Alicia Keys As I Am CD

The third full-length from contemporary R&B diva Alicia Keys is called AS I AM, a title that adequately reflects the album's straightforward, confessional soul-pop. Keys built her popularity making stylish, reflective, voice-&-piano music; AS I AM continues that trend, albeit in a poppier vein that balances neatly between neo-soul and adult contemporary. This is reflected in the mid-tempo grooves, songs of empowerment ("Superwoman"), and stirring ballads ("The Thing About Love").

Keys's collaborators on the album include songwriter Linda Perry, who co-wrote three of the album's tracks, and John Mayer, who twines voices with Keys on the sensual "Lesson Learned." Top-notch arrangements, which include gorgeous, retro-tinged flourishes via strings and horns, make the set shimmer, but it's the strength of the hook-heavy tunes and Keys's moving performances that make AS I AM stick. It's not the five-star album she's capable of, but it leaves little doubt that Keys is moving steadily in that direction.

Personnel: Alicia Keys (vocals, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, harpsichord, Wurlitzer organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, bass synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, string synthesizer, vocoder, programming, background vocals); Jack Splash (various instruments, programming); Ron Haney, Peter Thorn, David Ryan Harris, John "Jubu" Smith (guitar); John Salvatore Scaglione (guitars); Steve Mostyn (acoustic guitar, bass guitar); Everette K. Harp (saxophone); Darryl Dixon (alto saxophone); David Watson (tenor saxophone); Carl Maraghi (baritone saxophone); Duane Eubanks, David G. Stout, Jumaane Smith (trumpet); Jason Sugata (French horn); Harry Kim (trombone); Michael Dease (tenor trombone, bass trombone); Ryan Kebrle (tenor trombone); Mark Batson (piano, Clavinet, Hammond b-3 organ, Moog synthesizer, programming, drum programming); Linda Perry (piano, background vocals); Damon Fox (Hammond b-3 organ, Mellotron, Moog synthesizer); Paul Ill, Sean Hurley (bass guitar); Trevor Lawrence, Jr. (drums, percussion); Mark Robohm, Steve Jordan (drums); Kerry "Krucial" Brothers (drum programming); Novel Stevenson, Harold Lilly, L. Green (background vocals); Ann Minicieli.

Additional personnel: John Mayer (guitar, background vocals).

Rolling Stone (p.192) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he prevailing mood is reflectively soulful and the prevailing tempo mid."
Rolling Stone (p.114) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "Keys' ever-deepening vocal power is the first thing you notice on AS I AM."
Spin (p.120) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[O]n her melodically powerful third studio album, she matures into the matriarch of her genre."
Entertainment Weekly (p.75) - "'The Thing About Love' begins as a melancholy R&B lament and rolls into pure pop-rock uplift..." -- Grade: B
Mojo (Publisher) (p.98) - "She certainly has vocal dexterity and prodigious keyboard skills....Tracks like No One and Thing About Love become exercises in power soul..."
Blender (Magazine) (p.146) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "AS I AM advances by showing an experimental side....The music is dizzying, even mesmerizing."