Universal Republic recently released Lioness: Hidden Treasures, a compilation of never released Amy Winehouse tracks. The album isn’t as peppy as Back to Black, but it still holds its own even if I’d describe it as coffee shop mellow music. In fact, I think that would be my perfect setting to listen to this album. Drinking java, working on my laptop, all whilst taking small brakes to take the music in. It’s in those small brakes you take that you learn something new about a song and hear a little more soul than the time before.
The 12 track album features some mellow yet peppier tracks like “Our Day Will Come”, “Valerie”, and “Best Friends, Right?”. Then there’s a slew of soulful slower jams like “Tears Dry”, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”, “Wake Up Alone”, and “Body And Soul” featuring Tony Bennett. My personal favourites are the funky “Like Smoke” featuring Nas, the spunky feel-good “Valerie”, “The Girl From Ipanema” which makes me want to be cool and grab a piña colada, and the closing track “A Song For You” which will probably break your heart a little bit (“…and when my life is over,remember when we were together, we were alone and I was singing this song for you….” – think they made this one the final track on purpose?).
Although the album feels more like a modge podge of tracks that I wouldn’t really call treasures, they’re treasures in the sense that they’re the only thing we have left to remember the talented Winehouse.
Rating: 7/10
Label: Universal Republic
Favourites: Like Smoke, Valerie, The Girl From Ipanema
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