Album review

訪客

Alicia Keys-As I Am
Third album from R&B supe綼t跫. Large, laud and IttYefltlYe soul
The much-f聖ed Alicia Keys has been referred to as 懀he female Stevie Wonder�. She certainly has vocal dexterity and prodigious keyboard skills, but Keys sometimes lacks the subtlety of the young Wonder. The follow-up to 2003𠏋 The Diary Of Alicia Keys has lots of confidence and volume, but less of the shades in between. A fan of the bravura performance, Keys opts for large, declarative choruseshence tracks like No One and Thing About Love become exercises in power soul, not unlike Whitney Houston𠏋 musical muscle flexing in the �80s. Keys is best when she combines that primal attack with inventive arrangements and varying textures - as with the John Mayer collaboration Lesson Learned, or the hip-hop beat and plaintive trumpets of Where Do We Go. Keys has a startling talent, and one that will also mature well.
Lucy O蔃rien