Amy Amy Amy

I'll admit I was skeptical when Amy Winehouse emerged as a ferociously popular singer. Her too-skinny drugged-out persona pissed me off, and I didn't get the point of "Rehab" the first couple of times I heard it.

Thanks to my pal Phillip, I began to listen a little more closely to her second album, Back to Black, and soon realized that this was a singer and songwriter of no little depth and intensity. The girl-group charm of the sorrowful title song, the heartbreaking adultery narrative "Just Friends," and the skank of "You Know I'm No Good" are absolutely riveting.

Here's a bonus track from a special CD edition of the album. It's her acoustic demo of "Love is a Losing Game." While the LP cut is terrif, it's this spare version that pierces my heart.

I'm still not comfortable with the idea of my dollars helping fuel her self-destructive habits, but art and artists have ever been thus so. My fingers are crossed that she can keep herself together and find happiness...or at least keep sharing her gift.