Product Description

Alicia Keys has enjoyed great success since her 2001 multi-platinum debut, 'Songs In A Minor', which gave the world an introduction to her formidable range of talents. Keys has gone from strength to strength with 2003's follow-up 'The Diary Of Alicia Keys' and 'Unplugged', in 2005. 'As I Am', the singer/songwriter's third studio album, contains soulful lyrics and exquisite jazz-influenced piano playing that pulls onthe heart-strings of the listener. There are guest appearances from the likes of John Mayor and John Legend with singles includiing 'No One' and 'Like You'll Never See Me Again'.

Track Listing

1. As I Am
2. Go Ahead
3. Superwoman
4. No One
5. Like You'll Never See Me Again
6. Lesson Learned - Keys, Alicia & John Mayer
7. Wreckless Love
8. Thing About Love
9. Teenage Love Affair
10. I Need You
11. Where Do We Go From Here
12. Prelude To A Kiss
13. Tell You Something (Nana's Reprise)
14. Sure Looks Good To Me
15. Waiting For Your Love

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1208 in Music
• Released on: 2007-11-19
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
By the time this long-awaited album saw its release date, most fans had probably read at least a couple of interviews with Alicia Keys in which she explained that first single, "No One"--a firestorm of a song clearly born of a sore heart and steeped in serious soul-searching, was about her decision to retreat from the obligations of stardom when she found out a loved one was in need of her care. The anecdote sticks not just because it explained the song so well--you can actually hear the pain, commitment, and determination in her sultry voice--but because it gets at what makes the woman behind the music so appealing. There's only one way R&B artists grow to become legends, and it's by drenching the words they sing with feeling (think Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack). The skeptical listener might have had her doubts before As I Am, but there's no mistaking it now: Alicia Keys is well on her way to sharing a category with them. This record radiates not just old-soul maturity, the kind Alicia fans say makes her modern rarity, but real soul. Vintage-leaning hooks and horns grab hold on "Where Do We Go from Here" and an assortment of other songs, but Keys can also get by just fine without them, as she proves on more pop-flavored numbers like "Lesson Learned," with John Mayer, and "Superwoman." The genres may be smearing, she seems to say, but bring them on: she won't shrink back. Her commitment is not to a single style but to what's stirring her soul. Because of it, she's moving R&B, or something like it, from the hips back to the heart. --Tammy La Gorce

Customer Reviews

As She Is
Alica presents a near perfect album.

It's heartfelt motown-style R&B dripping with soul.

Alicia sounds better than ever and is clearly in her element as the album is musically and lyrically confident.

Admitedly it took me a few listens to really appreciate it. I was initially playing the singles from it, and found myself giving the whole album a chance.

Glad I did, because this is one of the best albums I've ever heard.

So buy it, play it a few times
You will love it

"My first "Teenage Love Affair", I said"
1. As I Am. 10/10
2. Go Ahead. 10/10
3. Superwoman. 10/10
4. No One. 10/10
5. Like You'll Never See Me Again. 10/10
6. Lesson Learned. 9/10
7. Wreckless Love. 10/10
8. The Thing About Love. 9/10
9. Teenage Love Affair. 10/10
10. I Need You. 9/10
11. Where Do We Go From Here. 10/10
12. Prelude to a Kiss. 10/10
13. Tell You Something. 9/10
14. Sure Looks Good To Me. 9/10
15. Waiting For Your Love. 7/10

OVERALL GRADE: 10/10
You can't really compare the 3 AK albums as their different.

Songs In A Minor = Classical
The Diary of Alicia Keys = Street
As I Am = Old Soul/Be-Bop/Old Skool-Jazz

Sure sounds good to me
This is my first taste of Alicia Keys and I like it. Most of the music I buy is female r&b but in these tighter times I have to be quite choosey who I spend my limited funds on for musical entertainment, safe to report that I don't regret this purchase for one moment. I didn't expect to of course, having seen her perform live and I always prefer singers who write their own music - although most of the songs were part-written by Alicia with the assistance of others (Mark Batson, Kerry Brothers, Marsha Ambrosius, Linda Perry, Steve Mostyn, John Mayer and several others). She puts her heart and soul into everything on the album, not surprising given that she executive produced it too. All in all a great achievement for this 26 year old native New Yorker born and raised in Hell's Kitchen, she has tremendous songwriting and singing talent but judging from the film 'Smokin Aces' I'm not sure that her acting skills are in quite the same league! This is a great album though and it won't be long before I add Diary of Alicia Keys, by all accounts it's just as good if not better.