"Amy Winehouse's expert melding of old-school styles with contemporary production and a riot-grrrl attitude didn't begin with her buzz-bin U.S. debut album "Back In Black" and its hit "Rehab."
Her album "Frank," a more stripped-down, jazzy effort released in 2003 in the U.K. and now Tuesday in the States, finds the edgy British singer rivaling greats including Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt and Lauryn Hill with her silky, smoky voice.
Though the guitar, piano and horn arrangements are top-shelf, it's Winehouse's wit and honesty that set her songs apart. On "Stronger Than Me," aimed at a disappointing lover, she scats convincingly before launching into scathing lines like "I'm not gonna meet your mother anytime/I just wanna grip your body over mine" and "I've forgotten all of young love's joy/Feel like a lady and you my lady boy/You should be stronger than me."
The sparse "F--k Me Pumps" isn't especially interesting musically, but the sarcastic lyrics elevate it: "Without girls like you, there"d be no fun/We'd go to the club and not see anyone" and "Without girls like you, there's no nightlife/All those men just go home to their wives."
Even when Winehouse is caught cheating, her rationalization to a jealous lover is in complete control in "I Heard Love is Blind:" "Don"t overreact - I pretended he was you/You wouldn't want me to be lonely."
Winehouse isn't limited lyrically to witty shrew: She's as unforgiving of herself as the men she skewers in "What is it About Men:" "I'll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing ... My destructive side has grown a mile wide/and I question myself again: What is it about men?"
Winehouse's voice is a jazz instrument in itself, constantly riffing around, exploring and enhancing blues chords while staying fully anchored, seemingly unable to hit a sour note. Those who would blanch at comparisons of Winehouse to timeless jazz and blues chanteuses surely haven't heard her sing.
Pod Picks: "Stronger Than Me," "I Heard Love is Blind," "What is it About Men.""
http://www.kansascit...ory/369738.html
FRANK IS HERE
Started by
kevd7
, Nov 20 2007 09:41 PM
29 replies to this topic
#5
kevd7
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Soaked in soul he swims in my eyes
Posted 21 November 2007 - 03:40 PM
some Arizona rag panned it. here's what i wrote back...."You really should listen to an album before you review it. Now, go back to your keyboard and write something that resembles less of a personal attack and more of an album review."
creeps...
creeps...
#8
Lainey
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Posted 21 November 2007 - 06:05 PM
From Yahoo Music:
Amy Winehouse: Frank (Universal)
Sadly now known for all the wrong reasons, the plucky Ms. Winehouse can finally be heard Stateside with the inevitable release of her 2003 debut album--a very solid piece of work that would be garnering oodles more respect here if she weren't such Celebrity Target material. Top-notch singing and playing highlight this set, and such songs as "F*** Me Pumps"--apparently her ode to working at a North London gas station--drive home her uniquely Amy Winehousian perspective. Surely I'm not alone in suggesting most guys would kill to bring this woman home to meet their moms!
From Entertainment Weekly:
Frank (2007) Amy Winehouse
By Chris Willman
Amy Winehouse's gossip-baiting ways might make some wonder whether everything smart about Back to Black was a fluke. It wasn't. Her first album — a U.K. smash in '03, now being issued here — bristles with fiercer intelligence, though it lacks the classic-soul warmth of the Mark Ronson-produced Black. On this jazzier debut, she's closer to Sade...if Sade specialized in jaw-dropping put-downs of overfeminized boyfriends and pub-hopping tarts. Even greater things were to come, but Winehouse may never write a better song than ''F--- Me Pumps.'' A-
DOWNLOAD THIS: ''F--- Me Pumps''
Amy Winehouse: Frank (Universal)
Sadly now known for all the wrong reasons, the plucky Ms. Winehouse can finally be heard Stateside with the inevitable release of her 2003 debut album--a very solid piece of work that would be garnering oodles more respect here if she weren't such Celebrity Target material. Top-notch singing and playing highlight this set, and such songs as "F*** Me Pumps"--apparently her ode to working at a North London gas station--drive home her uniquely Amy Winehousian perspective. Surely I'm not alone in suggesting most guys would kill to bring this woman home to meet their moms!
