Product Description

COLLECTORS EDITION : 2CD + DVD set, in an oversized embossed foil pack. Debut 2001 album reissued with a 12-track BONUS disc of remixes, live tracks and rarities, plus DVD featuring a 40-minute documentary and film clips.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Piano & I
2. Girlfriend
3. How Come You Don't Call Me
4. Fallin'
5. Troubles
6. Rock Wit U
7. A Woman's Worth
8. Jane Doe
9. Goodbye
10. The Life
11. Mr. Man (duet with Jimmy Cozier)
12. Never Felt This Way (interlude)
13. Butterflyz
14. Why Do I Feel So Sad
15. Caged Bird
16. Lovin U

Disc 2:

1. A Woman's Worth - featuring NAS (Remix)
2. Juiciest (Mixtape Version)
3. If I Were Your Woman (Funky Blues Demo)
4. Ghetto Man Featuring Poet muMs da Schemer
5. Fallin' (The Ali Soundtrack Version)
6. Typewriter (From the Songs In A Minor vault)
7. Butterflyz (The Drumline Mix)
8. I Won't Crazy World (From the Songs In A Minor vault)
9. Girlfriend (KrucialKeys Sista Girl Mix – The UK Video Remix Edit
10. I Got A Little Something (Live In Seattle)
11. Piano Mashup (Live In Seattle)
12. Light My Fire (Live In Seattle)

Disc 3:

1. Bonus DVD - Songs in A minor documentary
2. "A Harlem Love Story" video
3. "Girlfriend" promotional video
4. "How Come You Don't Call Me" promotional video

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18558 in Music
• Released on: 2011-06-27
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: CD+DVD, Box set
• Original language: English

Review
Three discs, one of which is a DVD; swish silver cut-out, fold-out packaging; sleevenotes by Quincy Jones; and track annotation by the singer herself. This is an extravagant package that works beautifully on two levels, either as the perfect complement to the original album – included here, obviously – or as the very best place to start. And this is because it digs fairly deep into who Alicia Keys is and what she was about when she made this stunning debut, now celebrating its 10th anniversary.

The extensive booklet opens with the singer’s simple but impassioned mission statement about New York – very much part of the sleeve design – and how the city’s streets fused with her classical training to allow the then-teenager to express herself so vividly. She then goes on to talk each track with an enthusiasm for every aspect of the process.

The specially-made documentary tells her story up to Songs in A Minor’s claiming of five trophies at the 2002 Grammy Awards, setting itself against dramatic New York footage and making room for entertaining comments from people who worked with her. Keys herself is funny, charming and remarkably candid. She talks forthrightly about the battles with her first label, Columbia – they trashed this album, and wanted her to turn her into a standard RnB bunny; she refused, they wouldn’t let her leave, and it almost crushed her. She’s equally open in her delight and obvious surprise at the album’s success. Most of all, though, what is shown proves how dedicated Keys is to making music.

Disc two collects together alternate mixes of tunes like A Woman’s Worth (a tastefully inventive vintage hip hop version, featuring Nas) and the sparser Butterflyz as it was heard in the 2002 film Drumline; elsewhere, three live recordings from a Seattle show display her accomplished musicianship and easy way with an audience. What makes the disc really special, however, is the previously unreleased Ghettoman, a moody, edgy inner city lament made eerily beautiful by a jangling piano. It’s a blaxploitation theme looking for a film, and why it never made the album is anybody’s guess.

Oh yes, the original album – it still stands strong 10 years later, as a masterpiece of contemporary soul songwriting and arrangement. It continued a bloodline from Etta James, Gladys Knight, Aretha, Esther Phillips and Roberta Flack into the hip hop age, and was ultimately made possible by Keys’ astonishing musical sensibilities.

--Lloyd Bradley

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CD Description
The original release of Songs in A Minor sold more than 12 million albums worldwide and garnered Keys with her first five, of 14 total, Grammy® Awards including Best New Artist, Best Song of the Year for “Fallin” and Best R&B Album. The 10th Anniversary Editions include previously unreleased and original bonus material, such as the tracks “A Woman’s Worth” Remix featuring Nas; “Juiciest” Mix Tape version; “Fallin” the Ali Soundtrack version; and the previously unreleased “Typewriter”, “If I Was Your Woman” Original Funky Demo version and "Butterflyz” (the Drumline Mix).
The Collector’s Edition three-disc set features special packaging and an enhanced booklet featuring new liner notes from Keys. The Collector’s Edition also includes a documentary, specifically created for this release with brand new interviews with Keys and other album collaborators, reflecting on the making of Songs in A Minor.