Amy Winehouse posthumous album announced for December 5th, 2011

Recently, we have seen the announcement of the forthcoming, posthumous album by Amy Winehouse, entitled "Amy Winehouse Lioness: Hidden Treasures". According to Pitchfork, it

was assembled by producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, working with her family, management, and label. 
A tracklisting posted on Winehouse's offical website notes that the album will include a number of one-take demos, unreleased collaborations, and new compositions. There's a track with Nas, one with the Dap Kings, and Winehouse's final recording, a cover of "Body & Soul" with Tony Bennett from Bennett's recent duets album. "Tears Dry" is the original ballad version of the Back to Black track "Tears Dry on Their Own".According to the BBC, £1 from each record sale will be donated to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, established by her father in September.

This is the tracklist of the new album:

01 Our Day Will Come [Reggae Version] 2002
02 Between the Cheats 2008
03 Tears Dry 2005
04 Wake Up Alone 2006
05 Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow [ft. the Dap Kings] 2004
06 Valerie 2006
07 Like Smoke [ft. Nas] 2008
08 The Girl From Ipanema 2002
09 Halftime 2002
10 Best Friends 2003
11 Body & Soul [ft. Tony Bennett] 2011
12 A Song for You 2009


In short, this is an album made of rehash; possibly not what many fans expected, although it will sell like hotcakes for sure.

In the article written by Diego A. Manrique after Amy's death (available in Spanish at El País and very interesting, as pretty much anything written by this guy), these are the last paragraphs, translated:

During the worst crisis of the music industry, she was one of the pillars of the Universal multinational. The company made what was possible for elongating her smashing success, releasing extended editions both of Frank and Back to black. Somehow, the general consensus among her circle was that it would be a good therapy to push her to make an album. Both of her producers, Slaam Remi and Mark Ronson, tried it but the inspiration had evaporated -Amy could participate in collective homages, performing other's songs- and the motivation was lost.
Through the pathway she opened, other British singers with education in soul and reggae entered: Lilly Allen, Duffy, Adele. They avoided the mistakes of Amy, a thin girl who was selling herself as a flamboyant sex symbol, with strong wishes of fun and impenetrable for critics. It is her misfortune that she died a few weeks before getting 28 years old, what puts her fully in the urban legend of the club of 27, the club of rock stars who disappear when reaching that age.
In reality, Amy belonged to another club: she was more the continuator of singers as Billie Holliday, Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone or Etta James. Some of them had habits as dangerous as those of Winehouse, but lived many years. In no book was written she had to die now, after doing only two albums: each drama has its reasons.

IMHO this article is completely spot-on, and two main conclusions are: first, we better forget about hopes for a proper third album being ever released. Second, whether we like it or not, her talent was huge, even if she was properly exploited by record companies to sell her way of living besides her music.


You can like her music or not, but the impact she had in the world of music, and in many music critics and music lovers (yours truly humbly included), transcends the case of "scandalous lady selling music". When I listen to her stunning interpretation of "There is no (greater love)", I am blown away, every time. And it has nothing to do with her consumption of prohibited substances, or to the fac that whe became a miserable star in tabloids. It has all to do with a gift for singing that appears very, very seldom.


All my opinion, of course.