Idol Chatter..Rock & Roll Hall Of Shame..er Fame

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T_Bone0806 · #1 Post by **T_Bone0806** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:09 pm

This could've been a great night. It was not. There was a wide variety of song choices available, so that each contestant should've found something to shine with. Instead we got some good performances of very safe and dull song choices, with a couple of not so safe choices resulting in bad performances.

I was almost COMPLETELY in disagreement with the judges. Not surprising, though, as they are so obvious with who they are pulling for that none of their "judging" bears any resemblance to objectivity.

Review to follow. I posted this to start the thread.

T_Bone0806 · #2 Post by **T_Bone0806** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:59 pm

1-David C. "Hungry Like the Wolf". Not overwhelming, but good enough to be my favorite of the night. Packed a nice little rock punch. Vocals were on target. A-

2-David A "Stand By Me". Predictably good performance on a predictably safe choice. Overdid the vocal runs but saved it with a nice falsetto at the end. Good performance, but the difficulty level was low. B+

3-Syesha "A Change is Gonna Come". Showed some decent power and hit some nice notes, but ultimately this song was too big for her. She doesn't have the chops to pull off the vocal runs she attempted. B

4-David A "Love Me Tender". As contradictory as this sounds, I hated the WAY he did this, but he DID sing it well. Too much playing around with the melody, like he did last week with "Sweet Caroline". it's one thing to put your own spin on something, it's another to distort the melody in order to "show off". Another safe song choice. To be fair, he sang it well, but it rubbed me the wrong way. B

5-Jason "I Shot the Sheriff". The falsetto was non-good, but otherwise I didn't find it the disaster the judges did. Then again, the judges want him gone in no uncertain terms (even to the point of slamming him last week on a second song he hadn't even sung yet, right, Paula?). He should've done "One Love" if he was gonna do Bob Marley, but I give him extra points for doing this one Marley style rather than go the safe route with the tepid Clapton version. C+

6-Syesha "Proud Mary". Simon stole my line somewhat on this one. If Syesha wasn't as good-looking as she is, I would've termed this as being reminiscent of a female impersonator revue. Srsly, the girl is no Tina as far as dancing and stage presence go. Ok, she's no Tina vocally either. The opening was ok, but the uptempo part was screechy and full of weak improvisation. Oh, and by the way, Syesha..Tina's version is ALSO a cover. Hello? John Fogerty? CCR? Never mind. C

7-Jason "Mr. Tambourine Man". Dammit. This coulda been the best of the night. He really connected with the song's spirit. Unfortunately he didn't connect with lyric retention. That and a very painful falsetto on the last note killed what would've gotten an "A" from me. But that blown lyric was just too blatant an error. C-

8-David C "Baba O'Riley". I'm sorry, I just CANNOT disconnect performance from arrangement on this one, like I did with David A above. This is from one of my all-time fave albums, "Who's Next". "Baba" is such an iconic kickass rock song, you just DON'T F it up by going emo on it. This may be even worse a sin than his treatment of "Eleanor Rigby". This arrangement, whether his or some lame alternative band's, is pretentious CRAP. I freakin' HATED this. But because he hit the right notes, I won't give him a "F". But I WILL flip him the bird. D

Syesha's waterworks will likely gain her some votes. The judges second week of verbally assassinating Jason will win over the undecided who think the trio actually know what they are talking about and will help send Mr. Castro on his merry way.

My standings:

David A 120 pts
David C 113 pts
Syesha 106 pts
Jason 105 pts

As I have said already, I can't say David A is my favorite, but he has
been the most consistent, in a white bread sorta way. I would rather listen to Cook and Castro though, even with the occasional crappy performances. At least Mssrs. C & C showed some guts with song choices. Young David (or was it Daddy Archuletta?) played it sickeningly safe.

Ritterskoop · #3 Post by **Ritterskoop** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:17 pm

I only much liked "Love Me Tender", which I thought captured the spirit of the original Civil War-era love song. "Stand By Me" was all right but not awesome like Randy said.

I was the smallest bit offended when Syesha compared her professional transformation with a large group of folks getting access to water fountains and colleges and jobs. I am sure she meant it better than I heard it. Her performance was too showy for me, given the anguish of the original. But it did not suck.

I was bored by "Hungry Like the Wolf", irritated at Jason's dropped lyric, and intrigued by the vocals on Baba O'Riley. But not enough to buy it.

I liked "I Shot the Sheriff" as much as I have ever liked that song, which is not much. But I was THRILLED to have some reggae on the show, finally. I wondered what the judges thought was so dreadful. It was karaoke, not a travesty.

I'll buy Archie's Elvis song only.

Bottom 2: David Cook in a shocker, and Jason. Jason picked up Brooke's votes, but Syesha has several voting blocs all to herself now, plus tonight picked up the crier votes.

