Five months. That’s all the time it took between the tragic passing of Amy Winehouse in July 2011 and the release of the Amy Winehouse album Lioness Hidden Treasures. It felt fast. Maybe too fast for some. When Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson—the two architects of her signature sound—went into the vaults, they weren't just looking for hits. They were looking for a way to say goodbye.
It's a strange record. Honestly, it’s more of a scrapbook than a cohesive studio statement. You’ve got covers, demos, and alternate takes of songs we already knew by heart. Some people call it a cash-in. Others see it as a vital piece of the puzzle for an artist who only gave us two "real" albums during her lifetime. If you're looking for Back to Black part two, you're going to be disappointed. But if you want to hear the raw, unpolished jazz singer who just loved to mess around with a melody, this is where the gold is buried.
The Messy Reality of a Posthumous Release
Posthumous albums are tricky business. They usually fall into two camps: the "finished enough" projects like Prince’s Welcome 2 America or the "scraped from the floor" collections that feel a bit exploitative. Amy Winehouse album Lioness Hidden Treasures sits somewhere in the middle. Salaam Remi was very vocal at the time about the fact that he didn't want to over-produce these tracks. He wanted to keep Amy’s "mistakes" in because those mistakes were exactly what made her human.
Take "Between the Cheats." It’s a classic 60s-style doo-wop track recorded in 2008. It sounds like it could have been on the radio in 1962, but Amy’s vocal delivery is pure 21st-century Camden. It’s playful. It’s light. It reminds us that despite the tabloid headlines about her personal struggles, she was still working. She was still creating.
Then you have "Our Day Will Come." It’s a cover of the Ruby & The Romantics classic, recorded back in 2002. It’s got this easy, reggae-inflected groove that feels like a warm Sunday afternoon. It became the lead single for a reason; it’s the most "finished" sounding thing on the disc. But the deeper you go into the tracklist, the more you realize that this album is about the evolution of a voice, not the perfection of a product.
Why the Critics Were Split
The reviews were all over the place when this dropped in December 2011. Rolling Stone gave it a decent nod, but Pitchfork was a bit more skeptical, questioning whether some of these demos should have stayed in the drawer.
The biggest point of contention? The "Valerie" '68 Version.
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We all know the Mark Ronson version. It’s a floor-filler. It’s a wedding staple. But the version on Lioness is slower, stripped back, and sounds like a rehearsal tape. For some, it’s a boring retread. For others, it’s a revelation because you can actually hear the soul in her voice without the big brass section drowning her out. It’s a matter of taste, really.
There's also "Like Smoke," featuring Nas. This one felt like a bridge between Amy’s love for old-school jazz and her deep roots in hip-hop. Nas was a close friend—they even shared a birthday—and his verses feel respectful, like he’s eulogizing her in real-time. It’s one of the few moments on the album that feels "modern," but even then, the core of the song is a mid-tempo groove that feels timeless.
The Tony Bennett Factor
You can't talk about the Amy Winehouse album Lioness Hidden Treasures without mentioning "Body and Soul." This was her final recording, tracked at Abbey Road Studios in March 2011 with the legendary Tony Bennett.
Bennett later said in interviews that Amy was nervous. She was a perfectionist. She knew the history of that song—it's a jazz standard that every great has tackled. Watching the footage of that session is heartbreaking and beautiful all at once. She looks fragile, but when she opens her mouth, the power is undeniable. It won a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and it serves as a haunting bookend to a career that ended far too soon.
Tracking the Timeline: From Frank to the End
One of the coolest things about this album is how it jumps through time. It isn't linear.
- 2002: "The Girl from Ipanema." Amy was just 18. Her voice is breathier here, more "jazz club" and less "soul powerhouse." It shows her foundational training.
- 2003-2004: Tracks like "Best Friends, Right?" show the transition from her debut album Frank into a more confident songwriter.
- 2006-2008: The Back to Black era. This is where "Wake Up Alone" (the original demo) comes from. It's just Amy and a guitar. No Phil Spector-style production. Just raw grief.
- 2011: The final sessions. "A Song For You," a Leon Russell cover. This is the hardest one to listen to. She’s channeling Donny Hathaway, one of her idols, and you can hear the weight of the world in her phrasing.
Does it hold up in 2026?
