Clash Daddy

Rarely has an artist been the brunt of so much opinion and controversy; oscillating between exalted status to that of gutter trash, Amy Winehouse must be one of the most mis-understood artists of recent times – her ‘problems’ revealing a worryingly high degree of castigation and lack of tolerance amongst mere mortals…. Her popularity and sales on the back of Back to Black (and before her ‘troubles’) though testify to a large segment of the music-loving populace appreciating her all round talent; as a songwriter, as a performer, and, above all, as a singer. That, combined with her idiosyncratic and quite startling personality, made for a proper star of the old school variety.

So, it is with heightened interest that the first posthumous release from Winehouse arrives albeit, with expectations low as we know that that the so-called ‘third’ album was still very much in its early planning stages… Perhaps not surprisingly what we get is a selection of alternative takes, cover versions, demos and the odd what-might-have-beens…

Hidden Treasures opens promisingly with the dreamy and harmony-drenched 60s style ska of Our Day Will Come and the simple (yet acerbic and grim) 50s doo-wop high school prom stylings of Between the Cheats, one of only two tracks here that were mooted to appear on her long-delayed third album proper.

Winehouse then tackles Carol King’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, and succeeds – the extra urgency that her voice imparts lends the song and the Spectoresque production a greater spectacle, particularly when compared to King’s own, rather melancholic, version. However, the jazz-scat cover of The Girl From Ipanema, as heard in this 2002 demo version, hasn’t stood up well compared to her later work – although it apparently was the inspiration for long-time producer Salaam Remi to get involved with her in the first place.

Rapper and friend Nas contributes to Like Smoke, and it doesn’t work; his rap doesn’t sit easily with the smoother Mark Ronson-like production… A track that feels half finished… but perhaps a pointer to the direction Winehouse was feeling for.

The 2003 outtake Half Time is an unusually gentle workout, but again demonstrating the high standards that she imparted to anything that was released in her name. A shoo-in for almost any other artist, this was deemed excess to requirements for her first album, the jazz-heavy, Frank.

the original demo version Wake Up Alone is perhaps an indication of where Winehouse could also have moved – stripped back, featuring her another outstanding vocal, along with another set of underrated lyrics – she really did have a knack for telling stories and providing memorable metaphors and images to the words, albeit through seemingly sad and troubled eyes.

Best Friends is a catchy number, while the cliqued lounge-jazz string laden 50s sounds of Body and Soul (co-sung with ageing crooner Tony Bennett) is a fun workout (in fact representing the last track she worked on). Her voice, more jazzed up and richer in tone than ever, shows Winehouse to be in perfect vocal fettle… When not drunk or out-of-it, her voice remained a thing of rare beauty – an impressively natural instrument that she seemed to be able to use effortlessly, and yet with due constraint when the occasion demanded.

Last song, Song For You (a Leon Russell composition), has a grand finale feel about it (it was recorded in 2009, and is one of the very few tracks here from after the Back to Black album). A love song, it’s a poignant reminder that AW wasn’t the devil in disguise – she was, just like most of us, en emotional and often troubled soul who, given the leeway and freedom that rock’n'roll success can unwittingly provide, had plenty of ammunition at her disposal to make her life difficult and confusing. Thankfully, this demo version is given only a little discreet production sugar by producer Remi.

The album’s coda features a short snippet of Winehouse talking about Donny Hathaway as someone who ‘couldn’t contain himself. He had something in him, you know’ – an implicit acknowledgment, that Winehouse herself had an inner turmoil, that at never managed to resolve itself….

With the addition of alternative takes of The Zuton’s Valkyrie and Tears Dry, Lioness: Hidden Treasures only serves to underline the paucity of material since Back to Black. This perhaps is the sum of what was left… Unless there is a surprise to be had (she apparently did write plenty of lyrics), it seems that we may have a full stop here. And, if there really isn’t hardly anything left to be aired, let’s hope Island Records, her record company, leaves it at that.

Amy Winehouse – Lioness: Hidden Treasures is out now

Tags: Amy Winehouse, Carol King, Donny Hathaway, Mark Ronson, Salaam Remi, The Zutons, Tony Bennett