Artist: Jean Wells

I must confess that I find it hard to mourn the death of Amy Winehouse. Don't think of me as a man possessed of a callous heart. Of course the death of a young, talented woman is a cause for sadness. But Ms Winehouse did not die in a tragic accident, as Otis Redding did, nor did a dread disease claim her, as it did Minnie Riperton. Amy Winehouse was a victim of her own excess; she lived a self-destructive lifestyle which first wounded her talent and then (as it appears) ended her life. My empathy is directed at her [...]

The fifth instalment in the Covered With Soul series departs from the custom of the previous four which featured mostly covers of non-soul originals. This mix consists of soul covers of soul songs. One would imagine that soul covers of soul songs would be more frequent than those of non-soul tracks in the genre's repertoire of the late 1960s and '70s, but I've found that this is not necessarily so, at least not as far as reasonably well-known tracks are concerned, and if one ignores the Motown custom of its roster all recording the same songs. [...]

Jean Wells: Sit Down And Cry ( buy ) "No one could have warned me, that you would scar me, and hurt me so bad..." Aretha Franklin sang a fine version of this soul scorcher on her 1970 album This Girl´s In Love With You , but the original by Jean Wells remains the real deal alright. You can´t go wrong picking up the killer compilation pictured above.

• Jean Wells - Sit Down And Cry

JEAN WELLS - WHAT HAVE I GOT TO LOSE

• Jean Wells - What have I got to lose