Alicia Keys: Girl On Fire album

Alicia Keys: Girl On Fire (RCA)  It would be the height of snarkiness to say anything negative about the lovely Alicia Keys, particularly when her biography notes that she is "a 14-time Grammy® Award-winning singer/songwriter/producer, an accomplished actress, a New York Times best-selling author, an entrepreneur and a powerful force in the world of philanthropy and in the global fight against HIV and AIDS." OK, great! So is she any good? They didn't mention that! To be totally objective: She looks great on the album cover, her new logo is extremely cool—I liken it to Hyundai's, maybe after a few drinks—and admittedly, recording an album that features the artist literally being set afire at the album's climax is kind of kinky! Still, to my ears, her album is hampered by its being anchored by, in her bio's words. her "trademark piano"—which, as most musicians realize, is kind of a nothing brand (I've never heard of it!) and seems to sort of rattle when it hits the high notes! The album of the year? I simply don't know!