Музыка: mixtape maestro (2.0)

вторник, 8 ноября 2011 г.

mixtape maestro (2.0)

Amy Winehouse “Like Smoke” (featuring Nas)/ “Our Day Will Come (Ruby & The Romantics Cover)”

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 06:30 PM PST

Posthumous music collections are always tricky because it’s like YAAYY!! for “new” music, but BOO!! for big bad evil record companies trying to make a quick buck off of someone’s death and BOO SOME MORE!! for the fact that the featured material usually isn’t all that great (a main reason why it was “unreleased” in the first place).

In the case of the forthcoming odds ‘n ends Amy Winehouse collection Lioness: Hidden Treasures however, the cons of this kind of project don’t loom as distressing since A: some of the sales of the album will be going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, and B: to be honest, a lot of what made Winehouse such a magnetic entity could be attributed to her lack of polish, which was just as compelling on-stage as it was off.

Two tracks to be featured on Lioness made their premieres on BBC Radio last week, and even in their early draft incarnations, they manage to bottle much of what we came to treasure about the late, great superstar.

“Like Smoke”, recorded in 2008 with producer Salaam Remi, is padded with a couple of timely verses from Winehouse’s “Me & Mr Jones” crush Nas (“Yo, this recession is a test/ It's affecting my complexion/ Misdirected my affection/ My concerns are bill collections”), as Winehouse offers soulful ruminations of loneliness (“I never wanted you to be my man/ I just need your company”) against a sparkling, horns and strings-blessed vintage R&B frame.

Meanwhile, Amy and Remi’s 2002-recorded take on the 1963 Ruby & The Romantics No. 1 “Our Day Will Come” should come paired with a box of tissues, the sound of Winehouse giving life to the song’s hopeful lyric supported by a glorious reggae-lounge groove and some heavenly male background harmonies culminating in a knot-in-throat-inducing performance that will only re-remind one of the magnificent talent taken way way too soon.

Lioness: Hidden Treasures drops December 5th.

“Like Smoke” (featuring Nas):
Download audio file (Amy-Winehouse-Like-Smoke-feat.-Nas.mp3)

“Our Day Will Come (Ruby & The Romantics Cover)”:
Download audio file (Amy-Winehouse-Our-Day-Will-Come-Ruby-The-Romantics-Cover.mp3)