From Entertainment Weekly:
Frank (2007) Amy Winehouse
By Chris Willman
Amy Winehouse's gossip-baiting ways might make some wonder whether everything smart about Back to Black was a fluke. It wasn't. Her first album — a U.K. smash in '03, now being issued here — bristles with fiercer intelligence, though it lacks the classic-soul warmth of the Mark Ronson-produced Black. On this jazzier debut, she's closer to Sade...if Sade specialized in jaw-dropping put-downs of overfeminized boyfriends and pub-hopping tarts. Even greater things were to come, but Winehouse may never write a better song than ''F--- Me Pumps.'' A-
DOWNLOAD THIS: ''F--- Me Pumps''
#10
Lainey
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Posted 21 November 2007 - 06:17 PM
From The Washington Post:
Amy Winehouse: A 'Frank' Assessment
By Bill Friskics-Warren
U.S. Release of 2003 Debut Confirms Singer's Pre-Stardom Talent and Range
Amy Winehouse's 2003 debut, "Frank," was a U.K.-only release that came out back before all the hue and cry over her boozing and drugging, and all the critical acclaim for her follow-up album, "Back to Black." Now released stateside, "Frank" more than confirms what the fuss over Winehouse -- then just 19 and with a lot fewer tattoos -- was originally all about. The record doesn't contain anything as indelible as this year's hit single "Rehab," but as tracks like the libidinous "Amy Amy Amy" attest, her attitude and command were already there. And then some.
"Masculine, within his spell/I think he'd wear me well," Winehouse purrs, ogling a hunky guy while a background trio offers a tsk-tsking chorus of "Amy Amy Amy," as if to say, "Don't go there, girl." In "[Expletive] Me Pumps," Winehouse consoles a burned-out party girl who's pushing 30 and losing her looks. "At least your breasts cost more than hers," she says, sizing up one of the woman's rivals, her torchy burr reminiscent of a young Dinah Washington.
Winehouse (shown earlier this month) had plenty of attitude and musical command long before "Back to Black" boosted her to fame. )
The singer establishes a jazzy tone from the outset with a scatting intro followed by "Stronger Than Me," a mid-tempo workout hooked by slinky beats, cool horns and swinging, Wes Montgomery-style guitar. Sultry ballads and shambling neo-soul jams make up most of the program, with the occasional Latin-tinged chord progression or reggae horn arrangement to lift things out of a straight nouveau-cabaret bag.
Winehouse uses a lot of melisma on the album, maybe even overdoing it in spots, but there's no denying her phrasing and delivery, which are remarkably assured for a singer in her teens. She even has the chutzpah to tackle Billie Holiday's "There Is No Greater Love," a languorous ballad sweetened by empathetic sax, flute and piano. Another chestnut, "Moody's Mood for Love," has seen everyone from King Pleasure to Aretha Franklin put their stamp on it, but Winehouse handles it beautifully, adding bebop flourishes and effortlessly gliding from one register to another.
The beats and tempos on the album aren't as inventive as those on this year's hip-hop-inflected "Back to Black," and producer Salaam Remi's heavy reliance on rimshots sometimes makes Winehouse sound a little like an Erykah Badu manque. That said, with its atmospheric keyboards, skittering break beats and Hubert Laws-inspired flute, "In My Bed" clearly anticipates the urban backdrops of her breakthrough album. Not to be missed here is her scatting call-and-response with tenor player Vincent Henry on the vamp, in which it's tough to say what sounds more saxlike, Henry's horn or Winehouse's coarse-toned glossolalia.
"What Is It About Men," meanwhile, boasts a cameo from the great reggae guitarist Earl "Chinna" Smith, and on the breezy "October Song," a boppish lullaby of Bird land, Winehouse gives a shout-out to Sarah Vaughan. Earlier, on the smoldering kiss-off "Take the Box," she plays the bruised tough girl to the hilt. "Mr. False Pretense, you don't make no sense/I just don't know you/But you make me cry," she sings to a haunting organ and piano exchange, lines that could just as easily be turned around and applied to Winehouse's outsize foibles and gifts.
