Lioness. She most certainly was.

Amy Winehouse’s final body of work – a cobbled together collection of previously unreleased tracks, demos, alternate versions, and new final recordings was released today.

I had written a post late last year expressing my hopes and desires for a new album from Winehouse soon, obviously unable to predict the tragic – albeit not entirely surprising – outcome of her untimely death. She was in fact recording new material, and had promised a new album by last January. Seven months later, she was dead and the album was left unfinished.

“Lioness: Hidden Treasures” is a nice collection on the surface and is a fitting tribute to a talented young artist. Much of the album is run-off from her first album, “Frank” with some extras from “Back to Black” as well. The newer tracks standout as just that — new tracks. One in particularly is “Like Smoke” featuring Nas — a smoothly intense mash-up of both rap and soul that is ripe with potential, yet seems so unfinished or uneven. It is by no means the follow-up album she intended it to be.

By the end of the album — being the fan of Winehouse that I am — I can’t help but long for what could have been if she had only kept her promise by finishing the album earlier this year, instead of leaving us with this patchy collection…

-B