Honestly, yeah. In a world where music is often polished until it's sterile, Lioness: Hidden Treasures feels refreshingly messy. It’s a reminder that artists are allowed to have unfinished thoughts. It’s not a perfect album, but Amy Winehouse wasn't a perfect person, and that’s why we loved her.
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Some fans argue that Island Records should have left her legacy alone. There’s a valid argument there. Amy was a notorious perfectionist; she reportedly scrapped dozens of songs for the third album because they weren't "right." Would she have wanted "Half Time" or "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" out in the world? We’ll never know. But for the millions of people who felt a personal connection to her music, these twelve tracks provided a much-needed sense of closure.
The Production Magic of Salaam Remi
Salaam Remi deserves a lot of credit for how this turned out. He produced the bulk of it, and he had the unenviable task of sorting through hard drives of half-finished vocals. He didn't try to make it sound like a 2011 pop record. He kept the instrumentation classic—upright bass, live drums, vintage mics.
He understood that Amy’s voice was the lead instrument. In "Tears Dry on Their Own" (the original version), the tempo is much slower than the version we know. It changes the entire meaning of the song. It goes from a defiant anthem to a slow-motion realization of heartbreak. That’s the power of this album; it recontextualizes the Amy Winehouse we thought we knew.
What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception is that Lioness is a "lost third album." It’s not.
A third album would have likely been influenced by her time in St. Lucia. She was experimenting with more Caribbean sounds and bossa nova. While some of that influence is present here, Lioness is really a curated museum exhibit. It’s a retrospective. If you go into it expecting a narrative arc like Back to Black, you’ll get lost. Go into it like you’re looking through a box of old photos in an attic. Some are blurry. Some are overexposed. But every single one tells a story.
Essential Tracks for Your Playlist
If you aren't ready to sit through the whole thing, there are four tracks that are absolute "must-haves" for any fan:
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- "A Song For You" - It’s the closest thing to a religious experience you’ll get on a posthumous record.
- "Between the Cheats" - Because it shows her sense of humor and her love for the 60s.
- "Our Day Will Come" - The best example of her ability to take a cover and make it hers.
- "Wake Up Alone" (Demo) - For when you want to feel the raw emotion of her songwriting.
Moving Beyond the Music
The release of the Amy Winehouse album Lioness Hidden Treasures also served a bigger purpose. The proceeds from the album went toward setting up the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people. It turned a tragic situation into something that could actually help people. That’s a legacy that goes way beyond record sales or Grammy trophies.
When you listen to the final notes of "A Song For You," where she whispers a tribute to Donny Hathaway, it’s hard not to get a bit choked up. It was the end of an era. We haven't seen an artist quite like her since. There are plenty of singers who can hit the notes, but very few who can make you feel the pain behind them quite like Amy did.
How to Listen to Lioness: Hidden Treasures Today
If you really want to appreciate this album, don't just stream it on crappy laptop speakers while you're doing the dishes. It doesn't work that way. This music requires a bit of attention.
- Get the Vinyl: The analog warmth of these recordings really pops on vinyl. It suits the 60s aesthetic that Salaam Remi was going for.
- Listen to "Frank" First: To appreciate how far she came, go back to her debut. Notice the jazz phrasing. Then jump to Lioness and hear how that phrasing matured into something deeper and more soulful.
- Watch the "Amy" Documentary: Asif Kapadia’s documentary provides the context for many of these recordings. Seeing her in the studio helps you understand the environment where these "hidden treasures" were captured.
- Read the Lyrics: Amy was a storyteller. Even on the covers, her choice of words and where she places the emphasis matters.
The Amy Winehouse album Lioness Hidden Treasures remains a polarizing piece of music history. It’s a ghost of what could have been. But in those 45 minutes, we get one last chance to sit in the room with one of the greatest voices of our generation. It’s not perfect, but it’s honest. And honestly, that’s all Amy ever wanted her music to be.
If you’re building a collection, treat this as the appendix to her story. It’s the footnotes that explain the main text. It might not be the most played record in your library, but when the mood hits and you need that specific brand of Winehouse soul, nothing else will do.
Check your local independent record stores for the 180g pressing—it's widely considered the best-sounding version of the release. Avoid the cheap reissues if you can help it; the mastering on the original 2011 vinyl pressings carries a bit more of that "room sound" that makes the demos feel so intimate. Once you have it, sit down, dim the lights, and just let her sing. It’s the least we can do for an artist who gave so much of herself to her audience.