Amy Winehouse

★★★★ At The BBC UMC/ISLAND. CD/DL/LP

2012 CD/DVD set is now an audio only package.

At The BBC comprises Amy Winehouse’s TV and radio sessions plus live appearances stretching from 2003 to 2007. Together the 38 tracks provide a poignant reminder of what we lost: a torch singer who invested everything in her performance – eventually to her own cost – and who, during this timespan at least, balanced stylistic brilliance with emotional power and vitality. Her take on To Know Him Is To Love Him, recorded in 2006 for the Pete Mitchell Show, is peerless; the cover of Monkey Man at that year’s Hootenanny joyous, clearly revelling in the presence of her hero Rico. Ultimately, though, it’s Winehouse’s own songs that have the most impact, in particular the stripped down versions of Tears Dry On Their Own and You Know I’m No Good from a 2007 performance at Porchester Hall. They are utterly beguiling and testament to her tormented genius.

Lois Wilson