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| original cover |
release date: Oct. 20, 2003
format: 2 cd (2008 reissue - Deluxe Edition)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,94]
producer: Gordon Williams; Salaam Remi
label: Universal Island - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: Disc 1) 1. "Intro / Stronger Than Me" - 2. "You Sent Me Flying" - 3. "Know You Now" - 4. "Fuck Me Pumps" - 5. "I Heard Love Is Blind" - 7. "(There Is) No Greater Love" (aol live session) - 8. "In My Bed" - 9. "Take the Box" - 11. "What Is It About Men?" - 12. "Help Yourself" - 13. "Amy Amy Amy / Outro" - 'Brother' (hidden track) / 'Mr Magic (Through the Smoke)' (hidden track) - - Disc 2) 1. "Take the Box" (Original Demo) - 2. "You Sent Me Flying" (Original Demo) - 3. "I Heard Love Is Blind" (Original Demo) - 4. "Someone to Watch Over Me" (Original Demo) - 5. "What Is It" (Original Demo) - 6. "Teach Me Tonight" (live) (Hootenanny) - 9. "Stronger Than Me" (live) (Later With Jools Holland) - 10. "I Heard Love Is Blind" (Live at the Concorde, Brighton) - 11. "Take the Box" (Live at the Concorde, Brighton) - 12. "In My Bed" (Live at the Concorde, Brighton) - 13. "Mr Magic" (Janice Long Session) - 14. "(There Is) No Greater Love" (Janice Long Session)
Studio album debut by Amy (Jade) Winehouse (born Sep. 1983 in Southgate, London) originally released on Island Records is made with several producers where the two main forces are Gordon Williams (aka 'Commissioner Gordon') and Salaam Remi (aka 'The Chameleon'), who are both credited as producers of six of the standard album's thirteen compositions either alone or together. Winehouse herself, Matt Rowe, Jimmy Hogarth and Jony Rockstar are all credited as co-producers.
Stylistically, the album represents a huge mix of styles and genres with vocal jazz, rhythm & blues, and soul at the core of most compositions, although, it's difficult not also to mention pop soul and neo-soul and perhaps the all-American standards of the '50s and '60s as one of the major inspirational sources. Also, the album title both refers to Winehouse's lyrics as well as directed at one of her childhood idols: Frank Sinatra.
Winehouse has written the majority of the lyrics and composed the songs in collaboration with either Salaam Remi (5 songs), and Gordon Williams (3 songs) or Donovan Jackson (3 songs) plus a variety of others. The album also contains two classic jazz compositions (tracks #6 and 7).
The Deluxe Edition of the album contains a Bonus disc of 18 additional songs - consisting of B-sides, live recordings and extended mixes of songs from the album.
The album went as high as to number #13 on the UK charts, and although, none of the four single releases from the album made it any higher than #57 on the national singles charts, the album was nominated the Mercury Prize in 2004 and Winehouse was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for her songwriting and she was nominated British Female Solo Artist and British Urban Act at the Brit Awards 2004.
Following Winehouse's death, the album re-entered the album charts and went to number #3.
Frank is the fine and yet somewhat incoherent debut by one of Britain's most talented songwriters and vocalists of the modern era. She sings with ease and so much soul that it's a thrill - despite, production-wise, being a bit messy, as if it can't decide whether it's made for the vast pop masses or the lovers of vocal jazz - Winehouse herself was dissatisfied about the album, which she among other things described "a shambles" made by idiots. You really have to grant her that the included demos on the Bonus Disc support her by revealing the strength of several songs have been over-produced beyond recognition. Eg. the brilliant demo of "You Sent Me Flying" is completely without the tenderness and vocal power on the original album, and the same quality may also be said about the other four demos. It just seems too many chefs were involved in the making of her debut album. They simply didn't realise the kind of magic they were holding in their hands, so they "had to" re-arrange and produce the raw material into something else. Unfortunately.
That said, Frank is still the very very fine debut by Amy Winehouse.
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian 4 / 5, PopMatters 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 2,5 / 5 stars ]
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| 2008 2-Disc Deluxe Edition |
