50 Years of Soul Power

Posted February 20, 2013 by J Matthew Cobb in Features

Alicia Keys
Diary of Alicia Keys
(J; 2003)

From the jump, piano woman Alicia Keys stuns the ear using 21^st century R&B (“Karma”). As a tribute to Isaac Hayes’s legacy, she works Shaft wah-wah riffs into “Heartburn” before sampling “Walk on By” into the urban update of Gladys Knight’s “If I Were (Was) Your Woman.” Her old school triumphs only get brighter when she shows off the neo-Quiet Storm anthem “You Don’t Know My Name” and the brilliant 2 A.M. sex shooter, “Diary.” Even to the last drop, when the album caps off with “Nobody Not Really,” Keys proves to be a modern-day troubadour for soul music on what is clearly her sophomore album.