The Beat Patrol

Written July 5, 2008… 

Okay, let’s start right out by saying, forget about all the sordid tabloid talk about Amy that has been swirling like dirty water down the drain for the past several months. I am not here to discuss whether Amy is a heroin-addicted alcoholic who only has 12 months (at best) to live, if she doesn’t turn her life around. Although I will say that I hope she does find a way to overcome whatever vices she may have, because she is simply too talented a singer and songwriter to go the route of Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin, not to mention Jimi Hendrix, Charlie Parker and Kurt Cobain  – namely musical geniuses who died far too young. That would be just another senseless tragedy. And in this day and age, with so few musical heroes out there (besides the older artists who are still around), we need all the geniuses we can get. And let me say it: Amy is a genius singer, not to mention an extremely talented songwriter, who I imagine will only improve with age. Back to Black has been discussed and picked apart continuously since its release about a year and a half ago. All I can add to the discussion is how classic most of these songs are. “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good” are as good as any songs written in the past ten years.

Amy, as we all know, is a huge Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan fan. It shows in her singing. She has learned though to incorporate these influences (along with the girl groups of the early 60s) into something original. How this petite Jewish girl from England can sound so “black” and authentically soulful is just a wonder to behold. Her voice is indeed an instrument to marvel at. Like Billie Holiday, she is not technically a gifted singer but what she does with her voice is just pure genius. This is one girl who knows how to use her voice in ways that most so-called “soul” singers these days (really just over-emoting divas) could never dream of doing. Her voice could slightly be considered an “acquired” taste. But once you are hooked, you are under her permanent spell. I will admit, the first couple of times I heard “Rehab,” I didn’t feel her voice was as great as all the hype was making it out to be. But once I let the hype stop ringing in my ears, and really gave her a listen, it all made perfect sense. My initial reaction to her was completely wrong. The more I hear her, the more she blows me away. Forget the tabloid sensationalism and REALLY LISTEN to her.  

“Love is a Losing Game,” in my opinion is one of the saddest, most beautiful songs in recent memory. It sounds like a long-lost classic from an earlier decade. It’s just two   minutes of pure perfection. It’s one of those songs you just know will sound as good fifty years from now as it does now. There is nothing trendy or faddish about it. It’s the type of classic song they simply don’t write anymore. Those kinds of songs, if they’re well-written, always sound good. In the old days, it would have been covered by at least a dozen big-name singers or more.

From just these three songs, she could retire right now and have already earned her place in musical history. There are so many other great performances besides those three though. The remainder of Back to Black is only very slightly below the quality level of those songs. “Me & Mrs. Jones” and the title track are also terrific songs, that combine great playing and singing, with her usual introspective lyrics.  

Her jazzy version of the old Frank Sinatra standard “Someone to Watch Over Me” is a wonderful performance and “’Round Midnight” is another classic that she sings with a jazzy inflection but the music has a very modern, yet classic vibe to it. She is one of the great stylists of our time. Her phrasing abilities are top notch. She sings the song with total respect and yet adds just enough of her own personality to it, to give it a new twist. That’s the hallmark of a great singer. In case, you didn’t already know it – the girl is the real thing folks. 

Some of the b-sides released from Back to Black’s singles go in more of a ska direction than the parent album’s soul and 60’s girl group sound. 

And I admit, I haven’t really even given her first album Frank much of a listen yet.  From what I have heard of it, it goes in a bit more of a hip hop/jazzy direction. But it doesn’t sound like her vision was fully formed yet. Very close though. 

There have been a few songs (mainly off the first album) that have so far left me cold. But on the whole, her batting average is very high.

I have heard from her co-producer Mark Ronson that if and when Amy gets around to making her highly anticipated third album in the near future she intends on going off in a new musical direction. That is unfortunate but totally understandable. That is the sign of a true artist. Imagine if someone like Miles Davis had continued making albums like Kind of Blue for the remainder of his career. It might have been brilliant and made a lot of fans and critics happy, but it was clearly not the type of man he was. Miles was like a shark – he had to keep moving or he would have died creatively-speaking. And so he went on to later masterpieces like Nefertiti and Bitches Brew. They may have been completely different but they were proof that he was an always-creative genius.

So let’s hope Amy sticks around for many more years to come and continues evolving and changing. She holds so much promise, that it will be a joy to watch it unfold. We have so few artists these days that give us that sense of possibility. We need her – more now than ever.  

Jay Mucci