Amy Winehouse - Frank
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Free Music Notes for Frank
Free Music Review: Whether it's about a dog, Sinatra, or being honest, it's goodies to your ears
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm not entirely sure what Frank exactly means. I originally thought it had to do with her blunt honesty, but a friend told me she's a huge fan of Sinatra and named her dog (I think he's the one on the cover) after him. Anyway, Amy's voice is amazing and while her vocals are reminiscent of Billie, Sarah, and Ella, she manages to pull off her own style. Something I love about this album is that it's very straight forward and what you see is what you get. Her second album Back To Black, while also good, relies too heavily on the 40's and 50's jazz sound and sometimes borders on gimmicky. Frank pulls from the past, but sounds very much of today.
First up is the debut single "Stronger Than Me". Over a wobbly hip hop beat, Amy complains about her "lady boy" who needs to man up and stop letting her be the guy in the relationship. Amy's personality shines through and makes this an enjoyable track. "You Sent Me Flying" starts off with a disco meets piano beat and is carried by a vocal brimming with regret. Amy getting kicked to the curb never sounded so good. Who knew? "Cherry" at first sounds like a relationship with the another girl, but has a twist no one saw coming.
"Take The Box" is the first song I ever heard from this album and got me hooked. With a shout out to Frank (the dog or the singer) in the chorus, Amy sings about a love affair that has ended badly, but she can't completely let her guy go. The music is top notch and intoxicating. "In My Bed" finds the singer letting a guy know that she only wants sex from him, but not his heart over a Nas beat. I read that it was a single and it deserved to be. I can't compare Amy's cover of "Moody's Mood for Love" to any others, but this reggae tinged song is a highlight. "There Is No Greater Love" is just a love song. Not to weed or booze, but to a guy. Weird, I know. I love the late night cricket chirping feel to the production.
In "I Heard Love Is Blind", Amy makes excuses for her cheating ways. "It's ok, honey. I thought about you when I came." I wonder how that one went over. "October Song" is a bouncy, bright tribute to her deceased bird who is now "reborn like Sarah Vaughan". She can even make a song about her dead bird sound amazing. By the end of the album, Amy seems tired of her hunger for bad men in the hip-hop influenced "What Is It About Men", but she falls for another one on the "Chicago" sounding "Amy Amy Amy". When will this girl learn?
Two gripes from me. One, I liked "Pumps" on the first few listens, but now I just skip it. Very little replay value for me. Second, the fact that both hidden tracks (which I love) are literally hidden behind "Amy Amy Amy" and the outro. Why not make them separate tracks? And where is the World War II era sounding "Help Yourself"? Anyway, "Brother" is a heartfelt track about the singer's own troubled sibling and "Mr. Magic" adds beautiful lyrics to Grover Washington's 70's instrumental classic.
I really hope that Amy will clean up her life and return to this type of music. She has too much talent to let it all go to waste.
Free Music Review: Can't deny her talent, no matter her issues.
Hit: 5 Stars
I decided to buy the album after I bought Back to Black. What should be noted is that this was her first album and her style is different than on Back to Black. The songs on Frank are short and remind you a little of jazzy R&B, Back to Black is more of an Retro/Vintage style. The albums are very different and as with every artist I think she's done an excellent job of finding her "style" (which is probaly more on the Back to Black).
1. Intro - Nothing fancy, just a nice short jazzy intro.
2. Stronger Than Me - I love the voice range she uses although much more high pitched than on Back to Black. The beat is a nice smooth groove.
3. You Sent Me Flying - I love the background piano and wind, very smooth and her vocal range is similar to Tears Dry On Their Own about 2 minutes into the song it kicks in an R&B beat over the piano with works very well. This is personally one of my favorite songs.
4. Cherry - I love the background acoustic guitar has a mellow sound, however I don't like her vocals on this song. This to me was not paired right and it is a very short song thankfully.
5. Know You Now - Love the vocals her range again is more like the Back to Black album, I'm not to keen on the background music though.
6. F**k Me Pumps - The beat is simple and the lyrics are funny. This is also one of my favorites on the album.
7. I Heard Love Is Blind - This song has a big band/R&B feel which I like and is somewhat different. Her vocal range is nicely balanced.
8. Moody's Mood for Love - I don't like the vocals or the beat to me it just dosen't mesh well together.
9. Teo Licks - This is a nice smooth no-vocal interlude.
10. (There is) No Greater Love - Mellow and smooth, Amy sounds phenomenal. Love the sax in the background.
11. In My Bed - Very catchy, more R&B-ish but still very soulful. The chorus flows very nicely with the mellowness of the song. The ending of the song sort of kills it she could have left out the doo-wop sounds.
12. Take the Box - I like this one, another smooth groove a little jazzy/retro, kind of reminds me of Back to Black a similar musical feel.
13. October Song - She showcases alot of vocal range but unfortunately the beat and the vocals just don't go together. I think this song was forced, it's just not good.
14. What is it About Men - Love the beat, sounds similar to an Alicia Keys song. The vocals are ok, nothing impressive, however not bad to listen to.