DOWNLOAD THESE: "In My Bed," "Take the Box," "Amy Amy Amy"
Amy Winehouse: A 'Frank' Assessment
By Bill Friskics-Warren
U.S. Release of 2003 Debut Confirms Singer's Pre-Stardom Talent and Range
Amy Winehouse's 2003 debut, "Frank," was a U.K.-only release that came out back before all the hue and cry over her boozing and drugging, and all the critical acclaim for her follow-up album, "Back to Black." Now released stateside, "Frank" more than confirms what the fuss over Winehouse -- then just 19 and with a lot fewer tattoos -- was originally all about. The record doesn't contain anything as indelible as this year's hit single "Rehab," but as tracks like the libidinous "Amy Amy Amy" attest, her attitude and command were already there. And then some.
"Masculine, within his spell/I think he'd wear me well," Winehouse purrs, ogling a hunky guy while a background trio offers a tsk-tsking chorus of "Amy Amy Amy," as if to say, "Don't go there, girl." In "[Expletive] Me Pumps," Winehouse consoles a burned-out party girl who's pushing 30 and losing her looks. "At least your breasts cost more than hers," she says, sizing up one of the woman's rivals, her torchy burr reminiscent of a young Dinah Washington.
Winehouse (shown earlier this month) had plenty of attitude and musical command long before "Back to Black" boosted her to fame. )
The singer establishes a jazzy tone from the outset with a scatting intro followed by "Stronger Than Me," a mid-tempo workout hooked by slinky beats, cool horns and swinging, Wes Montgomery-style guitar. Sultry ballads and shambling neo-soul jams make up most of the program, with the occasional Latin-tinged chord progression or reggae horn arrangement to lift things out of a straight nouveau-cabaret bag.
Winehouse uses a lot of melisma on the album, maybe even overdoing it in spots, but there's no denying her phrasing and delivery, which are remarkably assured for a singer in her teens. She even has the chutzpah to tackle Billie Holiday's "There Is No Greater Love," a languorous ballad sweetened by empathetic sax, flute and piano. Another chestnut, "Moody's Mood for Love," has seen everyone from King Pleasure to Aretha Franklin put their stamp on it, but Winehouse handles it beautifully, adding bebop flourishes and effortlessly gliding from one register to another.
The beats and tempos on the album aren't as inventive as those on this year's hip-hop-inflected "Back to Black," and producer Salaam Remi's heavy reliance on rimshots sometimes makes Winehouse sound a little like an Erykah Badu manque. That said, with its atmospheric keyboards, skittering break beats and Hubert Laws-inspired flute, "In My Bed" clearly anticipates the urban backdrops of her breakthrough album. Not to be missed here is her scatting call-and-response with tenor player Vincent Henry on the vamp, in which it's tough to say what sounds more saxlike, Henry's horn or Winehouse's coarse-toned glossolalia.
"What Is It About Men," meanwhile, boasts a cameo from the great reggae guitarist Earl "Chinna" Smith, and on the breezy "October Song," a boppish lullaby of Bird land, Winehouse gives a shout-out to Sarah Vaughan. Earlier, on the smoldering kiss-off "Take the Box," she plays the bruised tough girl to the hilt. "Mr. False Pretense, you don't make no sense/I just don't know you/But you make me cry," she sings to a haunting organ and piano exchange, lines that could just as easily be turned around and applied to Winehouse's outsize foibles and gifts.
DOWNLOAD THESE: "In My Bed," "Take the Box," "Amy Amy Amy"
#13
Lainey
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Posted 21 November 2007 - 07:13 PM
Miami Herald:
AMY WINEHOUSE "Frank" (Universal Republic) 3 1/2 stars
Amy Winehouse's expert melding of old-school styles with contemporary production and a riot-grrrl attitude didn't begin with her buzz-bin U.S. debut album "Back In Black" and its hit "Rehab."
Her album "Frank," a more stripped-down, jazzy effort released in 2003 in the U.K. and now Tuesday in the States, finds the edgy British singer rivaling greats including Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt and Lauryn Hill with her silky, smoky voice.
Though the guitar, piano and horn arrangements are top-shelf, it's Winehouse's wit and honesty that set her songs apart. On "Stronger Than Me," aimed at a disappointing lover, she scats convincingly before launching into scathing lines like "I'm not gonna meet your mother anytime/I just wanna grip your body over mine" and "I've forgotten all of young love's joy/Feel like a lady and you my lady boy/You should be stronger than me."
