CD review: Amy Winehouse - "Lioness: Hidden Treasures"

Posthumous releases are a notoriously difficult beast. While Amy Winehouse’s latest album, a mish-mash of covers, unreleased tracks and new compositions, is a poignant reminder of her immense talent, it doesn’t manage to conceal the cracks. Although the songs were chosen by Winehouse’s longtime collaborators, producers Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, it’s clear she wouldn’t have released half of this stuff if she was still alive, let alone assembled it as an album. It isn’t without merit – the 2003 track Halftime is a lusciously reupholstered R&B track, but elsewhere, the 45 minutes are stretched a bit thin.

(Island Records)

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