Amy went back to black but her imitators are all beige

Kitty Empire

Sunday February 17, 2008

The Observer

 

Last Tuesday, I went to see an up-and-coming singer perform in a small, west London club. Beth Rowley's debut single, 'Oh My Life', was going great guns at Radio 2 last week. Spurred along by parping sax, it combines the vintage swing of a Mark Ronson production with the breeziness of a Sixties girl group. Sound familiar?

 

Crammed on to a tiny stage, her revue-style band featured a double bass and two hand-jiving backing singers as well as the sax. It was surefootedly retro, with Motown stylings brushing up against some toilet-trained blues. She didn't seem sure, but Rowley thought she played a Dylan cover too ('I Shall Be Released'). Front and centre was Rowley's dextrous voice, an instrument honed at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, the pop conservatoire whose renown as a fame academy has thus far been limited to producing the Kooks.

 

It felt like deja vu. We're not far into 2008 and I have been to this gig at least twice before. Last month, Duffy and her coterie of just-so session musicians played a London residency in a similar gussied-up basement. It was classy, it was retro, it was a little bit girl group. Torch singer Adele vibed up her own classy, retro blues soiree last month by revealing an actual personality between songs.

I've been to some other gigs, too. A visit to the NME's annual new band's tour just confirmed that the country is in the throes of an MOR boom and that the other side - the combined forces of indie rock, new rave and the like - are not fighting back hard enough. I was craving that nice cleansing feeling of ringing in the ears after so much Back to Beige, but there were only limited thrills to be had.

 

As befitted gigs by such sure-bet new female artists, the venues for Adele'n'Duffy'n'Beth were buzzy and snug. Or maybe it was because there was a tattooed elephant on day-release from rehab in the room. Beth Rowley played her gig the day after Amy Winehouse won five Grammys, for best pop vocal album, best female pop vocal performance, best new artist, song of the year and record of the year. If there had been any way of giving Winehouse one for best male country vocal performance or best tropical Latin album, you sense the judges would have considered it.

 

As though the blanket saturation and global sales figures for Winehouse's Back to Black weren't proof enough, here was a timely reminder that these days, sassy, vintage, soulful, bluesy, girl-group pop pays well. So is it any surprise that we are witnessing not just a first run (Adele'n'Duffy), but, now, a second wind of copycats? It is, as they say, a no-brainer for record companies scrambling to make money out of an increasingly tricky pop game. This is the Fordist principle of pop production: find a model that sells and then make lots of them.

 

What a shame, though, that brains and other important body parts - ears, guts, gristle, balls, belly, soul, that kind of thing - have also seemingly vanished from female pop's body politic in the wake of Winehouse's success. Every record label is chasing their own Amy - preferably a white one and one without all that ink and crack. (If you are black, British and - say - called Estelle, you have to take your retro soul-pop stylings to America to be given a proper hearing.) Suitable candidates are being fast-tracked into tidy marketing synergies and given generous press coverage. All these second- and third-generation Amys are, without exception, easier on the ear and a damn sight less trouble than Winehouse herself.

 

The single most interesting thing about Beth Rowley is that, like Paddington Bear, she was born in Darkest Peru. Her parents were missionaries (like, coincidentally, Natasha Bedingfield's). She's lived in Bristol since she was two and she has truly fantastic hair. Unlike her music, it is gloriously unruly.

 

The mild rot won't stop at Beth Rowley, either. Even now, the Yo Amy! conveyor belt is wheeling round Gabriella Cilmi, a 16-year-old Italian-Australian singer whose sassy, retro single 'Sweet About Me' is due out in March. In the meantime, that's her singing the theme tune to ITV's Echo Beach, fronting Boots's No 17 make-up range and on the soundtrack to the St Trinian's flick. In an intriguing twist, Xenomania (Girls Aloud, Sugababes and now Franz Ferdinand) have produced her album. Xenomania's Brian Higgins knows a thing or two about retro sounds, having fitted Girls Aloud out with surf guitar for their debut single 'Sound of the Underground'. But the nagging feeling that this is low alcohol Winehouse-lite remains.

