Buzzcuts: New Music
Alicia Keys, best known for her soulful ballads accompanied by her piano and beauty, releases "As I Am," her third studio album. Also, this week brings Duran Duran's release of "Red Carpet Massacre," which carries their music more towards the dance floor. Trisha Yearwood's "Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love" demonstrates her strength over the years.
Alicia Keys, "As I Am" (J Records)
Alicia Keys, "As I Am"
Duran Duran, "Red Carpet Massacre"
Trisha Yearwood, "Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love" "
In the six years since she made her recording debut, Alicia Keys has sold millions of records, won an armful of Grammys, and racked up a gaggle of hits. Yet for all of her accomplishments, Keys has yet to deliver the one thing that matters most -- a truly great album.
True, her debut, 2001's "Songs in A Minor," and her sophomore album, 2003's "The Diary of Alicia Keys," contained breathtakingly beautiful songs like "You Don't Know My Name" and "Fallin' " that demonstrated why Keys is among the most heralded talents of her generation. But it always seemed as if she put all of her efforts in those truly amazing songs, and the rest of her music was decidedly average in comparison.
Now back with her third studio album, "As I Am," Keys still hasn't produced a classic -- but oh, she's so tantalizingly close. Once again, the singer-songwriter comes up with some brilliant music. But what's more important is that even the songs that fail to live up to that high standard are, for the most part, pretty memorable on their own, resulting in a near-great, cohesive record.
Working once again with partner Kerry Krucial, along with other collaborators like producer-songwriter Linda Perry and John Mayer, the songs on "As I Am" home in on Keys' specialty -- magical love ballads and soulful songs that burn slow but retain their fire throughout. One song that's an example of the latter: the mournful, yet ultimately hopeful "Lesson Learned," about picking up the pieces after heartbreak. You can hear the ache in her stirring voice as she sings: "I was burned, but I call it a lesson learned."
On the passionate, sexy "Wreckless Love," one of the CD's best tracks, she gives perhaps her best vocal performance, alternating between a sexy near-whisper to full-out tempestuous growl as the horns and drums reach a crescendo in the background.
The song that will leave you spellbound, though, is the exquisite "Like You'll Never See Me Again." The dreamy, melodic groove will draw you in, but Keys' sensual voice leaves you rapt as she begs, "Every time you hold me, hold me like it's the last time, every time you kiss me, kiss me like you'll never see me again." People will be dedicating this one to their significant others for decades to come.
No other track matches that song's power, but there are other gems, including the rollicking hit "No One," which recalls a Bob Marley groove, and "Tell You Something," a rousing song that has Keys once again singing about seizing the moment to express love.
There are a couple of subpar tracks, like the lyrically trite piano ballad "Prelude to a Kiss," but even those won't make you want to push the forward button. Instead, you'll just wait for the next great track, because you know another is coming. And, more importantly, once the album is over, you'll want to hear it again -- in its entirety.
CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: You can pretty much guarantee that babies will be made to "Like You'll Never See Me Again": This track has more potency than Cupid's arrow.
Duran Duran, "Red Carpet Massacre" (Epic Records)
As far back as 1981's "Planet Earth," much of Duran Duran's music has naturally found a home on the dance floor.
For its latest album, "Red Carpet Massacre," the British veterans enlisted the aid of contemporary pop-dance heavyweights, bringing in Timbaland, the prolific rapper-producer; his protege, Nate "Danja" Hills; and even pop music's reigning king, Justin Timberlake.
The result makes much of "Red Carpet Massacre" dance club-worthy, but often at the expense of losing the band's signature sound for more generic-sounding fare.
Still, there are a few gems, including the album's title track. And, remarkably, frontman Simon LeBon's vocal range and melodic flair remain undiminished. He is the most prominent instrument here, second only to Nick Rhodes' synth work.
The album is the band's follow-up to 2004's "Astronaut," which marked the reunion of the group's original lineup -- frontman LeBon, keyboardist Rhodes, guitarist Andy Taylor, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Taylor -- since the mid 1980s.
The reunion proved to be short-lived, however. Andy Taylor left the band last year and is not credited with having made any contributions to "Red Carpet Massacre."
From the get-go, the album's opener, "The Valley," gets the dance mood going, with a pounding beat and pulsing synth rhythm as LeBon sings in high register: "And I feel it/I can see it/Yes I need it/I believe it."
The song, which eventually spirals into a lengthy instrumental break, works, but for a band that has been mining the dance music space through its career, its hard to find anything really new here.
Another dance-floor-designed track, "Tempted," also bears an off-the-shelf, generic remix feel. Strip out LeBon's distinctive vocals, and it could be anybody.
Timbaland and Timberlake's influence on "Nite-Runner," is hard to miss. The mid-tempo, funky track's groove sounds more contemporary, but also more disposable. The results are better on "Skin Divers," which features vocals by Timbaland.
One of the album's highlights, "Falling Down" -- a mid-tempo groove about a motorcycle spill LeBon suffered -- boasts Timberlake's production and songwriting.
In another standout, "Box Full O'Honey," the band dumps most of the electronic effects in favor of a clean sound led by acoustic guitar, piano and LeBon, with some of his best melody-craft in effect.
CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: "Red Carpet Massacre," features pile-driver drumming from Roger Taylor and an industrial rock-style heavy synth. The vocals recall the soaring melodies of the band's 1984 hit "Wild Boys," when LeBon belts "Red carpet massacre/Don't want to hassle ya/Red carpet massacre/Death squad paparazzi ah!"
Trisha Yearwood, "Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love" (Big Machine)
Trisha Yearwood, "Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love" (Big Machine)
Even 16 years ago, as a young adult starting her career, Trisha Yearwood was exceptional at delivering songs that probed the tangled emotions of adult relationships. On her 12th album, "Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love," she shows how she's grown even more effective with experience.
Her alto can soar with the strongest and loudest, but typical to this Georgia singer, what makes her so powerful is how she uses her tender upper range and her growling lower register. As one of Nashville's best singers in front of an orchestra or solo piano, she breathes layers of emotion into ballads as well-conceived as "The Dreaming Fields" and "Help Me." Similarly, few singers rock with as much ferociousness as Yearwood does on the title song or cop a groove with as much feistiness as on "Drown Me."
Yearwood has never been the most prolific or hardest-touring artist, and she's slowed down more since her 2005 marriage to singer Garth Brooks. To her credit, she continues to make every album an event worth celebrating -- as "Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love" truly is.
CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: Yearwood leans toward serious material, but the finger-snapping novelty "Cowboys Are My Weakness" demonstrates how much fun she can be when she loosens up.
Previous BuzzCuts: New albums from Billy Bob Thornton, Sean Kingston, Teddy Thompson and Joann Rosario.