in the box office of the RNCM and Jamie Cullum was playing with Amy Winehouse as support. The tour manager gave me the handwritten setlists to photocopy for the respective bands before the show…and I kept the original Jamie Cullum one :man_facepalming:

#180

i mean, Version sounds exactly the same so i think he was probably pretty happy with it

#181

The impression I got was that in his heart he wanted it the way that he had originally recorded it but that he recognised the commercial appeal of the mixed version. Bank balance has trumped artistic vision fairly solidly.

#182

What kind of fuckery is this? is such a good opening for a song (shhh I know it’s not technically the first line)

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