 

Everyone apart from the Grammy judges seems to have forgotten that Back to Black was actually a stonking great album, born of heartbreak, raw with carpet burn, curdled by regret, blown along by great verve. Well, that one song about weed at the end was probably superfluous. I pinch myself daily that Amy has outsold the workaday lady-piffle that normally sells by the containerload. Yes, there are far worse genres to be clogging up the airwaves than ersatz girl group retro-pop - jazz funk, say - but what is so galling is that so much of this music is lacklustre and anaemic. Winehouse demonstrated how to do it right. She bridged a heretofore uncrossable chasm between the polite, MOR forces of Radio 2 and full-on, mascara-running, romantic apocalypse. Was anyone really paying attention?

 

Do you agree with this reviewer's opinion or not?

I certainly don't agree that Back To Black was a stonking album. :lol: Half-killer, half-filler and no middle ground!

It was only a matter of time before the Winehouse factory got in full swing. Maybe that's a very unfair any cynical approach though. Singers like Duffy and Adele are nothing like the amazing Winehouse, but are deep rooted musically with style and substance.

 

There's no denying Duffy is a great vocalist, but a large bulk of it is marketing and being accurately managed.

 

Even in the midst of the tabloid frenzy that surrounds Amy, she is worth every single tiny bit of the praise and hype she receives because I firmly believe she is so unique and cannot be duplicated in anyway, which is why record companies are opting for something that is inspired rather than a blatant ripp-off in the shape of all these retro style singers that are flooding in.

<_<

 

Wooooaaah there!! Beth Rowley has been gigging for ages! I first saw her at Glastonbury festival in 2005 singing bluesy/gospel numbers. Ok it was on one of the smaller stages and not the Pyramid stage that I saw Winehouse on two years later. The next time I saw Rowley was at Shepherds Bush Empire last month where she gave an impressive performance.

Duffy-who I'm looking forward to seeing very soon, Rowley, Cilmi and Adele are all fantastic artists, the Observer article left me scratching my head as these artists haven't just 'appeared out of thin air' and can't be labeled 'copycats'. indeed from doing some basic research online they seem to have all been working on their careers for some time - way before the amazing Back to Black.

Maybe the article writer should do some basic research (thats what journalists do isn't it?). I'm sure I'm not the only person to think it rather cynical and not that useful as a 'review'. This kind of cynical journalism, no matter who its regarding, is most annoying- a review should be a review!!? The Observer, which I often read, needs to pull its socks up! :)

Edited February 22, 200817 yr by Jonnym

I think it's as much an attack on those marketing these acts - all too often I read press releases which have been written with no other motive than to associate the artist in question with certain other artists or a scene. It puts a lot of pressure on their act to deliver and history will nearly always show that the copycats don't really prosper.

I certainly don't agree that Back To Black was a stonking album. :lol:

 

Liked frank but im not gonna bother with Back To Black

Don't normally bother with the Brit Awards but got totally sucked up into the Winehouse/Ronson hype-asaurus and liked it.Lots. Saw Kate Nash receiving her award and I thought she did well to comment that 'female is not a genre'. That kinda summed up the whole patranising topic of lumping all girl singers together. Nice one Kate!

'Frank' is, most probably, my favorite album of all time. I cannot even begin to say how many times I've listened to the album and I still get a buzz when I hear her heartfelt goodbye in 'Take The Box' or the nasty 'In My Bed', which is my absolute favorite Wino track of all time. I'm still in love with 'Back To Black' aswell, but it' such as different album they shouldn't be compared.

Edited February 25, 200817 yr by ScottyEm

I wouldn't exactly call Duffy an imitator, she obviously has talent and her style is very different from Winehouse I'd argue. She can't win really can she? What does she do, avoid her style of music to avoid the comparisons? Duffy's been working on her album for several years now, perhaps the marketing is Winehouse-esque but beyond there the similarities fall away. It's lazy journalism on the behalf of much of the music press out there imho...