Going home: it would be best for Cook's career to go now or next week, but he will get by. Jason leaves. He and Brooke should make an album together after the summer.

Sir_Galahad · #4 Post by **Sir_Galahad** » Tue May 06, 2008 10:33 pm

Without peeking at the other posts, here's what I thought: Great! Close! Safe. Karaoke. Pitiful. OK. Interesting. Now, to matchup the performances to the way I saw it.

D. Cook - Hungry Like The Wolf - I thought this was Close to being a great take on my favorite D.D. song. He did not show the usual mix-it-up arrangement but I couldn't imagine this song being done with much variation from the original. I enjoyed the performance.

Syesha - Proud Mary - I'm glad she chose to emulate Tina's version other than CCR's but nothing new was brought to that version. There were a couple of directions she could have taken this song, though. It was enjoyable but merely OK for me.

Jason - Marley is Marley. Period. Anything resembling his version is going to be judged accordingly. Even Clapton was smart enough not to do that but do it his way. He actually showed a little life but that's about all. Time for Jason to listen to Simon and pack his suitcase.

David A. - A safe performance. Technically superior but not very energizing.

David C. - When I heard he was going to do a Who song, I was really curious as to which one. I can see myself actually downloading the full version just to hear how he does the entire song. Who's Next is in my top three albums of all time as it is one of those rare albums where I liked every song on the album. I was actually surprised to hear him hit those high Daltrey notes. I though this was a great choice.

Syesha - I thought she did a great job with this song. Period.

Jason - I think I pretty said it all above. In this entire season's songs I think there were only two songs Jason did that I really enjoyed. This was not one of them.

David A. - Another technically superior performance but I did not care for the runs and note changes. It was only OK for me.

I will be very surprised if Jason does not go home tomorrow.

etaoin22 · #5 Post by **etaoin22** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:44 am

The six minute youtube idol report:

Pretty lame. In general, with the numbers down to four, and noone really able again to believe they can mail it in and be OK for next week, there is shakiness, especially on singing softly. Call it the equivlent of hotseatitis, perhaps hotstoolitis.

Syesha lamest. Can't dance. Can sing a little. The only thing I liked was the final part of Proud Mary, and I bet Randy found her sharp.

David Cooke's rocking not up to these two iconic songs. Baba misses the rage.

David A's Love Me Tender is weakened by his facial expression, more that of passing a stool, than expressing love.

Jason's pleasantly stoned persona comes off by far the best. Although he aint "Ella in Berlin" after fluffing the lyric. At least, I hope that was a fluff.

Conlcusion: the judges are vewy vewy worried. They gotta get Jason off, as America might not behave in a Jason vs David A final...... for any number of reasons.

ksbirchtree · #6 Post by **ksbirchtree** » Wed May 07, 2008 8:31 am

I would LOVE to see Jason in the final, only to piss-off Simon. Simon hated it that Taylor won 2 years ago, and didn't do anything to promote him. Jason would suffer the same fate.

I can't stand Archie... just not my cup of tea. Technically good, but no soul. The kid doesn't know what to do with his hands while he's singing.. very awkward. Let him win and they'll run the poor boy ragged and he'll loose his voice completely, like Jordin.

astrnomr · #7 Post by **astrnomr** » Wed May 07, 2008 2:39 pm

ksbirchtree wrote:I would LOVE to see Jason in the final, only to piss-off Simon. Simon hated it that Taylor won 2 years ago, and didn't do anything to promote him. Jason would suffer the same fate.

I can't stand Archie... just not my cup of tea. Technically good, but no soul. The kid doesn't know what to do with his hands while he's singing.. very awkward. Let him win and they'll run the poor boy ragged and he'll loose his voice completely, like Jordin.

Taylor Hicks was an unmarketable, marginally talented hack who never should have won Season 5. His album went lead, and he was dropped from his recording contract. Jason is marketable, but untalented. He could be the next Justin Guarini.

Archuletta is a song vampire -- he's a good singer, but he sucks the life out of the performance. His career will be over before he's 20.

astrnomr · #8 Post by **astrnomr** » Wed May 07, 2008 2:53 pm

Sir_Galahad wrote:D. Cook - Hungry Like The Wolf - I thought this was Close to being a great take on my favorite D.D. song. He did not show the usual mix-it-up arrangement but I couldn't imagine this song being done with much variation from the original. I enjoyed the performance.

I thought it was nice. Not thrilling, but nice. I liked his rough vocals, but he didn't do anything different with the song, so it doesn't earn any special points. It was a safe choice.

Sir_Galahad wrote:Syesha - Proud Mary - I'm glad she chose to emulate Tina's version other than CCR's but nothing new was brought to that version. There were a couple of directions she could have taken this song, though. It was enjoyable but merely OK for me.

