Idol Chatter - The Top Eight

[Sir_Galahad]

For me, there was an unlikely stand-out with tonight's performances. Up until tonight, I have not been a fan of Jason's but I thought his rendition of Over The Rainbow was great. While I cannot compare it to the version done by Kat McPhee a couple of season's ago, I thoroughly enjoyed his rendition. It was different and that's what I liked about it.

The only other performance that was remotely worth remembering for me was Michael. I was hoping that he would not try to the falsetto thing done by Tyler but... ah, well. I thought all of the other performances were unoriginal and uninspiring.

The bottom three - Syesha, Carly and David C.

Who's leaving? Syesha.

[Ritterskoop]

For me, there was an unlikely stand-out with tonight's performances. Up until tonight, I have not been a fan of Jason's but I thought his rendition of Over The Rainbow was great. While I cannot compare it to the version done by Kat McPhee a couple of season's ago, I thoroughly enjoyed his rendition. It was different and that's what I liked about it.

The only other performance that was remotely worth remembering for me was Michael. I was hoping that he would not try to the falsetto thing done by Tyler but... ah, well. I thought all of the other performances were unoriginal and uninspiring.

The bottom three - Syesha, Carly and David C.

Who's leaving? Syesha.

Jason did Izzy's version, and was great about saying so a couple of times. Sirge, if you don't have that version you should purchase it ASAP (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole).

[Sir_Galahad]

Jason did Izzy's version, and was great about saying so a couple of times. Sirge, if you don't have that version you should purchase it ASAP (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole).

Thanks, Skoop. I will definitely have to look that one up. I have never heard of Izzy before. If he is a reggae-type artist, I enjoy some of that music - not all, but some.

[Ritterskoop]

Jason did Izzy's version, and was great about saying so a couple of times. Sirge, if you don't have that version you should purchase it ASAP (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole).

Thanks, Skoop. I will definitely have to look that one up. I have never heard of Izzy before. If he is a reggae-type artist, I enjoy some of that music - not all, but some.

He was Hawai'ian, so it is islandish but not specifically reggae.

When you look for the song, be aware there is also a medley of Over the Rainbow with What a Wonderful World. You may want both, and it's pretty, but just be sure you know what you're getting.

[Snaxx]

The bottom three - Syesha, Carly and David C.

Who's leaving? Syesha.

I think yet again there will be three ladies huddling together as the B3. So for third from the bottom, I will go with the other Cook, even though she has improved and will make it another week. Liked Carly but she could be in danger as Simon said. Voted for Carly, Brooke, and also David C., if he is B3 I'll be glad I threw a few votes his way.








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[T_Bone0806]

1-Jason-"Over the Rainbow". Tender and heartfelt. Yes, I know that he did not come up with that arrangement, but it was still magic. It made me feel good. A+

2-Syesha "I Believe". Pretty good job, but in her quest to dazzle us technically, there was not enough heart behind it. B+

3-Michael "Dream On". A great bar band vocal, didn't bring anything new to the table. He was no Steven Tyler on the screechy falsetto, but he didn't embarrass himself in the long run either. B

4-David A "Angels". Shaky in the soft spots, good when he opened up. Ultimately not his most exciting performance. B

5-Brooke "You've Got a Friend". She's been compared to Carole King a lot, so I guess it was about time she went straight to thesource. It came across as very heartfelt, like Jason, although the vocal was not teriffic like Jason's. Not overly impressive, but kind of a warm & cozy pair of slippers kinda performance. B

6-David C. "Innocent". This coulda been a memorable performance, but he just couldn't pull it off. Too much trouble with the ups & downs of the melody, and ran off key more often than usual for him. B-

7-Carly "The Show Must Go On". She just pushed this too hard. Lots of power but little passion. She has a strong voice but often doesn't seem to know what to do with it. The ad-libs and fills were pitiful. C

8-Kristy Lee "Anyway". Off key here and there, bland most of the time. Blah blah who cares. "The English Patient" was non-stop excitement compared to watching K.L. I'm hoping "Idol Gives Back" week includes
Idol "giving back" Kristy Lee to her family and friends. However, if they follow last year's example, they won't send anyone home during this "Special" week, even though they make it sound like someone gets the boot on Thursday. C-



My standings (only 6 points separate the Top 6):

Jason and David A. 72 pts.
Carly 70 pts.
David C 67 pts.
Michael and Syesha 66 pts.
Brooke 59 pts.
Kristy Lee 35 pts.

