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Amy Winehouse glides across the pond and onto American shores this week riding a veritable tidal wave of critical acclaim and lavish praise for her sophomore album, Back to Black. 

The buzz preceding the 22-year-old Winehouse and her latest recording, which has been touted as a revelation of sorts in soul music, has been so intensely deafening up to this point that I had already dismissed a good part of the seemingly sycophantic chatter surrounding the album as pure hype before even listening to a single track. After all, how many times have we all had the supposed ‘next big thing' shoved down our throats, only to find that he, she or it was anything but. However, I couldn't have been more jaded in my preliminary assessment of Miss Winehouse. Not only is Amy Winehouse's Back To Black worthy of all the hype it has engendered thus far, it is deserving of far more. 

While the rise of hip-hop over the last decade has in some ways diluted the essence of R&B and soul music, a new generation of singers like Corinne Bailey Rae, Leela James, Joss Stone, Robin Thicke and James Morrison have made it their business to remind us of the very foundation of R&B – the blues, jazz and gospel – that has made soul one of the most enduring and revered genres music has ever given birth to. However no singer in recent memory has offered a more powerful reminder of the grit, guts and glory of soul music than Amy Winehouse, who with Back To Black has definitively delivered the best and most authentic soul album of the new millennium. 

Listening to Back In Black is akin to traveling back in time to a one-night-only concert with some of music's most legendary leading ladies. The disc opens with the '60s inspired groove, "Rehab", which finds Winehouse evoking the spirit of Ronnie Spector on the horn-driven, gospel-flavored track. Next Winehouse combines two parts Shirley Bassey with one part Billie Holliday as she transforms her sound on the sublime musical cocktail that is track two, "You Know I'm No Good", a retro-soul number that begs to be enjoyed while sipping an ice cold Martini attired in a mini-dress and a smart pair of patent leather go-go boots. Ditto for the superlative title track, "Back To Black", which could singularly cause a new British invasion. 

Etta James is probably sitting somewhere wondering why track three, "Me & Mr. Jones", wasn't written for her four decades ago, as it has her signature all over it. Meanwhile the cool elegance and eccentric phrasing of legendary song stylist, Nancy Wilson, inform Winehouse's delivery of the jazz-soul hybrid tracks "Just Friends" and "Love Is A Losing Game", both smooth mellow numbers that count themselves of among the disc's best. 

Speaking of best tracks, a truly hard call on a disc like Back In Black, the uptempo "Tears Dry On Their Own" is even on album defined by excellence, a superior track with its mixed message of melancholy and hope. 

Thereafter, Back in Black closes with the Bessie Smith seasoned slow jam, "Wake Up Alone", the smoky, jazz number, "Some Holy War" and the Betty Wright styled "He Can Only Hold Her", yet another peak on an album filled with them. 

Amy Winehouse's richly textured voice has enough timbre and emotion to shake the rafters of any Southern Baptist place of worship or better yet any juke joint stuck in time a la The Color Purple. Moreover with soul cred to spare and talent well beyond her years, with Back In Black, Amy Winehouse… a 22 year old white girl from London… is positioned to be the great savior of soul music. And that ain't hype. That's just the gospel truth. 

Amy Winehouse's Back In Black is on sale now at shop.chicagopride.com.

Written By Duane Wells
Article provided in partnership with GayWebMonkey.com.

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