RECORD REVIEWS || The Element of Freedom

December 20, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

‘The Element of Freedom’

Alicia Keys (J Records)

Grade: B-

When Alicia Keys declared herself a “Superwoman” on her last album — with an “S” on her chest, oh, yes! — she certainly had good reason. She had competed by herself, more or less, against one prefab pop singer after another with teams of handlers and armies of producers and songwriters for the better part of a decade and come out on top. From “Fallin’” to “No One,” Keys had proven she was the real deal.

Maybe that’s why “The Element of Freedom” sounds a bit disappointing and shockingly incomplete. Though Keys is in fine voice, as usual, and has constructed even more of her trademark soaring soul anthems, the bulk of them sound a little short.

The first single “Doesn’t Mean Anything” ends up being prophetic. It sounds big and feels important, but it lacks passion and an interesting point of view. It’s a pattern she repeats throughout the heart of “Freedom,” in the equally bland follow-up “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” and the sweet-sounding emptiness of “How It Feels to Fly.”

Keys does get a boost from the power couple of Jay-Z and Beyonc . B’s appearance on “Put It in a Love Song” pushes Keys to try something different in her phrasing and her rhythms, while the inspirational influence of Jay-Z rubs off on Keys for “Empire State of Mind [Part II],” reminding us how essential her chorus is to that smash hit.

“The Element of Freedom” shows that even Superwoman can run into some creative Kryptonite every now and then.

— Glenn Gamboa, Long Island Newsday

‘Sex Therapy’

Robin Thicke (Interscope)

Grade: A-

What makes Robin Thicke’s “Sex Therapy” (Interscope) so addictive is the way he bends the latest hip-hop styles to his will. Whether he is surrounded by the spacey stomp of “Elevatas” with Kid Cudi, the Dirty South-fueled “Shakin’ It 4 Daddy” with Nicki Minaj or the playful bossa nova of “Meiple” with Jay-Z, Thicke and his smooth vocals remain remarkably on target. He even makes a mashup of Eurodance rhythms and James Brown funk on “Rollacoasta,” with help from Estelle, sound as effortless as his Princely falsetto.

— Glenn Gamboa, Long Island Newsday

‘Fall Be Kind’

Animal Collective (Domino)

Grade: B

On this five-song EP mostly culled from outtakes from “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” Animal Collective’s most recent and most successful record, David “Avey Tare” Portner, Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox and Brian “Geologist” Weitz continue their delicate balance between creepy-crawly sweetness and bubbling, dark psychedelia. After all, if it didn’t mix the uncomfortable with the transcendent, it wouldn’t be Brooklyn’s Animal Collective.

There’s not a cut here that will make anyone think differently about the Baltimore-born outfit, but it’s a worthy addition to the catalog. “Fall Be Kind” coalesces around the band’s sonic staples, leaning particularly toward Panda Bear’s dreamy aesthetic: anchoring polyrhythms, nether-worldly textures and amber-warm vocals with a few new tricks thrown in, such as the near-syrupy strings that begin “Graze.”

“What Would I Want? Sky,” which uses the first licensed Grateful Dead sample as a recurring motif, shows off the band’s talents at creating near-mystical transitions. It opens with burbling, shivery synths pillowing around tranced-out vocals — it’s a sonic palette that could stir amorous feelings in beluga whales. But before it slips down an oceanic black hole, the song breaks into a warm groove framing Avey’s relatable lyrics, punctuated by a taxi driver’s scold to “Stop daydreaming, dude!”

While Animal Collective’s strengths are not usually to be found in their words, the lyrics do lend a welcome humanizing quality to the sometimes-alien ruptures that characterize Animal Collective’s sound. “Somehow I feel hopeful,” Avey and Panda sing on “Bleed,” and it sounds like the lovely truth.

— Margaret Wappler, Los Angeles Times