By GINA VIVINETTO and CHRIS TISCH
Published January 18, 2004
ALICIA KEYS, THE DIARY OF ALICIA KEYS (J) Why doesn't Alicia Keys have more juicy bits in her Diary? After wowing critics and garnering a handful of Grammys for 2001's Songs In A Minor, which included the scrumptious Fallin', you'd think neo-R&B singer-pianist Keys, who turns 23 next Sunday, would have scandal, intrigue and hot stuff on the sophomore Diary of Alicia Keys. What has she been doing for the past two years?
Though album No. 2's title is a bit self-important, the tunes, most written or co-written by Keys, are not as self-revelatory as we might like. Having said that, our girl Keys has been in love. And out of it, too. Which makes for the single You Don't Know My Name, a Motown flashback in all the right r-e-s-p-e-c-t-s: The tune finds Keys crooning in her seductive, syrupy best about betrayal and includes a schmaltzy spoken-word interlude. Derivative? You bet. Does it work? You bet.
The upbeat Karma, with its rollicking percussion and moody strings, is much more fun, as is the jazzy, Superfly-sounding Heartburn, guaranteed to put some funk in your bunk. In other spots we get glimpses of Keys' musical daring, including bits of classical piano and caterwauling vocal acrobats.
Unfortunately, Keys' Diary doesn't escape the sophomore curse: Not all the songs are worth writing home about. But the tunes into which Keys pours her heart - and soul - are excellent entries, indeed. B
- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
PEARL JAM, LOST DOGS (SONY) If you lost track of Pearl Jam somewhere between Vitalogy and Yield, you've missed some pretty good stuff from the Seattle rockers. The band's last effort, Riot Act, was perhaps its best album since Vitalogy. It also was its seventh studio album, in case you've lost count since Pearl Jam gave up the grunge.
That, by the way, cost Pearl Jam many casual fans, who jumped on the wagons of bands that imitated early Pearl Jam. If you feel the least bit bad about ditching Pearl Jam and picking up Creed or Puddle of Mudd, you could start making up for it by picking up Lost Dogs.
This double-disc set has 31 songs that were absorbed by compilation albums, used as B sides or not used at all. The fiercest songs are from the early days. Anyone who collected Pearl Jam bootlegs in the early 1990s will know the beautiful guitar crash of Alone, the funky snap of Dirty Frank and the unapologetic self-loathing of Footsteps.
Two radio favorites, the gorgeous Yellow Ledbetter and the touching remake Last Kiss, also are here, though two great early songs from the Singles soundtrack, Breath and State of Love and Trust, are not.
A number of great remakes from tribute albums are included, including Eddie Holland's Motown classic Leavin' Here. (Missing, however, is the ghostly Crazy Mary from the Victoria Williams benefit album.)
Tracks from the later years show a band resolved to stay different from its former self. That these songs ended up on the cutting-room floor somehow makes them seem more personal, more intimate. And, in a way, better.
The album's last track is a tribute to Layne Staley, the Alice in Chains singer who died in 2002. Vedder wrote the song the day of Staley's death, scolding those who tried to mimic Staley's gravel-pit voice, tarnishing the original.