I thought that it came across as a bad Tina Turner impersonation, and I even thought it made her look very old-fashioned. She's much better when she stands still and sings than when she tries to jump around and perform at the same time.

Sir_Galahad wrote:Jason - Marley is Marley. Period. Anything resembling his version is going to be judged accordingly. Even Clapton was smart enough not to do that but do it his way. He actually showed a little life but that's about all. Time for Jason to listen to Simon and pack his suitcase.

This was a bad version of a song I already detested. Once again, he brings nothing new or special (or good) to the song.

Sir_Galahad wrote:David A. - A safe performance. Technically superior but not very energizing.

"Stand By Me" is another song I detest, but at least David A can sing it. Now, if he could just stop squinting like he's constipated...

Sir_Galahad wrote:David C. - When I heard he was going to do a Who song, I was really curious as to which one. I can see myself actually downloading the full version just to hear how he does the entire song. Who's Next is in my top three albums of all time as it is one of those rare albums where I liked every song on the album. I was actually surprised to hear him hit those high Daltrey notes. I though this was a great choice.

I liked the "unplugged" beginning and the way the song built up into the chorus. It was different, he took a risk with the rearrangement of the song, and I liked it a lot better than what he did with "Hungry Like the Wolf".

Sir_Galahad wrote:Syesha - I thought she did a great job with this song. Period.

I thought she did a great job with this, probably her best effort all season. However, the whole "let's point out that I'm black and play the Civil Rights Movement card" was silly, especially when the judge that gave her a bad review was Randy.

Sir_Galahad wrote:Jason - I think I pretty said it all above. In this entire season's songs I think there were only two songs Jason did that I really enjoyed. This was not one of them.

I thought this was a good song choice for him and really suited his singing style (what little there is). And then he fumbled the lyrics. After that, the rest of the song was just noise.

Sir_Galahad wrote:David A. - Another technically superior performance but I did not care for the runs and note changes. It was only OK for me.

Another sad ballad. Although he sings well, he is a one-trick pony and can't sing anything but sad ballads without sounding like crap. The difference between David C and David A is that David C has tremendous stage presence, energizing even the dullest of songs, while David A sucks the life out of every performance.

Sir_Galahad wrote:I will be very surprised if Jason does not go home tomorrow.

My prediction is Jason and Syesha in the bottom two. Jason did unspectacular karaoke on the first song and followed it up by forgetting some easy lyrics. Syesha's first song was a mess, and the race card was overplayed after what was otherwise a great performance on song #2. That, and she has been struggling for votes every week.

Jason, pack your bags. You never should have made it this far.

T_Bone0806 · #9 Post by **T_Bone0806** » Wed May 07, 2008 3:23 pm

astrnomr wrote: Taylor Hicks was an unmarketable, marginally talented hack who never should have won Season 5. His album went lead, and he was dropped from his recording contract.

They really didn't go out of their way to promote Hicks, really. He sold over 700,000 copies which wasn't too bad all things considered. It was a mediocre disc, to be sure..as are most releases that Idol has a lot of control over. A lot of it was NOT what Taylor wanted to record. Admittedly, his style is not what sells these days..he would've done mucgh better back when Hall & Oates and Michael McDonald were ruling the charts.

None of the recent Idol folks are selling bigtime right now. Jordin Sparks did ok with her "Tattoo" single, but at last check her cd had not reached the level of Hicks' sales, and neither had runnerup Blake Lewis'. Sparks' numbers may have changed since last check, but that wasn't all that long ago so I don't think so. And for all who said that McPhee should've been the winner of Season 5, her cd REALLY tanked.

I loved Hicks. He lit up the stage when he was on and knew how to entertain. He brought a level of excitement to the show that has rarely been seen since. And he sang stuff us old farts liked. Rock-n-Soul stuff. And sang it pretty well, I thought. I would've been fine with Elliott Yamin (who had the best PURE voice of any of 'em) or even Daughtry winning (I liked Chris but I am not one of those who think his cd is all that great--it's good in small doses, but listened to all at once, it has a sameness to just about every song that renders it dull and repetitious after awhile..and it's all too Nickelback-ish for my taste), but Taylor was my favorite.

I think it speaks to the quality of these past two seasons that folks are still strongly opinionated about Season 5. That was, I think, the best season so far. Heck, I also liked Mandisa, and even Bucky, Paris and Ace had their moments..and Pickler was great comedy relief. Lisa was pretty forgettable, but the only one in the Top 10 I REALLY couldn't stand was McPhee.

Doubtful that they will ever have another season that brought out as much passion and furor as that one.

