Mouth almighty

I've been looking for an excuse to give Amy Winehouse a plug so the news that her debut album "Frank" has been nominated for this year's Mercury Prize will do. "Frank" was my favourite album of last year, and though she's getting well known in England the album hasn't been released in the States yet which is a bit of a drag for those of us who would like the chance to see her live one of these days. So look on this as my way of spreading some buzz about her on this side of the Atlantic. For those who don't know, Amy is 20-year-old Brit with the voice of an old jazz diva who smokes too much. There's more than a touch of the Dinah Washington's about her sexy pipes but also a fair bit of Erykah Badu too which stops her being another of those cliched retro "jazz" acts around these days (like Norah Jonezzzzzzz) and her debut mixes old-timey jazz stylings with hip-hop and soul touches in a fresh and modern way. Amy is an, um, opinionated young lady who likes shooting her lovely mouth off in interviews and writes spiky songs about sex, infidelity, lust, useless boyfriends, sex and more sex. She has good reason to be brash and mouthy though as she's a hell of a talent who should be a megastar. "Stronger Than Me" is a bitchy song with a swinging funk groove where Amy gives a good slap to her "girly man" boyfriend and "Take The Box" is a beautiful, sad and angry ballad about the end of a relationship which more experienced songwriters would probably give their right arms to have written. If you want to hear more (and you should) hie thee to her website forthwith.

[Download]
Stronger Than Me - Amy Winehouse
Take The Box - Amy Winehouse