This album is great and it sets the standard for quality modern pop music will anyone produce a album thats has so many winners on it this year?..ok underground soul, funk, hip-hop etc..artist may have good CD's out there and the promotion may not be as great but Amy as a pop/jazz artist was not a big name and her record company did not know she was gone sell this much let alone become a worldwide "name"

Three/Four years on and still going strong ..

18.12.08

Back to Black UK sales so far: 2,843,625 - 9 x Platinum. Includes the 2007 deluxe edition sales.
Back to Black US sales so far: 2,039,445 - 2 x Platinum

Worldwide sales so far: 11,000,000 + est. According to Worldwidealbums.net, UKmix.org and various other sites.

But every track is great....I think what sums up this album greatness is the Lack luster Review by Rolling Stone Magazine which gave it 3 stars out of 5 ... , but they where not the only big music magazines to underate this album...so here's to 2009...pop stars need to produce to this new standard!


"Rehab," the must-hear song that opens the second album from British soul singer Amy Winehouse, is a Motown-style winner with a banging beat and a lovesick bad girl testifying like Etta James about how she won't clean up her act. It's followed by the excellently funky "You Know I'm No Good" and "Me & Mr. Jones (Fuckery)," the latter of which begins, "What kind of fuckery is this?/You made me miss the Slick Rick gig." Winehouse is a nervy, witty songstress whom indie rockers, pop fans and hip-hoppers can dig. On Black, she gets help from producers Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, who turn classic soul sounds into something big, bright and punchy. The tunes don't always hold up. But the best ones are impossible to dislike: Witness "Addicted," a wistful gem in which Winehouse chooses weed over a lover.
[Edited 1/29/09 9:07am]

Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends' was the year's biggest album 2008, selling 6.6million copies, while Winehouse's 'Back To Black', first released in 2006, sold 5.1million.

i'm not sure about 11 Mio copies?

Well, one thing is sure. There is something going on in the music scene. The biggest newcomers are people that do non typical music. Amy's music sounds like 60s stuff. NO record producer would say this could become a hit. Most artists fear to try out different things and stick to this awful generic R'n'B sound.

graecophilos said:

And everyone and their dog has had a chance to download it from the internet ...but guess what they still went out and bought it...why? because its real music...not shit hop or britney ...

Yep 11 million released 2006 - 2009 still selling ...her record company must be really worried as i'm sure they never signed her to a long term deal...?

yeah it's solid songs by a solid singer who was in the news a lot. No mystery why it continues to sell

Is it a revolutionary album by the greatest living soul singer? not by any stretch. Not all the songs are great either. But her ability to sing with feeling and indeed NOT oversing, and the genuine (if retro) quality of her material was what got my attention

Then why does she look like a ten dollar whore?

There's a bunch of editions out there... it is one of those albums you end up buying more than once.

Her style is unlike anything else released at that time. It was retro/jazzy but also pop. Even now, there's not a lot out there like her. Duffy had her debut CD which is what the critics were calling "the new Amy Winehouse". Both CDs are excellent.

It's not really uncommon for CDs to sell this much when the artist is "new". Example: Alanis Morrissette sold a huge amount of Jagged Little Pill albums, but never has had even close to that level of success since. I don't think Amy Winehouse will either; this is a one-time phenomenon for her.

When "Back To Black" came out, I loved it. This was before I heard,"Frank". I now believe that "Frank" is the better of the two, CD's.

Im addicted to Amy Winehouse's music...my stomach aches when I look at her though...CLEAN HER UP PLEASE! She's actually a very attractive young lady with health in her cheeks and meat on her bones!

Se7en said:

I'm disappointed with Duffy's album. She can sing but her producers never let her.
She needs better material and producers. I'm available for both . . . .

Se7en said:

Co-sign.

I do hope tis isn't it from her, though.

shorttrini said:

Now this is where the lines are drawn...AMY is unlike alot of new artist someone who can deliver...i.e. FRANK ..if you forget the hype around her drug taking for a second...there is real talent their...Duffy etc..are hangers on and can't deliver the real feeling on record or live...she's more industry choice...Alanis was to centre ground to be indie ...more media choice to radio friendly and less...the type record buying public word of mouth..."you should buy this album"...

