NEW RELEASES
Amy Winehouse has finally reached the YouTube billion views club. The Grammy-winning late soul/R&B star who tragically died at 27 of alcohol poisoning in 2011 is now part of that elite society thanks to her 2007 “Back to Black” visual crossing the nine zero mark.
The elegant black and white Phil Griffin-directed video is Winehouse’s first to reach a billion. In keeping with the dramatic nature of the singer’s rapid rise to fame and equally precipitous fall into substance use and early death, it originally featured a funeral procession and the singer paying her respects over a headstone that read: “R.I.P. the Heart of Amy Winehouse” (that bit was excised after the singer’s death.)
For the most part, the visual shot at Abney Park Cemetery in northeast London focuses on Winehouse performing the heartbreak anthem in a black dress, her signature beehive hairdo and dramatic eyeliner as her band await the beginning of a grim funeral procession. “We only said goodbye with words/ I died a hundred times,” she sings as the camera hovers inches from her intense gaze.
The third single from the singer’s second, and final, studio album of the same name was written by Winehouse and frequent collaborator Mark Ronson — who also produced it — and inspired by her troublesome relationship with on-and-off boyfriend Black Fielder-Civil. Midway through the video, Winehouse is shown walking slowly through a cemetery and throwing a single white rose into the grave site as the girl group-inspired song shifts into a downtempo strings and tambourine section, with Winehouse repeating the phrase, “black… black… black… black.”
It ends with Winehouse lamenting that her lover has returned to his ex as she sprinkles a handful of dirt on the grave. The Back to Black album — which also included the singles “Rehab,” “You Know I’m No Good” and “Tears Dry On Their Own” — won best pop vocal album, record and song of the year (“Rehab”) and scored the singer that year’s best new artist award.
Watch the “Back to Black” video below.
NEW RELEASES
An expanded edition of The Beatles’ ‘Rubber Soul’ is set to arrive with a previously unheard John Lennon demo included in the collection.
Read More: Paul McCartney: “Writing a song is still a magic feeling for me, and hopefully always will be”
The refreshed editions of the celebrated 1965 record will be released on October 2 through UMG and Apple Corps Ltd. Producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell handled the new mixes.
More than 60 years after its original release, the influential album will be available in updated stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes for the first time. The box set will also contain the initial mono mix and the original Capitol US Album edition.
In addition to the familiar tracklist, which includes popular songs such as ‘Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)’, ‘Nowhere Man’, ‘Michelle’, and ‘In My Life’, the collection features the double A side single ‘Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out’. Fans will also receive several previously unavailable studio recordings and home demos.
Different versions of the release include the 14 song Special Edition Standard, the 30 track Special Edition Deluxe, and a Blu ray Edition containing 16 tracks and four videos.
The largest package is the Special Edition Super Deluxe, which will be offered as either a five LP box set or a four CD box set containing 68 tracks. Its contents include the new stereo version of ‘Rubber Soul’, two Sessions and Demos discs, the album’s original mono master, the original Capitol US edition, and the seven inch A side single.
Among the demos is ‘Little Girl’, a track written and recorded by Lennon that has never been officially released since it was originally created.
The Super Deluxe packages also feature an 88 page hardcover book with a newly written introduction from Paul McCartney and a foreword assembled using Lennon’s own words.
‘Rubber Soul’ was completed across four weeks in October and November 1965. The sessions took place shortly after the Fab Four played their record setting show for over 55,000 people at Shea Stadium in New York.
Every new edition includes the updated stereo mix of the album, created directly from the original four track master tapes. The team used separation technology developed at Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films Productions Ltd.
Visit here to place a preorder and see the complete tracklist for the “Special Edition Super Deluxe” package below.
The ‘Rubber Soul Special Edition Super Deluxe Box Set’ tracklist is:
LP1: New stereo mix
Side A
Side B
LP2: Sessions, Demos and The Single, Disc 1
Side A
Side B
LP3: Sessions, Demos and The Single, Disc 2
Side A
Side B
LP4: Mono
Side A
Side B
LP5: US Album
Side A
Side B
Seven inch single
Side A
Side AA
Elsewhere in Beatles news, the group will be explored through a collection of four films directed by Sam Mendes. All four movies are currently scheduled to reach cinemas at the same time in April 2028.
Paul Mescal will portray Paul McCartney, while Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, Joseph Quinn will appear as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan will take on the role of Ringo Starr. Each movie will present the band’s journey through the eyes of a different member.
It has also been announced that 3 Savile Row, the famous London location closely connected to the group, will welcome visitors for the first time next year as part of the first official Beatles fan experience.
Earlier this year, Paul McCartney released his latest album, ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’. It marks his first solo project since 2020’s ‘McCartney III’ and includes his first duet with former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr.
Before the record arrived, McCartney spoke with NME about both the past and future of his remarkable career. He discussed his “excitement” about appearing on the upcoming The Rolling Stones album and addressed whether retirement is part of his plans.