Snaxx · #10 Post by **Snaxx** » Wed May 07, 2008 5:13 pm

None of the recent Idol folks are selling bigtime right now. Jordin Sparks did ok with her "Tattoo" single, but at last check her cd had not reached the level of Hicks' sales, and neither had runnerup Blake Lewis'. Sparks' numbers may have changed since last check, but that wasn't all that long ago so I don't think so. And for all who said that McPhee should've been the winner of Season 5, her cd REALLY tanked.

Just last week Jordin passed Taylor and has been selling a steady ~20K a week for a while. I'm hoping it will continue so she will clear 1M later this year. The "No Air" duet with Chris Brown, which hit #1 on American Top 40 and has been at #3 on the Hot 100 for the past month or so, helped a lot.

Blake rivaled Jordin over the first two weeks, but stalled approaching 300K.

I definitely agree season 5 was by far the best. It was definitely a guy's season with Chris, Elliott, and strong 'also-rans' like Ace and Bucky.

Edit: add the link that I check now and again. This is last week's report from Ken Barnes at USA Today:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/idolchatter/2 ... ts-at.html

.

MarkBarrett · #11 Post by **MarkBarrett** » Wed May 07, 2008 11:15 pm

Chris Sligh from last season never had his chance to make the Hoff cry, but his album did come out this week.

Spoiler for tonight's result:

Spoiler

As for tonight, I'm happy my 12 votes for Syesha helped make a good result.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #12 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Wed May 07, 2008 11:41 pm

Maddie has the perfect description of David Archuleta.

She called him a Monchhichi

#13 Post by **littlebeast13** » Wed May 07, 2008 11:53 pm

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:Maddie has the perfect description of David Archuleta.

She called him a Monchhichi

Wow! There's an 80's flashback.....

lb13

peacock2121 · #14 Post by **peacock2121** » Thu May 08, 2008 6:32 am

astrnomr wrote:
ksbirchtree wrote:I would LOVE to see Jason in the final, only to piss-off Simon. Simon hated it that Taylor won 2 years ago, and didn't do anything to promote him. Jason would suffer the same fate.

I can't stand Archie... just not my cup of tea. Technically good, but no soul. The kid doesn't know what to do with his hands while he's singing.. very awkward. Let him win and they'll run the poor boy ragged and he'll loose his voice completely, like Jordin.
Taylor Hicks was an unmarketable, marginally talented hack who never should have won Season 5. His album went lead, and he was dropped from his recording contract. Jason is marketable, but untalented. He could be the next Justin Guarini.

.

bite Taylor.

peacock2121 · #15 Post by **peacock2121** » Thu May 08, 2008 6:34 am

T_Bone0806 wrote:
astrnomr wrote: Taylor Hicks was an unmarketable, marginally talented hack who never should have won Season 5. His album went lead, and he was dropped from his recording contract.
They really didn't go out of their way to promote Hicks, really. He sold over 700,000 copies which wasn't too bad all things considered. It was a mediocre disc, to be sure..as are most releases that Idol has a lot of control over. A lot of it was NOT what Taylor wanted to record. Admittedly, his style is not what sells these days..he would've done mucgh better back when Hall & Oates and Michael McDonald were ruling the charts.

None of the recent Idol folks are selling bigtime right now. Jordin Sparks did ok with her "Tattoo" single, but at last check her cd had not reached the level of Hicks' sales, and neither had runnerup Blake Lewis'. Sparks' numbers may have changed since last check, but that wasn't all that long ago so I don't think so. And for all who said that McPhee should've been the winner of Season 5, her cd REALLY tanked.

I loved Hicks. He lit up the stage when he was on and knew how to entertain. He brought a level of excitement to the show that has rarely been seen since. And he sang stuff us old farts liked. Rock-n-Soul stuff. And sang it pretty well, I thought. I would've been fine with Elliott Yamin (who had the best PURE voice of any of 'em) or even Daughtry winning (I liked Chris but I am not one of those who think his cd is all that great--it's good in small doses, but listened to all at once, it has a sameness to just about every song that renders it dull and repetitious after awhile..and it's all too Nickelback-ish for my taste), but Taylor was my favorite.

I think it speaks to the quality of these past two seasons that folks are still strongly opinionated about Season 5. That was, I think, the best season so far. Heck, I also liked Mandisa, and even Bucky, Paris and Ace had their moments..and Pickler was great comedy relief. Lisa was pretty forgettable, but the only one in the Top 10 I REALLY couldn't stand was McPhee.

Doubtful that they will ever have another season that brought out as much passion and furor as that one.

As usual, t-bone said it better than me.

don't bite t-bone

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #16 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Thu May 08, 2008 7:33 am

littlebeast13 wrote:
PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:Maddie has the perfect description of David Archuleta.

She called him a Monchhichi

Wow! There's an 80's flashback.....

lb13

Yeah. She spent the weekend watching We Love the 80's on VH1, studying for Quiz Bowl.