If you buy Amy Winehouse’s posthumous album anticipating a record symptomatic to ‘Back to Black,’ I would suggest you readjust your expectations. Possibly, and sadly, the last record we will hear from the soulful songstress, it is just as it as sold: a collection of hidden treasures.

The album was approved by Winehouse’s family before its release. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, described listening to his daughter’s voice once more as “very emotional.” In the end, it was up to her family whether it was to be released or not. “It was a very difficult time for us,” he said, “we all had to be in agreement that the album was of the same quality or better, in fact, than ‘Frank’ and ‘Back to Black,’ and we were more than pleasantly surprised.”

It’s not hard to see why. In this, her third album, we are shown how truly diverse she and her famous voice were. There are many inspired covers, unusual duets, and a return to the jazzy roots that started her career with the under-the-radar debut album ‘Frank.’

The beginning track, ‘Our Day Will Come,’ is an excellent opening to pull in fans of both reggae and 60′s motown alike. A cover of the 1963 classic by Ruby and the Romantics, a new modern reggae spin has been added into the mix, and Winehouse’s voice has never sounded so fresh. She is like a different person; the tone is light, happy and devoid of the deep, slurred notes in many of her heavier songs.

We are eased into the album with many tracks supported by the classic Winehouse/Ronson beat that is so familiar to our bones, yet the singing becomes more abstract and scatty, reminiscent of her jazzy days. ‘Like Smoke’ has qualities of ‘He Can Only Hold Her’ around it and sees her pairing with rapper Nas, with whom she was rumoured to be close and even honoured in the song ‘Me and Mr. Jones.’

Halfway in, songs, such as ‘Halftime’ and a new version of ‘Wake Up Alone,’ present what seems to be Winehouse in her most comfortable place. The beat is relaxed, the melody is more intangible, and Winehouse’s voice rings out with personal lyrics about her love of jazz: “My lyrics revealing some natural vibes / Some kind of laidback feeling / Oh, just let it ride.”

The last song on the album can only be described as the perfect encapsulation of Winehouse. The soulfulness with which she sings Donny Hathaway’s ‘A Song For You’ is strictly divine and a true testament to the original version.

A snippet of the singer’s thoughts on Hathaway have been left on the end of the track, provoking comparison between the two and their troubled lives: Hathaway suffered greatly from depression and paranoid schizophrenia. He died tragically at the age of thirty-three. Winehouse comments pensively, “He couldn’t contain himself…he had something in him, you know?”

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/65386099@N05/

The article Amy Winehouse’s Posthumous Album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Amy Winehouse’s family and close friends said their last goodbyes at the private ceremony at Edgwarebury Cemetery. Her father, Mitchell Winehouse said goodbye to his daughter at the private ceremony in North London.

“Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much,” he said.

Her issues with drugs and alcohol have been well documented. Winehouse died alone in her bed as many addicts are, alone in the dark fighting off demons. It is still unclear whether she took an overdose of drugs or a lethal combination or bad drugs, (or none of the above) but according to rumors, those disastrous habits are probably the cause of her death.

Winehouse never got on top of her disease. It controlled her for the majority of her short life, right up until the very end.

She joined the “27 Club” — also known as the Forever 27 Club or the Curse of 27 — alongside Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Dave Alexander of the Stooges and Kurt Cobain. The 27 Club is the title for a group of influential musicians who all died at the age of 27 and they all are generally considered to have led a “rock and roll” lifestyle.

Unfortunately, she never received the help she so badly needed. Media is full of clips showing her stumbling across the stage during a show and it is well known, Winehouse wasn’t a fan of rehab and wrote a hit song about it.

“They tried to make me go to rehab but I said no, no, no,” she sang.

An article in the Daily Mail said, “Generous Amy Winehouse spent £130,000 sending her friend Alex Foden to rehab, when perhaps she should have spent it curing herself.”

It’s easy for those who are not addicts to judge and make comments about drug addicts or alcoholics because most people are lucky enough to have a mind that knows when to stop.

Things are very different in the minds of addicts. Most people may believe that if she had just checked herself in, she could have walked away from all those poisons. Sadly, things are not as easy as many people think. Rehab can give the tools, but each person has to walk the road alone. Only Amy Winehouse could have helped Amy Winehouse, but she didn’t ask to be an addict in the first place.

Broadcaster Piers Morgan struck out at Winehouse’s record company and promoters in the wake of the singer’s death. He claimed that Winehouse did not receive enough support from “the people making money out of her” as she battled her personal problems.

Morgan said to Access Hollywood,“I do blame people. Where were all the people making money out of her when it mattered? Really, where were they? You know, it’s just not good enough that they’re all going to make millions out of it now she’s dead. You know, the album ’Back To Black’ is number one… but people let her down.”

In her short life, Winehouse won five Grammys and three Ivor Novello awards, among many others. She had sold thousands of records and was popular at the time of her death.

She received her first guitar when she was 13, and began writing music a year later. She began working soon after as a journalist in addition to singing with local group the Bolsha Band. Her special talent couldn’t go unnoticed for long. She became commercially known singing jazz. She seamlessly blended old R&B with the music of jazz crooners and came up with something that sounded simultaneously fresh and classic.

An anonymous source close to Winehouse’s record label has said that the late singer had recorded around 12 new songs which may now see the light of day. She had been in and out of the studio for the last three years, according to the spokesperson. If any new material is released, it would have to be decided on by her parents, as well as her label and management company, reports The Guardian.

Winehouse achieved what she did without compromise. Many singers will come and go having small moments of popularity but there will be one Amy Winehouse.

The fact is that the majority of musicians who made a huge career, from rock bands to individually artists, their careers had something to do with drugs and some sort of addicted habits. Many popular songs were written during drug use and it is difficult to know whether or not the songs would be the same if written under sober conditions.

In one or another way music and drugs are correlated. The true inspiration may only exist when they move from the reality to another place and there you find the great conception. It is not just luck that some of the greatest songs were written during drug use. Probably only in their personal moment of use they had those great inspirations. Fortunately or unfortunately, music would not have been the same without drugs.

dutourdumonde / Shutterstock.com

The article Amy Winehouse: It Was “Stronger Than Her” appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The last goodbye for Amy WInehouse will take place today (July 26). The location and time have not been revealed.

Based on some information taken from the music magazine NME: “A spokesperson for the star’s family said the small, private event will be attended by family and close friends.”

The ceremony will be conducted in a London Synagoge. As a Jeweish tradition the ceremony is taking place as soon as possible.

Sharon Osbourne exposed on US chat show The Talk, that the singers friends and family were gathering at the family home as a Jewish grief tradition.“She’s with Amy‘s mum, they’re doing shiva at the house,” she said of her daughter Kelly,. “She’s there with all the girls that used to hang out with Amy”

Mitch Winehouse, said to the fans that were gathered ouside Amy’s home: “Amy was about one thing, and that was love. Her whole life was devoted to her family friends, and to you guys as well. So we’re devastated, and I’m speechless. Also, Mitch make sured that today the only person that would not be welcomed to attend the funeral is Winehouse’s jailed ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil.

Amy Winehouse was being examined and a toxicology test performed, and the results will be known around two to four weeks. But the official cause of death will not be known until October.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/rukes/3240235128/sizes/o/in/photostream/

The article Amy Winehouse Funeral Will be Conducted Today, With a Private Jewish Ceremony Among Family and Friends appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.