[Ritterskoop]

7-Carly "The Show Must Go On". She just pushed this too hard. Lots of power but little passion. She has a strong voice but often doesn't seem to know what to do with it. The ad-libs and fills were pitiful. C

I can't hear this without thinking of Freddie Mercury performing after he'd been diagnosed. Also "Who Wants to Live Forever?"

I'm hoping "Idol Gives Back" week includes
Idol "giving back" Kristy Lee to her family and friends. However, if they follow last year's example, they won't send anyone home during this "Special" week, even though they make it sound like someone gets the boot on Thursday. C-

I think last season was only two nights, is why they didn't send anyone home on the Gives Back night. This way, with three shows, they can do the Gives Back on Wednesday, and send someone home Thursday. I don't think it will be KLC yet, though. The Colonel coasts at least one more week on her song choice and being the only one left in her genre.

She may well be Bottom Three, with Syesha and Brooke. Or maybe the David Cook love takes a break. But Syesha goes home, I think.

[starfish1113]

It was Bizarro Tuesday for me on Idol. I think I disagreed with Randy every single time. And, from the likes of the comments here, I was not in lock step with anybody!

1. David C. - Perfect song for him and, unlike so many others, it seemed relevant. Despite his arrogance, he's my favorite.

2. Brooke - On a night when there was absolutely no standout performances, Simon was exactly right. This was pleasant.

3. Michael - Again, in my view this was the perfect song for him. And, I thought he handled the high parts quite well.

4. David A. - Great. Song. David couldn't pull of the soft parts but otherwise he was solid.

5. Carly - You can't like it when Paula isn't fully supportive. That said, I didn't see anything wrong with this performance. Other than it wasn't Mercury-like.

6. Jason - He just gets on my nerves. I thought the ukelele was gimmicky and that he once again smirked his way through the entire performance.

7. Syesha - What did she sing again?

8. Kristy Lee - Has anyone else noticed how she stands on stage. It's brutal. What is good for Kristy Lee is mediocre for everybody else.

Probable Bottom Three - Carly, Syesha, Kristy Lee. I think Michael might also get there, if only because he was the first one up and the judges didn't gush over him.

[minimetoo26]

I don't quite know what to make of last night's show. I wasn't inspired if that's what they were trying to do.

Michael did a decent cover of Dream On, but it just wasn't a good fit for the night's theme in some way. I guess it's too much show and not enough heart. I mean, we're talking Steven Tyler here. Rock God but not Noted Philanthropist.

Syesha (I Believe) sings well enough, but she is so plastic and generic I never feel her on non-inspirational weeks and nothing changed with this "Performance". And I do mean "Performance". You never forget she's an actress.

Jason could have totally rocked or totally biffed with that choice of Over the Rainbow, and it totally rocked. Beautiful voice, clear sound, restrained performance. Just lovely, even if he was wearing my sweater. I really have a sweater like that, and it came from Victoria's Secret. He can get away with stuff like that, which makes him just so totally awesome in my book. So unpretentious.

Kristy Lee (Anyway) is just totally bulletproof. She missed a few notes amd I don't care for country, but she was all kinds of awesome, especially compared with Syesha. I couldn't wait for her to leave, and now I've just gotten used to her being around, so she doesn't bug. And she's the only person who seems to be able to answer a question without looking vacant. She'll be around next week at least.

David C. (Innocent) WTF? Talk about poser. Pretentious. All the crappy things I used to think about him came flooding back last night. You can be gimmicky if you bring the performance, but not if you can't keep up with the song. He was hard to hear in the middle, but at this point I'm glad. And the hand thing? It's never a good thing to remind me of Chris Martin. I know Michael Stipe will sometimes do that, but I don't look at Michael Stipe. He's an alien.

Carly (The Show Must Go On) sounded fantastic for about 20 seconds, then totally fell apart. It was painful after that. The clothes were a marginal improvement, but visible panty lines are never flattering in stretch pants. And that is not really an inspirational song anyway.

David A (Angels) was in his element with the theme. He still sounds good, but I'm still not loving him. He's really not my thing, and when he's not so young he's not going to be such a novelty. Has to work on the breathing problem he seems to have.

Brooke (You've Got a Friend) really could have brought her sunshiny optimism thing this week after using it in the wrong places on a stalker song and a you done me wrong song the last two weeks, and she didn't. I really thought she was going to cry the whole time. And she wore my couch. (Okay, I don't have a couch that ugly.) I hope she sounded good, because once again I was dialling instead of listening, because the show ran long.

