Amy Winehouse: A Personal Tribute .

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16 minutes ago, Coolnotes said:

News/Article/Feature Highlight:

A Personal tribute to Amy Winehouse on the 10th anniversary of her death

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Looking forward to seeing this next Friday night 

I've never quite understood the adulation poured on Amy Winehouse. Her albums were very good but far from ground breaking. Back to Black was a  blatant rip off of the Motown song book, every track plagiarised Holland Dozier Holland & Ashford & Simpson classics.  Her aesthetic was a mash up of the Ronettes, Dusty and 80s new wave duo Strawberry Switchblade. Truth is Amy Winehouse was a 60s tribute act. Along with Mark Ronson Amy managed to  hoodwink a generation ignorant of the music she plundered and the middle class white rock journalists who were just as ignorant. Take time to listen- the lyrics of classic Supremes tracks and Marvin and Tammi's hits can almost be sung over Back to Black tracks. She was AWFUL live as any YouTube clips will confirm. Where would she have gone next? How long could she have continued plundering other artists back catalogues? She is the perfect example of cultural appropriation. Having said all this I still enjoy her recordings but I do prefer the originals...

A sixties tribute act? She brought sass and suss to the table, adding a twist not simply regurgitation.
And at what point does paying tribute or being influenced become plagiarism?
For me she was a special artist, and as someone who grew up listening to Motown, I can't grasp how you believe she hoodwinked anyone, or that "ignorant" rock journalists were in any way unaware of Tamla or Phil Spector or any of her influences.
She was a great live act. It's a shame that many rate her based on her admittedly shambolic performances in the final two years or so.
I am not a massive fan myself but can see her appeal and don't think it's fair to dismiss her as lightly as you seem to do. I think time will show her in the pantheon mentioned in the article (Dusty etc).
Motown records are there to be played and reactivated, the fact is a fresh face and a fresh approach is often needed. Sure, the original is still the greatest, but that doesn't make her and her ilk tribute acts as I see it..

I am an old Soulie who appreciates Amy Winehouse.

Loved her tunes, lyrics & presentation 🎶

Thank you Amy,💙

Each to their own ✊🏾

Sorry but I’m in the “what has she got to do with this forum” camp.  Just never got her nor the fuss around her, poor singer IMO,  don’t think she had anything soulful about her act tbh.  But as said each to their own. 

22 hours ago, Moutton Noir said:

I've never quite understood the adulation poured on Amy Winehouse. Her albums were very good but far from ground breaking. Back to Black was a  blatant rip off of the Motown song book, every track plagiarised Holland Dozier Holland & Ashford & Simpson classics.  Her aesthetic was a mash up of the Ronettes, Dusty and 80s new wave duo Strawberry Switchblade. Truth is Amy Winehouse was a 60s tribute act. Along with Mark Ronson Amy managed to  hoodwink a generation ignorant of the music she plundered and the middle class white rock journalists who were just as ignorant. Take time to listen- the lyrics of classic Supremes tracks and Marvin and Tammi's hits can almost be sung over Back to Black tracks. She was AWFUL live as any YouTube clips will confirm. Where would she have gone next? How long could she have continued plundering other artists back catalogues? She is the perfect example of cultural appropriation. Having said all this I still enjoy her recordings but I do prefer the originals...

Sadly the adulation, I think, stemmed party from her lifestyle, she was always in the paper, for the wrong reasons. That in its self is attractive to the media and turned her into a public figure.

Loved Amy Winehouse , for me , Back to Black  is the best  Album since the millenium . 

She had a great voice. RIP

Then the drama of a troubled life. Almost scripted to go wrong.

And as usual SOMEBODY is benefitting financially from her work.

Ed

Not my taste really but fantastic voice and 60s tribute act behave.

Never saw what the fuss was about. Limited vocalist to my mind and someone who was ridiculously over rated. 

We're all entitled to our own opinions but why kick someone when they're down or in this case dead?
She was a jazz singer at heart which is perhaps why many may not appreciate her. She wasn't black, American or underground and became popular far too quickly I guess for some 'soulies' to take her seriously and obviously her 'flaws' and dreadful 'intoxicated' live appearances in her later years didn't help.
Only two albums were released when she was alive but a posthumous album and many compilations have surfaced with songs only recorded live, so before you jump on the 'haters' bandwagon please at least listen to her complete catalogue and then come back and say she wasn't good!
For starters she performed two Donny Hathaway tracks live at Union Chapel in 2006.
How anyone who professes to love soul music can't appreciate these performances is beyond me!

 

 

 

 

Well put.

Ed

On 22/07/2021 at 20:49, Soulstrutter said:

We're all entitled to our own opinions but why kick someone when they're down or in this case dead?
She was a jazz singer at heart which is perhaps why many may not appreciate her. She wasn't black, American or underground and became popular far too quickly I guess for some 'soulies' to take her seriously and obviously her 'flaws' and dreadful 'intoxicated' live appearances in her later years didn't help.
Only two albums were released when she was alive but a posthumous album and many compilations have surfaced with songs only recorded live, so before you jump on the 'haters' bandwagon please at least listen to her complete catalogue and then come back and say she wasn't good!
For starters she performed two Donny Hathaway tracks live at Union Chapel in 2006.
How anyone who professes to love soul music can't appreciate these performances is beyond me!

 

 

So we should only post positive comments?  It's a forum, a place to give opinions.  It isn't about hating for the sake of hating, I just do not rate her, never have, never will.  

Amazing voice. 

Amy does nothing for me , much prefer Joss Stone myself if I am going for British stylists.

I agree she was only 'soul' in the broadest sense of a definition but from my perspective as someone in their seventh decade who bought his first 45 in 1967 she'd be up there with Dusty  and Heather Small as one of the greatest British women singers. (a thread anyone?) I also agree with Shinehead that Joss Stone is outstanding as well.

Her tragic backstory provides a sad, poignant life story but IMO 'Back To Black' is one of the great British albums. As for the criticism, if it was a criticism, that she is a 60s tribute act - surely there isn't a singer anywhere who doesn't display their influences. 

 

I'm not sure if she just ripped off Sharon Jones and took her band the dap kings but the true  innovators always go unheralded.

An excellent point Fiftyboiledeggs. I often wonder what Sharon Jones made of the whole affair. Cultural appropriation 1.0.1. What I find telling is that during the initial release and hype around Back To Black the influences were deliberately obscured/underplayed. No mention of Ashford & Simpson, Holland Dozier Holland or the Supremes from whose back catalogue was shamelessly plundered. We got oblique references to "60s girl groups" and The Ronettes. I honestly believe Amy found herself stuck in a 60s straight jacket from which she would've struggled to shake off.