Amy has changed the way albums should be delivered ...just like Lauren Hill "M EoLH" did with real music, soul and feeling...a sence of what has happened to these people in their lifes that we could connect with...kind of who they are and who they want to be...

The last artist to do this on scale was Justin Timberfake....Justified ...at that time people where saying is this guy for real? or is he a fake?...It made Usher step up and deliver his best ever CD....well he had too he had no choice..it pushed music forward but like Usher and Justin...the questions got answered too quickly.. and both follow ups have been to fake to even rate....

Will this happen to AMY? i'm not sure you have FRANK and BACK TO BLACK so their is history...unlike the other artist i've mentioned who did not have a trail of progression?

LondonStyle said:

I have CD's. Although I like "Black's" vintage sound, the material on "Frank", just sounds more cohesive and is more personal. I think Amy, is a great talent however, her troubles seemed to have overshadowed it. This is a shame, that people can't see to look past a person's troubles. One question though, are you saying that Usher's latest CD is his best? I beg to differ.
[Edited 1/30/09 3:51am]

Though I'm not a fan, I checked out both of her CD's, and I like Frank better than Back to Black too, wayyy more

shorttrini said:

No way ...his (Usher) last CD was crap and he knows it....i'm talking about the one before...

LondonStyle said:

Yes, the one before was great. This one, there are no words to describe how bad it is. Goes to show what happens when some get married, have a child and write about it.

shorttrini said:

Well it about being honest and open ...and you have to have balls to do that ...to say to the public why you did it...he may want to keep it semi-private which means crapy songs and they tell you nothing...everyone knows married life is not easy ...so he wrote the album to early on ...hence fake crap

NDRU said:

That's more or less what I think about it. She's a genuinely soulful singer, and the songs are mostly really strong. I like the retro thing, because although it draws on old stuff it still does it in a contemporary way - I mean, that whole Mark Ronson production style's spread into loads of things after this.

Hope she can get her life together, not only for the fact that she's surely got a few more great albums left in her...

SUPRMAN said:

Interesting, 'cos my take was the other way round: I liked the production and the songs on the album (even though it's much more of a 'period piece' than the Winehouse record), but I'm never totally sold on her as a singer.

Maybe it is just that she's not quite suited to that context. Can't imagine what other kind of stuff she'd sing, though.

deebee said:

I really like Duffy's Rockferry album. I thought the songs were all finely crafted, but I've seen her live twice now and the second time it was clear that the retro-soul thing is a facade. Her voice was great live, but her body language told me she wasn't genuinely into the music like Amy is.

sextonseven said:

Maybe she'll branch out a bit with future albums, and that'll be a good thing for her. I can imagine that after Amy's album blew up record companies were trying get singers like Duffy to fit that mold. I guess you have to play the game if you want to get a break, but with a successful album behind her, she might have a bit more clout to go in her own direction.

shorttrini said:

Duffy's face and voice annoy me.

2freaky4church1 said:

trueiopian said:

Let's laugh at another person's mistakes and misfortune and inability to deal with things, i personally, unlike these stupid fucking bastards on these boards, would rather not. Even Prince implored us 'to look after her she's very special' at one of his aftershows in London the other year, right after she'd torn the roof off with him, and you know what? she really is.

She's trying to clean her game up, loved 'Frank', she can come back looking like that girl, just clean and singing, she'll have my vote. She's great, such an antidote to what is typical these days.

God Bless Amy.
[Edited 1/31/09 13:54pm]

Marrk said:

Oh yeah....Tell me why was she recently photoed at the beach butt ass naked playing scrabble with obese people?

I didn't notice that about people making different music selling lots, but it's true if you count worldwide sales of people like Amy, Norah Jones and even Dido earlier this year.

I was underwhelmed by Frank, but I genuinely like Back to Black.

trueiopian said:

she's european? and scrabble is edgy now?