The sparse "F--k Me Pumps" isn't especially interesting musically, but the sarcastic lyrics elevate it: "Without girls like you, there"d be no fun/We'd go to the club and not see anyone" and "Without girls like you, there's no nightlife/All those men just go home to their wives." Even when Winehouse is caught cheating, her rationalization to a jealous lover is in complete control in "I Heard Love is Blind:" "Don"t overreact - I pretended he was you/You wouldn't want me to be lonely."
Winehouse isn't limited lyrically to witty shrew: She's as unforgiving of herself as the men she skewers in "What is it About Men:" "I'll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing ... My destructive side has grown a mile wide/and I question myself again: What is it about men?"
Winehouse's voice is a jazz instrument in itself, constantly riffing around, exploring and enhancing blues chords while staying fully anchored, seemingly unable to hit a sour note. Those who would blanch at comparisons of Winehouse to timeless jazz and blues chanteuses surely haven't heard her sing.
Pod Picks: "Stronger Than Me," "I Heard Love is Blind," "What is it About Men."
San Francisco Chronicle:
This is not the Amy Winehouse you know. "Frank" originally came out in Britain four years ago, before the then-19-year-old singer covered her arms with tattoos of naked girls, fought in the streets of London with her dazed husband and made amazing records that sounded like they were from 1967. Back then she was just another pop star singing gently swaying jazz and R&B tunes in the style of Erykah Badu. You're thinking: How could that possibly be any good? Well, the whole thing could do with a lot fewer flute solos, but the young Winehouse arrived with a load of gold-plated melodies, that enormous voice and brazen songs such as "Stronger Than Me" and "In My Bed," which goes like this: "The only time I hold your hand is to get the angle right." Was there ever any doubt she would someday rule the earth?
AMY WINEHOUSE "Frank" (Universal Republic) 3 1/2 stars
Amy Winehouse's expert melding of old-school styles with contemporary production and a riot-grrrl attitude didn't begin with her buzz-bin U.S. debut album "Back In Black" and its hit "Rehab."
Her album "Frank," a more stripped-down, jazzy effort released in 2003 in the U.K. and now Tuesday in the States, finds the edgy British singer rivaling greats including Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt and Lauryn Hill with her silky, smoky voice.
Though the guitar, piano and horn arrangements are top-shelf, it's Winehouse's wit and honesty that set her songs apart. On "Stronger Than Me," aimed at a disappointing lover, she scats convincingly before launching into scathing lines like "I'm not gonna meet your mother anytime/I just wanna grip your body over mine" and "I've forgotten all of young love's joy/Feel like a lady and you my lady boy/You should be stronger than me."
The sparse "F--k Me Pumps" isn't especially interesting musically, but the sarcastic lyrics elevate it: "Without girls like you, there"d be no fun/We'd go to the club and not see anyone" and "Without girls like you, there's no nightlife/All those men just go home to their wives." Even when Winehouse is caught cheating, her rationalization to a jealous lover is in complete control in "I Heard Love is Blind:" "Don"t overreact - I pretended he was you/You wouldn't want me to be lonely."
Winehouse isn't limited lyrically to witty shrew: She's as unforgiving of herself as the men she skewers in "What is it About Men:" "I'll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing ... My destructive side has grown a mile wide/and I question myself again: What is it about men?"
Winehouse's voice is a jazz instrument in itself, constantly riffing around, exploring and enhancing blues chords while staying fully anchored, seemingly unable to hit a sour note. Those who would blanch at comparisons of Winehouse to timeless jazz and blues chanteuses surely haven't heard her sing.
Pod Picks: "Stronger Than Me," "I Heard Love is Blind," "What is it About Men."
San Francisco Chronicle:
This is not the Amy Winehouse you know. "Frank" originally came out in Britain four years ago, before the then-19-year-old singer covered her arms with tattoos of naked girls, fought in the streets of London with her dazed husband and made amazing records that sounded like they were from 1967. Back then she was just another pop star singing gently swaying jazz and R&B tunes in the style of Erykah Badu. You're thinking: How could that possibly be any good? Well, the whole thing could do with a lot fewer flute solos, but the young Winehouse arrived with a load of gold-plated melodies, that enormous voice and brazen songs such as "Stronger Than Me" and "In My Bed," which goes like this: "The only time I hold your hand is to get the angle right." Was there ever any doubt she would someday rule the earth?
