This album follows in the footsteps of a number of other 'unplugged' sets in recent years. Like many of these, one of the big plus points is the feel of 'live' music from artists that people might not have had the opportunity to see live. On this album, the listener gets a good feel for what a fantastic musician Alicia Keys is, what a fantistic voice she has, and just how good it must be to go to a live gig of hers.
There is a good mix of tracks on this album, with a number from her first two albums and a couple of new ones. In terms of the old material, its great to hear new arrangements of these tracks, and although for me a few miss the heights of the original versions, others (e.g. If I aint got you) are simply brilliant. The new tracks are great - Unbreakable is a fantastic song that is brilliant 'unpugged'. There are also some good collaborations, including Adam Levine from Maroon5, and Mos Def, Common and Damian Marley.
Overall I'd say this is definitely an album worth having if you're an Alicia Keys fan, as there's enough here to keep you going untill she drops her next album. For those new to her, it might be worth getting her first two albums rather than jumping in at the deep end.
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Advantages: Beautiful arrangements, some brilliant new songs Disadvantages: Could of been more new material, but the CD does not feel empty without them,
Dec 30th, 2005
helpful by (25%):
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