15. Amy, Amy, Amy - Reminds you of a cabaret from the 40's or 50's I really love this song. Very fun and upbeat, vocals are good.
16. Outro -It's just that...
17. Brother (US Version) - Nice mellow tune, again nothing to impressive. However nice to groove to.
18. Mr. Magic (Through the Smoke) - I had mixed feelings on this one, I liked the way part of the vocals/beat sounded and others not so much. It sounds like two songs forced together.
Free Music Review: A homerun debut
Hit: 5 Stars
This woman is almost frighteningly bright and goes right to the jugular in re-interpreting old music. She is no mere copycat but almost a kind of historian making self referential comments and updates on her genre. The appearances she did on British TV to promote "Frank" are hall of fame type stuff. The name of the album could've been, "Seventh Chords Ain't A Bridge Baby".
When you watch her face during her performances to promote "Frank" and see the different emotions that flit across her face not only do you see how engaged she is but how, in opposite fashion, how easily she gets bored and how creativity bubbles out of her. She is smart enough an artist to keep it in check and never vocalizes a song the same way twice while at the same time keeping the essence of the performance, something very rarely seen. Her performance of "Stronger Than Me" on Jools Holland is so wonderful and her vocals so right on it is just something to watch. Amy Winehouse is the brightest talent that we have seen in many a year.
The lyrics to such songs as "Know You Now" and "I Heard Love Is Blind" are staggeringly original as are all the songs really, compared to the innocuous and obscure poetry that suffuses pop music today. Although Miss Winehouse is not admirably served in the production of this album the raw gem is only too obvious. The company probably wanted to market her as just another Mariah Carey/Rihanna character but this is way beyond those girls, way beyond.
As a vocalist Winehouse has no peers in the industry today and that is quite a remark to make about such a newcomer and so young at the time of the album, 20 I think. Rather than impress you with how many notes she can sing over one lyric alá the Carey/Aguilera/LaBelle/American Idol syndrome, Winehouse restrains her raw power and serves the song rather than her ego; there is no showboating here. If there is a vocalist today is who is at once so technically gifted, emotional and artistic all rolled into one, I don't know who it is; she is a jazz singer in the true sense of the term. For those of you who like this album I recommend the songs from "Frank" and others on her Jools Holland appearances; awesome.
Free Music Review: Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant!
Hit: 5 Stars
The first time I saw Amy Winehouse was in the "You Know I'm No Good" video from her "Back to Black" CD on VH1. I was stopped in my tracks by the sheer cleverness of the music and the soul deep passion in her voice. So when I found out that Back to Black wasn't her first CD I was ecstatic. I was excited to see the beginnings of this fascinating woman.
I wasn't disappointed. I was blown away.
I thought the use of an updated fifties girl group sound in Back to Black was brilliant. But Frank was something altogether different. There were sounds and rhythms I hadn't ever heard before, some sounds, fast and slow, that I had heard, but done up in new and surprising ways. She wrote most of the material for the album about a failed relationship and you find clear examples of what this guy was like. "Stronger Than Me," is one of the smartest songs I've ever heard. It's a straight forward slap across his face because he just wasn't man enough for her. She takes the theme of her dissatisfaction even further in "I Heard Love Is Blind," her attempt to explain away an affair, but then she chastises her shortcomings later on when she asks herself, "What is it About Men."
Winehouse has all sorts of personal problems and it distresses me to no end that she, as an artist, seems to require her own self-destruction in order to be brilliant. I pray she finds her way back to the studio and to her muse, because she is a uniquely stunning singer and astonishing writer, who unfortunately is on the fast track to being a tragedy.
Free Music Review: Breathtaking.
Hit: 5 Stars
Frank, Amy's actual debut album is just as fantastic as those who know her Back to Black album would expect. From listening to the entire American debut album, it is obvious that she is a talented lyricist and singer, and that she has an exceptionally fine-tuned ear for overall music quality. This new-to-America album possesses the same musical and lyrical maturity, delving (sometimes deeply) into the emotions of anger and pain caused by others (usually men). "F**k Me Pumps" could very well have been the inspiration for Pink's "Stupid Girls" single, as it humorously and scathingly takes on the dime-a-dozen "hollywood glamor" girls that us sane people have come to despise. Perhaps the most stunning track on the album, however, is the sorrow-drenched "What Is It About Men", where Amy's vocal and lyrical talents shine the brightest (major hats off to the production on this number, as well).
The tabloids love to try to bring Amy down by broadcasting her substance abuse problems and rowdy behavior, but the thing is that she doesn't try to cover it up. She's a full-fledged bad girl, and she readily admits it. Perhaps it's this dysfunctional lifestyle that has enabled her to pen such brilliant lyrics and sing with such musical conviction. Regardless, I'm thankful that she's made her way over here from England to help distill the pollution that is the American music scene right now. Nowadays, you can pretty much live by this rule when judging music acts: anyone who uses live horns has gotta be okay.