Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Lioness Rules

Forget Adele.  The lioness still rules British soul.  I got the Amy Winehouse's posthumous release "Lioness: Hidden Treasures" from Target last night.   The reggae-fied track "Our Day Will Come" (track 1) will probably get the most radio play but her version of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" (track 4) is better than any that's ever been recorded.  This fact of life that where there's genius, there's self-destruction, really sucks.  Wish she had recorded more songs in her short, tormented life and career.  My other favorite track is Girl From Ipanema (track 7).  This is the freshest approach of this bossa nova classic since Astrud Gilberto's finest hour.  The CD insert also reminds me of the time when buying recorded music was more than just clicking a button on iTunes.  This release contains a full 20 pages of photographs, production notes, personal notes and lyrics.  Yes, fucking lyrics! And to think I considered just downloading the album from iTunes. What was I thinking.  Somewhere in the ether, Amy is still singing and drinking away and we're just too far away to appreciate it but this release will do for now.

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