Back to Black returns in a new edition with unreleased demos, rarities and the recording of Amy Winehouse’s concert in Amsterdam in 2007.
Twenty years after publication, Back to Black returns in a new edition with four unreleased demos and the complete recording of Amy Winehouse’s concert at Paradiso in Amsterdam in February 2007. UMR/Island will release the reissue on October 23rd, four days before the anniversary of the album’s original release.
The reissue will be available in different formats and will include four previously unreleased demos, B-sides, songs that already appeared on the deluxe edition and the complete recording of the concert given by Winehouse at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on 8 February 2007, during the tour of Back to Black. According to what was announced by the label, the performance had never been released in full either on vinyl or on streaming platforms.
The main editions will be a triple transparent vinyl box set and a three-CD version. The additional material also includes lyrics handwritten by the singer, previously unpublished photographs by Mischa Richter and Alex Lake, and an alternate cover from the Mark Ronson archives. Ronson himself and Salaam Remi, the two producers who defined much of the album’s sound, have written new notes for the twentieth anniversary edition.
The new edition also contains notes signed by Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, the two producers who helped define the sound of the record. «It’s amazing to think that six songs, born in a fit of overwhelming musical infatuation, can mean so much to so many people twenty years later», writes Ronson. The producer refers to the six songs of Back to Black made together with Winehouse, including “Rehab”, “You Know I’m No Good” and the title track. On several occasions Ronson recalled the rapidity of those sessions and the first meeting with Winehouse in New York in 2006, when, after a few hours spent talking and listening to music, “Back to Black” began to take shape.
The producer also recalled that meeting at the 2026 BRIT Awards. Winehouse arrived at his New York studio in early March 2006; the two talked about music for about four hours and that same evening “Back to Black” began to take shape. Ronson defined that meeting as a moment that would change his life and recognized the work he created with Winehouse as one of the decisive steps in his career.
Even the birth of the title track reflects something of Winehouse’s method. Ronson said that, after preparing an initial musical structure, the singer returned to the studio and quickly wrote the lyrics. When he questioned a chorus rhyme according to the conventions of pop songwriting, Winehouse showed no intention of changing it. The episode, remembered by the producer in subsequent years, describes an author who was already very clear in her choices and unwilling to adapt her words to the production’s expectations.
Back to Black it was the second and last studio album released by Amy Winehouse. It arrived three years later Frank and transformed a singer already recognized by British critics into an internationally successful artist.
The album started from the soul and rhythm and blues of the Sixties, but without limiting itself to a stylistic reconstruction. Salaam Remi and Ronson worked on two complementary sides of the production, while Winehouse brought extremely recognizable autobiographical writing to the album. “Rehab”, “You Know I’m No Good”, “Love Is a Losing Game”, “Tears Dry on Their Own” and “Back to Black” itself became the most representative songs of that phase.
The instrumental section of Dap-Kings, the group linked to the soul scene of Brooklyn’s Daptone Records, also played a central role in the recordings produced by Ronson. Ronson later recalled the impact of hearing Winehouse with the band for the first time during the sessions, describing it as one of the rare moments in his career when he felt he was witnessing something out of the ordinary.
In the UK Back to Black it debuted in third place in the rankings and subsequently reached first position. It was also the best-selling album in the country in 2007. In the United States it entered the Billboard 200 at number seven and subsequently reached second place.
In February 2008 Winehouse won five Grammy Awards: Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Rehab”, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album for Back to Black and Best New Artist. The singer participated in the ceremony from London, via satellite connection.
According to data released by the label on the occasion of the anniversary, Back to Black has exceeded 25 million copies sold worldwide. In the United Kingdom it was certified fifteen times Platinum.
Twenty years after its publication, the new edition brings attention above all to the production process and the live phase of the album. From this point of view, the materials of greatest interest are the four demos and the Amsterdam recording, documents of two different moments in the album’s history: the construction of the songs in the studio and their subsequent transformation on stage.
Alongside the box sets, new versions of the original album will be released on single LP, including a “Chalkboard Marble” variant and a Zoetrope edition, as well as a CD version.
All physical and digital formats are announced for October 23, four days before the 20th anniversary of the original release of Back to Black.
