look at this...
http://www.tuftsdaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/18/43546b6682b9bPublished October 18, 2005
'Unplugged' will have you fallin' for Keys again
by John Reed
Contributing Writer
The accolades for Alicia Keys have been pouring in since "Fallin'" became a smash in 2001 and helped make her debut, "Songs in A Minor," a major smash - not to mention darling of the 2002 Grammys. Her follow-up, 2003's "Diary of Alicia Keys," was a big seller, but didn't garner the glory of her debut.
Luckily for her, she's still hot enough to be chosen as the first artist to lead off the resurrection of MTV's "Unplugged" series, last seen in the heady days of 2002. Going unplugged as a keyboardist is not too much of a stretch (at least not the way it was for LL Cool J and Aerosmith), but on her new unplugged album, Keys shows that she's as competent live as she is in the studio.
Her vocal delivery, with its wide emotional range, is her biggest asset, and she makes the best use of that talent on the lovelorn numbers from the album like "If I Ain't Got You," "You Don't Know My Name," and "Every Little Bit Hurts." She also again tackles Prince's "How Come You Don't Call Me," and, while it's not quite as good as the Purple One's original, Keys does add a certain sincerity and warmth to the song that expands on the desperation of Prince's original vision.
In fact, her only major gaffe on "Unplugged" is the duet with Maroon 5's Adam Levine on "Wild Horses." If you have to cover the Stones, and if you insist on doing it as a duet, then please pick a partner with some soul. Nothing against Levine, but he's no Mick Jagger (hell, he isn't even a Rob Thomas).
Keys's other strength is her proficiency on the keyboard. While one is not usually able to pick out a performer simply by the sound of key strokes in the same way one can identify a certain guitarist by only a few picks or strums of guitar strings (e.g. Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eddie Van Halen, etc.),
Keys has created a rich, soulful, and confident sound - one that Vanessa Carlton would sell her soul for - that you know it is uniquely and unmistakably hers after a just a note or two.
One place where Keys has a bit of a liability is her ego. Yes, a confident performer is extremely appealing, but Keys seems a bit full of herself, giving off the vibe that she feels she is the second coming of Aretha Franklin. Wanting to be the next Aretha is a great aspiration, but after only three releases, it may be a tad premature to be considering herself the subsequent "Queen of Soul." Also, while her material is emotional and expressive, is does tend to fall into ballad mod a bit too often; she surely would not hurt her set by adding more upbeat tracks.
This aside, Keys ends the album on a great note with the "Love It Or Leave It Alone/Welcome To Jamrock" medley, for which she is joined by Mos Def, Common and others. The raucous tone of this posse set makes the listener long for similar collaborations. But, to be fair, Keys comes from a jazz, gospel, and soul background, and is more suited for slower jams.
Overall the "Unplugged" experiment was a success for Keys - look for her at the Grammys in February. Apparently the judges at the Grammys have a weakness for this stuff (remember that these are the same people that doomed us to hear Clapton's God-awful "Unplugged" version of "Layla" for all eternity).
The only thing that would have made Keys's CD complete would have been a duet with Usher. A version of "My Boo," sans all the studio tricks, would have been a great treat. But hey, Adam Levine is just as good as Usher...isn't he?
