Detailed item info | Track listing | 1. As I Am (Intro)
2. Go Ahead
3. Superwoman
4. No One
5. Like You'll Never See Me Again
6. Lesson Learned - (with John Mayer)
7. Wreckless Love
8. Thing About Love, The
9. Teenage Love Affair
10. I Need You
11. Where Do We Go From Here
12. Prelude to a Kiss
13. Tell You Something - (Reprise)
14. Sure Looks Good to Me
| | Details | | Playing time: | 55 min. | | Producer: | Alicia Keys, Dirty Harry, Jack Splash, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers, Mark Batson | | Distributor: | BMG (distributor) | | Recording type: | Studio | | Recording mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
| | Album notes | 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).
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.
| | Editorial reviews | 4 stars out of 5 -- AS I AM advances by showing an experimental side....The music is dizzying, even mesmerizing.
Blender
She certainly has vocal dexterity and prodigious keyboard skills....Tracks like No One and Thing About Love become exercises in power soul...
Mojo
'The Thing About Love' begins as a melancholy R&B lament and rolls into pure pop-rock uplift... -- Grade: B
Entertainment Weekly
4 stars out of 5 -- [O]n her melodically powerful third studio album, she matures into the matriarch of her genre.
Spin
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.
Rolling Stone
3 stars out of 5 -- [T]he prevailing mood is reflectively soulful and the prevailing tempo mid.
Rolling Stone
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