... great review of winehouse's soph-moe effort by David Marchese on salon.com:

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"Amy Winehouse's second album is a ballsy, brassy, neo-soul affair with enough surly attitude to stand down a ship full of sailors. That it also happens to have been made by a tattooed 23-year-old Jewish Londoner with a beehive hairdo only adds to its unexpected charm. Winehouse's husky, honeyed voice is a helluva instrument, but it's her chutzpah that makes the album go. When she says goodbye to a lover with a tossed-off "You don't mean dick to me," on "Me and Mr. Jones," she does it with the casual élan of a femme fatale flicking ash from a cigarette. Likewise, in an age of rehab overdose, it's nice, on "Rehab," to hear her kick and scream so sexily about not wanting to visit the place with the padded walls. Unfortunately, "Back to Black's" music, an amalgam of soul vocals and Brill Building bounce, is less forward thinking. For all its catty charm, the album never shines with the spark of something new; there's a template for this stuff, and you only have to go back as far as Macy Gray or Lauryn Hill to find it. But if Winehouse had invented something fresh to go along with her vocal gift and personal charisma, we'd be talking about the arrival of a once-a-generation star. As it stands, she's merely delivered one of the year's most purely enjoyable albums."

http://www.salon.com/ent/audiofile/2007/03/13/new_music/index.html?source=rss

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... i agree that it is not 'forward-thinking' in that winehouse does not craft an entirely new sound. we have heard "r&B-as-hiphop" // "neo-soul" for a long time now. however, i'm not sure that originality is measure of winehouse's appeal. she has demonstrated a knack for pushing bad-girl conundrums into clever pop songs before. (a particularly good example is the song "Fuck Me Pumps" -- which begs the question: how does a straight-up hoe keep her relevance?)

On "Back to Black," she ups the ante on the lyrics, channels the motown idiom, and straight-up testifies that naughty girls not only need love but have feelings, too. powerful ones.

further, she manage to create a look that is at once equal parts 1960s country-western singer and motorbike-ridin' nascar-chick.

By combining strong, evocative yet personal lyrics, cohesive sound, and look, she crafts one of the few cohesive artistic presentations in contemporary music. and i like her even more b/c it all seems so relevant: hell, every time you turn around a different starrrr (LiLo, Shitney, Mary-Skank Olsins ... Marc-Freaking-Jacobs!!) is headed in or out of rehab. It's this saucy, sarcastic slice of life that makes it all zing.

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dj ivi says:

yeah, how does she manage that patchwork look and still seem so elegant and sophisticated? fancy that, a rare feat.

Posted about 1 year ago | Delete

Not-so-secretly, I would love for any and all of my favorite 90s-meltdown artists to have stunning comebacks. Perhaps wishful thinking. However, I think these artists brought some much need pathos to pop-music. I also think these artists tap into the 60s / 80s references so common in the music of today. Highly recommend given some ipod-spins to these artists if for no other reason that a moment of 90s retro.

1. ELASTICA. Bouncy, even-elastic guitars… a bit like the Breeder’s on “Cannonball,” but more angular and focused. Elastica only released 2 albums: the 1st is great, and the 2nd, welll… not so much.

If you like the post-punk, new-new-wave sounds of Interpol, The Strokes, et al, you should check out their big sisters in Elastica. Best cuts: “2:1,” “Never There,” and “Car Song.”

2. LAURYN HILL. A month ago, I’d have said the greatest diva meltdown story belonged to Ms. Hill. (But, dude… Britney’s got this meltdown category all wrapped up.)

After a f@*#ing brilliant solo album, she just fell off the face of the planet. She emerged a few years later only to put out the worst MTV Unplugged album ever. (And my vote for worst album ever.) A little personal turmoil? We don't know. Not knowing her and her music is a great loss.

For her comeback: she’s right in there with today’s r&b sound: making old school r&b jams using hip-hop technique. She did it first. (And best.)

Faves here are pretty obvious: “Doo Wop (That Thing),” “Ex Factor,” “Everything is Everything,” and “Can’t Take My Eves Off Of You.”

3. SCOTT WEILAND. You might think he goes to the same revolving-door rehab(s) as Lindsey, Britney, and Mary-Kate. ((Is he out there coaxing - somewhere - them into a celebutante 3-way as we speak? They'd totally do it if there was a camera around.))

Weiland, in all respect, has a great rock voice. It’s just tragic that he keeps dragging his bandmates down by drugging and boozing it all up.

Faves: “Sour Girl.” (Not a great song. It’s even a little bad. But the sound is pretty cool. Harmonic in a California way but with some darker tones in the guitar. Sorta like a quiet guitar led beachjam played facing toward the open sea under the rumble of storm clouds.) "Plush." (Which I am surprised that Daughtery did not belt out when he was an Idolette.)

Cheers~

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Marco1019 says:

I will always have a place in my heart for Justine Frischmann. sigh

As for Lauren Hill, didn't she have children after her album? I don't recall a meltdown, per se. Besides, she seemed to have it together for the reunion in Chappelle's Block Party. Then again, I didn't hear that unplugged album, and it sounds like I'm better off.

Posted about 1 year ago | Delete