With MTV s decision to revive its much-missed Unplugged series came a certain obligation: Whoever was going to kick the shows off needed to have the means to deliver serious heat, Grammy-vote garnering heat. The powers that be couldn t have chosen better than Alicia Keys. Throughout this consistent set, marked by warmth, sincerity and a powerful lack of inhibition, Keys convinces that if she s not the new Aretha Franklin, she s a force of equal might and measure. All the favorites are here, the danceable Karma carries into the funky Heartburn and the give-it-up glory of Unbreakable. Fallin , If I Ain t Got You, and You Don t Know My Name come later, but interspersed are enough pleasant surprises to make even fanatical Keys followers forget the signature songs. Prince s How Come You Don t Call Me, for instance, gets a playful work-up, complete with audience-aimed banter and an unbroken promise to take it to the bridge, and a duet that on paper seems misguided works surprisingly well, as Keys resists any instinct to clobber Maroon 5 s Adam Levine vocally. Yowling, piano pounding, hip-hop tics (the ubiquitous, emphatic unh ), and even a spot of theatrical poetry all have their places here, but Keys manages them with a master s sense of what s song-appropriate. Her band is spot-on, her arrangements soar, and her guests--count Mos Def and Common among them--complement the proceedings without even momentarily carrying them. The best Unplugged discs leave a listener wishing artists would kick the amps altogether; this is one of them.


Tracklist:

01. Intro Alicia s Prayer (Acappella)
02. Karma
03. Heartburn
04. A Woman s Worth (Live)
05. Unbreakable
06. How Come You Don t Call Me
07. If I Was Your Woman
08. If I Ain t Got You
09. Every Little Bit Hurts
10. Streets of New York (City Life)
11. Wild Horses
12. Diary
13. You Don t Know My Name
14. Stolen Moments
15. Fallin
16. Love It Or Leave It Alone/Welcome To Jamrock (with Mos Def, Common, Damien Marley & Friends)