Lioness: Hidden Treasures - Amy Winehouse

Five years after the release of her second album, Back to Black, Amy Winehouse is still one of British music’s most important names. That’s the kind of weight 3.26 million sales in the UK alone earns you.

But Back to Black’s wild success also crushed its maker. There’s no doubt Winehouse struggled to follow it up. When she died on July 23 she only had two songs for a new album. Those two songs provide the most interesting moments on this collection of out-takes, covers and posthumously-completed recordings.

‘Between the Cheats’ is a doo-wop number that sees Winehouse sailing over burnished backing vocals, jabbing pianos and horn parps. More of a regression than a progression of Back to Black’s retro soul sound, it nevertheless feels like she was moving things on. ‘Like Smoke’ sees her paired with rapper Nas. The resulting soul-hip hop hybrid sounds not unlike The Roots – a good thing.

The remaining 10 tracks are interesting largely because of their behind-the-scenes feel. ‘The Girl from Ipanema’, recorded in 2002 when Winehouse was just 18, has a captivating breeziness, while ‘Tears Dry’ is an early ballad version of ‘Tears Dry on their Own’. A cover of ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ by The Shirelles is decent albeit a little perfunctory, something that could also be said of the jazz-lite of ‘Half Time’, recorded during the sessions for her 2003 debut Frank.

The album ends with ‘Song for You’, a minimal version of the track made famous by one of Winehouse’s heroes, Donny Hathaway. Lioness is no masterpiece, but it is far better than most posthumous releases. A bittersweet reminder that she was a very special talent.