| Product Summary | | Label: J Records | | UPC: 00828765571227 | | Release Date: 12/2/2003 | | Buy.com Sku: 60620306 | | Item#: M73RWV | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25654 | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
| The Diary of Alicia Keys includes the mixtape favorite "Streets of New York," featuring Nas and Rakim, along with a plethora of intensely personal numbers, some of which she produced herself, like the album's first single, "You Don't Know My Name."
"An enthusiastic album full of masterful strokes and electrifying intensity." Blender
"Another masterpiece." Dot Music
"A proper soul album which hooks you with the first pneumatic beat and draws you deeper with every heady atmosphere and vivid emotion." Q Magazine
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel includes: Alicia Keys (vocals, piano, synthesizer); Tony! Toni! Tone! (vocals); Rich Harrison, Andre Harris, Vidal Davis (various instruments); Sharif Hobley, Artie White, Ricky Quinones (guitar); Dwayne Wiggins (sitar, bass); Sanford Allen (violin); Richard Brice (viola); Eileen Folson (cello); Dave Watson (flute, saxophone); Joe Romano, Dave Watson (horns); Onree Gill (Fender Rhodes piano); Arckel Vickers (organ); Artie Reynolds, Steve Rodriguez (bass); Paul John, Steve Jordan (drums); Pablo Batista (percussion); Kerry "Crucial" Brothers, Easy Mo Bee (programming); Taneisha Smith, Erika Rose, L. Green, Cindy Mizelle, Katrese Barnes (background vocals). | | Producers include: Alicia Keys, Andre Harris, Vidal Davis, Rich Harrison, Kerry "Crucial" Brothers. | | On THE DIARY OF ALICIA KEYS, the classically trained vocalist/pianist follows up the success of her lauded debut by displaying an even more formidable knack for sophisticated soul. The elegant piano intro of "Harlem's Nocturne" quickly gives way to a driving beat and Keys' admission that "there are so many things that are on my mind." This sentiment proves true, as Keys proceeds to run through a wide range of musical styles, from string-laden R&B on "Karma" to Timbaland-produced funk on "Heartburn" to a potent soul-pop medley of "If I Was Your Woman/Walk On By." | | Keys' personal touch on DIARY extends to her role as producer on many of the album's tracks, including the sultry, show-stopping "If I Ain't Got You" and the haunting "Diary" (featuring Tony! Toni! Tone!). As this confident sophomore album reveals, SONGS IN A MINOR was no fluke. In fact, DIARY shows Keys just starting to hit her musical stride. |
Musical Guests | | Tony Toni Tone |
| | Compilation Appearances |
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| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 12/02/2003 | | Original Release Date : 2003 | | Catalog ID : 55712 | | Label : J-Records (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00828765571227 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (12/25/03-1/8/04, p.124)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "...An assured, adult statement, steeped in the complicated love life and musical dreams of an ambitious young woman who has absorbed enough Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin records to live up to [her] soul promise..."Entertainment Weekly (12/5/03, pp.94-5)
- "...[The album features] some of Keys' liveliest music..." - Rating: B Q (1/04, p.111)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "It's a proper soul album which hooks you with the first pneumatic beat and draws you deeper with every heady atmosphere and vivid emotion." E! Online 8 of 10
The R&B stunner had deliver something major to top her Grammy-hogging 2001 debut Songs in A Minor. She gets halfway there by cracking open her Diary and spreading her wings with the beat-driving numbers like "Karma" and "Heartburn" (coproduced by Keys and Timbaland). Then she has a good time covering Gladys Knight's "If I Were Your Woman." Keys, however, proves to be a better singer than songwriter, as most of the latter half of the album slips into sleepy piano numbers. Sure, "You Don't Know My Name" and "Samsonite Man" are soulfully gorgeous, but we're wagering that you'll feel a little drowsy after sitting through this.
Rolling Stone 8 of 10
Alicia Keys already has a lot of mystique to live up to for such a tender thing. On her debut, Songs in A Minor, she was acclaimed as a soul prodigy fusing Biggie and Chopin. Keys played piano, wrote the great "Fallin'," wore a cool hat and won more Grammys than she'd had hot breakfasts. But success hasn't spoiled her, because she's clearly been woodshedding. The Diary of Alicia Keys is an assured, adult statement, steeped in the complicated love life and musical dreams of an ambitious young woman who has absorbed enough Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin records to live up to the soul promise of "Harlem's Nocturne." Keys evokes Gladys Knight ("If I Was Your Woman") and Dionne Warwick ("Walk On By"), but the seductive adult spell of "You Don't Know My Name" is all her own.
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