Alicia Keys - "The Element of Freedom" - Album Review

"The Element of Freedom," the fourth studio album from Ms. Soul Alicia Clark, better known as Alicia Keys, at times captures that magical element that soothes the soul. The 14-song collection is saturated with love and heartbreak and captures the whirlwind of feelings that are involved while in an up and down relationship.

The pianist begins with a poetic phrase, "And the day came when the risk it took to remain tightly closed in a bud, was more painful than the risk it took to bloom. This is the element of freedom." I have to admit it's sort of beautiful and empowering. Too bad most of the album didn't follow suit. More on that later, but first the good parts.

"Doesn't Mean Anything," is the 1st single off the album and the 2nd best song. It's a really well done song with remnants of "No One" from her 2007 album "As I Am." You can't beat Keys' tone of voice on this one and the melodic chorus is second to none.

"Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart," is the second single off the album and the best song. The vocal arrangements and chord progressions are perfectly blended and the chorus is catchy and really well done.

Now for the bad. The middle of the album felt like fluff and filler with slow moving melodies and I didn't hear enough tempo balance to make it interesting. Keys is noted as saying that the album dealt with overcoming depression. I didn't hear enough positive vibe and in fact, I would probably succumb to depression if having to record and mix the middle part of this album.

Positives

First half of the album was pretty well done.

Contains a couple of tracks, "Doesn't Mean Anything," and, "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart," that will receive mild commercial success.

Negatives

Middle of the album felt like time filler and didn't make me want to listen through to the end.

Not enough balance to avoid the dreary feeling the album leaves you with.

Summary

Overall, "The Element of Freedom," by Alicia Keys is a good album that lacks the creativity and variance to make it a great album.

Alicia Keys understands soul music and is one of the best at transferring that soulful feeling into others. She does a good job of that in parts of her latest adventure with her two singles off the album and even the last song which is a beautiful rendition of Empire State Of Mind as it does an excellent job painting a picture for the listener, but the album as a whole does not do enough to be memorable.

This album would be one of the top albums of 2009 if albums were judged by the first 4 songs, but they're not and this album takes a wrong turn midway through and ends up being just a good collection that doesn't pack the knockout punch to be great. It gets a 3.75 out of 5.

Alicia Keys - The Element of Freedom - 3.75/5

Copyright 2009 Dan Rozak

Comments/Inquiries: danrozakmusicman@musician.org