 

As for Rowley/Climi, both are awful, absolutely without substance.

I wouldn't exactly call Duffy an imitator, she obviously has talent and her style is very different from Winehouse I'd argue. She can't win really can she? What does she do, avoid her style of music to avoid the comparisons? Duffy's been working on her album for several years now, perhaps the marketing is Winehouse-esque but beyond there the similarities fall away. It's lazy journalism on the behalf of much of the music press out there imho...

 

I'll echo you on this. They are very different indeed.

As for Rowley/Climi, both are awful, absolutely without substance.

 

 

Hmmm.. Don't agree with this. Though I haven't heard enough of Cilmi to say for sure she seems more 'poppy' and also very young. Have you seen Beth Rowley live? If you haven't I think you may change your opinion (sounds like you may have already made your mind up though! :) ). She blows people away with her voice at gigs, really. She's got a different style again and some of the bluesier /gospel songs she sings I couldn't imagine Duffy pulling off as well. Its early days yet though but the girl has got real potential and substance- lets wait for the album.

 

Can't wait for the release of Duffy's album. I agree she has a totally different style to Winehouse though she does fit in quite snuggly behind her if 'Mercy' is anything to go by. She's deffo got the talent (probably an understatement), the presence, she seems like a genuinely nice person and not to mention has excellent, glitzy production. She's obviously got a good team around her at management and record label level who have all done there jobs perfectly in terms hitting timing and marketing right on the head- obviously they could see what a talent she was and they pulled out all the stops.

Also can't wait to hear what sort of album Amy Winehouse is going to put out next. I can't see it being anything like the same style as back to black. I'm thinking that large parts of her audience may have moved on as she will have probably done and can see her wanting to do something totally different - hitting us all from a different angle...

 

Radio 5 live on the Simon Mayo show, Wednesday 5th March about 2hours 15min into the show Beth Rowley went head to head with the Observers’ Kitty Empire in a discussion about the 'Fad' of recent female singers. Beth Rowley stood her ground and made some good points not least on the worthlessness of the discussion itsself. Misery monger cynic Kitty didn't really have any solid argument on this matter and Beth came out on top with her overriding honesty and passion out shining the others on the show. Well done Beth Rowley for standing up.

 

 

Radio 5 Live"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/mayo.shtml?focuswin"]Radio 5 Live

Hmmm.. Don't agree with this. Though I haven't heard enough of Cilmi to say for sure she seems more 'poppy' and also very young. Have you seen Beth Rowley live? If you haven't I think you may change your opinion (sounds like you may have already made your mind up though! :) ). She blows people away with her voice at gigs, really. She's got a different style again and some of the bluesier /gospel songs she sings I couldn't imagine Duffy pulling off as well. Its early days yet though but the girl has got real potential and substance- lets wait for the album.

 

well i think with Cilmi - people know that she's been produced by Xenomania/Brain Higgins and therefore assume the worse - of what i've heard she's good and i much prefer her voice to Duffy and Adele - and it should be viewed that its good that Xenomania can adapt from doing brilliant electro-stomp records for Girls Aloud to doing something more like this. And as far as Duffy and Adele and "Stock Aiken and Waterman producer types" are conserned just have to say....

 

http://birdie-song.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/eg.jpg

 

look everybody its the man from Brother Beyond and he's sitting in a dessert being a spaceman (you know just like Jas Mann is probably doing at this moment now :lol: )

 

 

Have you seen Beth Rowley live? If you haven't I think you may change your opinion (sounds like you may have already made your mind up though! :) ). She blows people away with her voice at gigs, really. She's got a different style again and some of the bluesier /gospel songs she sings I couldn't imagine Duffy pulling off as well. Its early days yet though but the girl has got real potential and substance- lets wait for the album.

 

Beth Rowley has won over my mum with her Oh My Life single - at first it was like jokes about the number of time unknown singer's song said 'all my life' - 'all my life' - but no she likes it - grown on her - which i guess is the point as far as "mum-rock" goes