Nick Cave and Warren Ellis are busy writing the score for Back to Black, a biopic about Amy Winehouse. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson in The Guardian:
Nick and Warren were the only musicians in my mind to score Back to Black. Over the years, I’ve listened to everything they’ve composed and longed to realise the dream of working together. Their sensibility as well as understanding of this story has led to a profoundly deep and moving film score.
Watch Mark Ronson going back on his work on the demo of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black for BBC Maestro.
Watch Amy Winehouse and Paul Weller tackle the Motown classic I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Broadcasted as part of Jools' 14th Annual Hootenanny on December 31, 2006.
Watch Amy Winehouse perform The Beatles' classic All My Loving. Recorded live for the UK TV series Glastonbury Calling, 21 June 2004.
Composer Gil Cang has shared the first demo that Amy Winehouse recorded in September 2001 when she was 17. My Own Way, co-written with James Mcmillan and Maryanne Morgan, was put to tape in only three takes at his studio in Camden. The music is a bit tinny, but the vocal delivery is great.
A song about Amy Winehouse will be included on the new Patti Smith album:
The little song for Amy just blossomed in the studio. We were at Electric Lady doing a whole other song and I wrote Amy a little poem when she died and my bass player, Tony Shanahan, wrote a piece of music and the two matched perfectly.
Posthumous releases are tricky. You can fill a couple of shelves with total crap outtakes, alternate takes, demos and what-not. Lioness: Hidden Treasures, the third Amy Winehouse album has its fair share of clunkers - somebody please shoot the guy who thought that it would be a good idea to let rapper Nas piss all over Like Smoke. Body And Soul, a duet with Tony Bennett is another example of a duet of two famous singers who never gel.
Miss Winehouse had a great voice and there is plenty of good stuff to be heard on this album. Between The Cheats and Best Friends are gut wrenching songs about her rocky relationship and the cover of the bossa nova classic The Girl From Ipanema finds her in a jazz mood, a genre that got overshadowed later on in her career. On the other hand there are three alternate versions of song that ended up on Back to Black ... As a work-in-progress it's nice to have them, but it would have made more sense to add those to another expanded version of that album.
This album is no match for Frank and Back to Black, records who lifted her to superstar status, widely regarded as the greatest singer of the 21st century until now. Don't expect this to be this last addition to her discography. It would be safe to assume that there will another grab bag release just in time for your 2012 Christmas shopping list.
Lioness: Hidden Treasures is released on Universal Republic.
Tracks:
Keller Williams is a singer and guitar player who listens to just any kind of music for inspiration. His live shows are fabled for his picks of cover songs. He teamed up with Larry and Jenny Keel to cut an album called Thief filled with bluegrass cover versions of songs by the likes of Amy Winehouse, The Grateful Dead, Cracker, and Kris Kristofferson (who has two songs, the opener and the closing track).
As regular on the live circuit the songs were recorded live, with only the vocals needing overdubs. The Raconteurs' Switch and the Spur is sped up, with the interludes slowed down to a leisurely vibe that begs to be stretched in concert. The infamous Pepper by the Butthole Surfers, a long time student dorm favorite sounds as sleazy as it going to get in an acoustic setting. Hardcore Amy Winehouse fans will won't like their treatment of Rehab, which is transformed into a late-night drinking song.
Thief is for the open-minded music lovers who don't have to look up artists like Danny Barnes or Marcy Playground. Highly recommended if you are familiar with the originals.
Keller & The Keels:
Keller Williams: acoustic 12 sting
Larry Keel: actosutic guitar
Jenny Keel: upright bass
Thief is released on SCI Fidelity. Release date: May 25. Pre-order it from his website. Buyers are entered in a contest for for a 90 minute private acoustic performance by Keller and The Keels in the winner's living room for them and up to 49 of their friends.
Tracks:The May 25 record release gig is on a Riverboat on the Rappahanock departing from Fredericksburg.
