Occasionally, ‘Back To Black’ slips down the charts to Number eight, maybe nine. In fact, it’s only ventured out of the Top 10 once all year. This Deluxe Edition has already charted at 22, so there’s every chance that you’ll soon see the pair side-by-side. Disappointing, then, that the eight-track ‘bonus disc’ opens with a cover of a cover: a lo-fi version of ‘Valerie’. There’s an acoustic take on Phil Spector’s ‘To Know Him Is To Love Him’ that breathes booze over the most straight-laced song ever, an adequate reading of ska standard ‘Monkey Man’ and a good demo of ‘Some Unholy War’. The printing smells expensive, the booklet looks nice – but the only thing that’d make you buy this is that there’s a free copy of ‘Back To Black’ attached. So, if you’ve never heard ‘Back To Black’,
this is worth an 8/10. But, if you bought this version hoping for some quality extra material…
Gavin Haynes