me & quincy jones

hello lovelies! first and foremost, before any wino talk, i have to yell to the rooftops:

GO-BAMA! :)

i've been so busy this week expressing my disgust over the jonathan ross/russell brand witch hunt and following the US election i've not kept up on my winehouse news. there hasn't been much, except that our heroine is out of the hospital and looking...kind of...sober and pretty? there's a look in her eyes in the above photo, a look of lucid sanity. like obama, it's damned refreshing!

anyway, today i read that amy has found a new friend in quincy jones, the uber-producer. a source reveals:

"Quincy has taken her under his wing and put her back onto the wagon...The two are collaborating on one or two projects and if anyone in the world can save a talent like Amy then it is 'Q'. He helped relaunch Michael Jackson's career with the Thriller album and has been responsible for countless hits over the years. He knows that if she can start to get her music career sorted then everything else should fit into place."

wino's spokesperson also said:

"They met at the Nelson Mandela concert in the summer and got chatting. He's a big fan of hers and she him. I know that she is also doing a number for the Quincy Jones' tribute album."

what's going on today? obama is elected and winehouse is on the mend? i think i might explode!!

AMY & QUINCY JONES

wino's intercom interview

our heroine has not been seen in public since the "end of summer" fiasco, but she did give an impromptu interview to some ballsy french woman through her camden intercom. there was talk of blaaake, bien sur, but nothing revelatory.

my favourite part of the interview is this exchange:

frenchie: "what can i wish for you amy?"

amy: "huh?"

frenchie: "what can we wish you for the future?"

amy: "don't worry about me, worry about yourselves and promise me you'll buy my album"

well done wino: me & mr. jones/valerie, bbc sessions, 2007

wino seems only *slightly* drunk in this performance, which means her voice is in decent shape. yay!

i couldn't decide between the two clips so lucky you, i'm posting them both! me & mr. jones has great vocals, end of story. but valerie is a strange interpretation, as she starts to cry in the 2nd verse. wino must have been thinking about (what else?) her blaaake! she keeps it together, which sadly is more than can be said for her 2008 performances so far.

well done wino: all my loving, bbc3, 2004

i had to dig way, way deep into the vaults to find something worthy of a "well done wino" post this week. after clearing out the cobwebs of youtube, i managed to find a precious, hidden gem.

"all my loving" is one of my favourite beatles songs. it always struck me as simple, but in amy's hands, the outstanding melody and melancholic lyrics really come to life. the superior quality of her voice in comparison to last week's v fest is extremely depressing, though. it is possible to retrain her voice- hell, cyndi lauper completely lost hers after a year singing joplin and retrained it gloriously- but it will be an uphill battle. perhaps years from now we'll refer to 2008 amy like we refer to 'fat elvis'. shame.

well done wino: love is a losing game, 2006

i'm always blown away by this performance. vocally it's stunning (even better than the original) and the emotion she puts into the song is spellbinding. it's especially touching when she asks, "was that all right?" at the end of the song.

was that all right? it was bloody genius, amy!

well done wino: addicted, glastonbury 2008

ok, so wino's set at glasonbury 2008 ended with some punchy punchy and vocals akin to a strangled cat. however, one can't deny the opening number was pretty darned great. the last verse in particular is quite fine.

well done wino: wake up alone, may 2007

with so much negative press swirling around, i've decided wednesday is the perfect day for "well done wino", a post dedicated to the good stuff. it's easy to forget our heroine is a musician and not just a cartoon character. o yeah...sometimes she sings...!?

this excellent performance has it all: blaaake in the audience, wino's idiosyncratic skirt-clutch, great vocals (listen for "breath-leess!" in the 2nd verse). one of her best tunes from back to black, in my humble yet loud opinion.

WAKE UP ALONE, SHEPHERD'S BUSH, MAY 2007