#15
kevd7
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Soaked in soul he swims in my eyes
Posted 21 November 2007 - 08:29 PM
Here's The Billboard review, glowing...interesting that Macy Gray should come up for this critic
"
Frank [US]
Released: November, 20, 2007
Record Label: Republic
Track: Title: Composer: Time:
1 Stronger Than Me 3:56
2 You Sent Me Flying 6:52
3 Know You Now 3:05
4 F**** Me Pumps 3:22
5 I Heard Love Is Blind 2:12
6 Moody's Mood for Love 3:30
7 (There Is) No Greater Love 2:10
8 In My Bed 5:19
9 Take the Box 3:22
10 October Song 3:26
11 What Is It About Men 3:31
12 Amy Amy Amy 13:16
Album Review
If a series of unfortunate comparisons (like the ones to follow) cause listeners to equate debuting British vocalist Amy Winehouse with Macy Gray, it's only natural. Both come on like a hybrid of Billie Holiday and Lauryn Hill who's had a tipple and then attempted one more late-night set at a supper-club than they should have. Despite her boozy persona and loose-limbed delivery, though, Winehouse is an excellent vocalist possessing both power and subtlety, the latter an increasingly rare commodity among contemporary female vocalists (whether jazz or R&
. What lifts her above Macy Gray is the fact that her music and her career haven't been marketed within an inch of their life. Instead of Gray's stale studio accompaniments, Winehouse has talented musicians playing loose charts behind her with room for a few solos. Instead of a series of vocal mellifluities programmed to digital perfection, Winehouse's record has the feeling of being allowed to grow on its own -- without being meddled with and fussed over (and losing its soul in the process). Simply hearing Winehouse vamp for a few minutes over some Brazilian guitar lines on "You Sent Me Flying" is a rare and immense pleasure. Also, like Nellie McKay (but unlike nearly all of her contemporaries), Winehouse songs like "Fuck Me Pumps," "Take the Box," and "I Heard Love Is Blind" cast a cool, critical gaze over the music scene, over the dating scene, and even over the singer herself. With "In My Bed," she even proves she can do a commercial R&B production, and a club version of "Moody's Mood for Love" not only solidifies her jazz credentials but proves she can survive in the age of Massive Attack. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
"
Frank [US]
Released: November, 20, 2007
Record Label: Republic
Track: Title: Composer: Time:
1 Stronger Than Me 3:56
2 You Sent Me Flying 6:52
3 Know You Now 3:05
4 F**** Me Pumps 3:22
5 I Heard Love Is Blind 2:12
6 Moody's Mood for Love 3:30
7 (There Is) No Greater Love 2:10
8 In My Bed 5:19
9 Take the Box 3:22
10 October Song 3:26
11 What Is It About Men 3:31
12 Amy Amy Amy 13:16
Album Review
If a series of unfortunate comparisons (like the ones to follow) cause listeners to equate debuting British vocalist Amy Winehouse with Macy Gray, it's only natural. Both come on like a hybrid of Billie Holiday and Lauryn Hill who's had a tipple and then attempted one more late-night set at a supper-club than they should have. Despite her boozy persona and loose-limbed delivery, though, Winehouse is an excellent vocalist possessing both power and subtlety, the latter an increasingly rare commodity among contemporary female vocalists (whether jazz or R&
. What lifts her above Macy Gray is the fact that her music and her career haven't been marketed within an inch of their life. Instead of Gray's stale studio accompaniments, Winehouse has talented musicians playing loose charts behind her with room for a few solos. Instead of a series of vocal mellifluities programmed to digital perfection, Winehouse's record has the feeling of being allowed to grow on its own -- without being meddled with and fussed over (and losing its soul in the process). Simply hearing Winehouse vamp for a few minutes over some Brazilian guitar lines on "You Sent Me Flying" is a rare and immense pleasure. Also, like Nellie McKay (but unlike nearly all of her contemporaries), Winehouse songs like "Fuck Me Pumps," "Take the Box," and "I Heard Love Is Blind" cast a cool, critical gaze over the music scene, over the dating scene, and even over the singer herself. With "In My Bed," she even proves she can do a commercial R&B production, and a club version of "Moody's Mood for Love" not only solidifies her jazz credentials but proves she can survive in the age of Massive Attack. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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