Lioness: Hidden Treasures

Rather than a glimpse into what a third album would have looked like for Amy Winehouse, Lioness: Hidden Treasures is more a reflection on her beginnings, potential side projects, and tragic end. Many of the tracks on this album come from close friend and producer Salaam Remi's personal collection of recordings, and therefore often have little to no production added. The exceptions include some alternate versions of tracks from Back To Black and songs that didn't make it onto Frank, collaborations with The Roots for an ill-fated jazz-based side-project, a duet with Tony Bennett, or other stray demos recorded pre-and post-superstardom. One of the most striking contrasts is between Winehouse's sprightly and playful cover of the bossa nova classic "The Girl from Ipanema" from the very beginning of her career, and one of the last songs the singer ever recorded, a sorrowfully heavy cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You," in which you can almost feel not only the weight of the emotional burden Winehouse was carrying, but the very moment where she simply buckled to its pressure. Elsewhere, she genuinely holds her own with no less a song stylist than Bennett on the jazz standard "Body and Soul," while also essaying a dreamy, melancholy, and yet powerful collaboration with Nas, "Like Smoke."