The bottom 3 will be Carly, Syesha, and a coin flip between David C and Michael. And it's a tossup between the two girls as to who goes home. It really could be Carly. Thursday night could get real ugly.

[Simon Coward]

I don't quite know what to make of last night's show. I wasn't inspired if that's what they were trying to do.

Who cares? I will be quite inspired when I see the latest Neilsen numbers. I won't even remember any of these clowns' names come July....

[minimetoo26]

I don't quite know what to make of last night's show. I wasn't inspired if that's what they were trying to do.

Who cares? I will be quite inspired when I see the latest Neilsen numbers. I won't even remember any of these clowns' names come July....

You can't remember them NOW, you bozo! "That Irish girl?"

[littlebeast13]

I don't quite know what to make of last night's show. I wasn't inspired if that's what they were trying to do.

Who cares? I will be quite inspired when I see the latest Neilsen numbers. I won't even remember any of these clowns' names come July....

You can't remember them NOW, you bozo! "That Irish girl?"

Poor Mr. Coward. His master doesn't even watch his idiotic show....

lb13

[astrnomr]

I keep wondering how Paula has made it into a 7th season. She becomes less and less coherent every week, and last night she came out wearing a dress that was at least two sizes too small. She appeared to be on the verge of a wardrobe malfunction at any minute. The song choices were questionable -- very few of them can be considered "inspirational".

I liked Michael's version of "Dream On"... up until he tried to hit Steven Tyler's high notes. Those were painful, and it turned a fine performance into a copycat version. Do what you're good at, not what somebody else is good at. He has tons of potential, but never picks the right songs. And what's with raising one hand as he sings? He reminds me of David Byrne from the Talking Heads when he does that.

Syesha is a good singer, but she smiled all through a song that should be emotional. That came across as a complete disconnect from the lyrics. I also dislike the frizzed-out afro -- she looks so much better (like Vanessa Williams) with the hair flat-ironed.

I had trouble rating Jason's performance of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" because the ukelele left me staring at the TV with a deer in headlights look. The judges loved it, but I think a performance like that is hit-or-miss. It should be more than enough to get him through to next week, though.

I'm not sure that Kristy's "Anyway" is inspirational, but I loved the "screw you and what you think, I'm going to sing my song anyway" attitude of the song. It fit her perfectly, and that's the best she's sounded all season. She might have a future as a country star, but that would be it. She'll never be a pop/rock star.

For the first time since he sang "Happy Together" (which was a stupid song choice), I though David Cook sucked. The performance was all over the place, and ending with "give back" written across his hand made me want to reach into my TV to slap him. And, another week, another look. Now he's growing the full beard, and the hair is feathered like he just rolled out of bed. With the white leather jacket, he looked like a white version of Prince.

Carly started out okay on "The Show Must Go On", but she's always trying way too hard. She's a powerful singer, but she should be doing hard rock or punk songs to go with that voice. At least the simple outfit looked a hell of a lot better than the dresses she's been wearing the past few weeks.

David A was... Zzzzzzz. He bores the crap out of me. Yeah, he'll be around next week. So what. He could be the next Leif Garrett or Shaun Cassidy... and we all know how well those singing careers went.

Brooke? The 60s called, and they want that dress back... so they can burn it. I thought the performance was nasal and mediocre. Also, just as Syesha is emotionless, Brooke is too emotional. She sounded like she was singing at a funeral.

For the bottom three, I'm picking Syesha, David C, and Brooke. Carly is also deserving of a place in the bottom three.

Assuming that they actually boot somebody this week, I think it's going to be Syesha. She went early and sang with no emotion. I had forgotten her by the end of the show.

[Sir_Galahad]

Jason did Izzy's version, and was great about saying so a couple of times. Sirge, if you don't have that version you should purchase it ASAP (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole).

I just listened (and downloaded) Izzy's version that I saw on You Tube. Fantastic!

[kusch]

This was overall my least favorite week to listen to really any of them.

My choice to go this week---ABB----Anyone But Brooke. I just like her and I know I am in the minority.

I would really like for David C to be gone and gone soon. I thought he was very pompous last night.

[christie1111]

Jason did Izzy's version, and was great about saying so a couple of times. Sirge, if you don't have that version you should purchase it ASAP (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole).

I just listened (and downloaded) Izzy's version that I saw on You Tube. Fantastic!

I am so glad you did.

Izzy is from the neighborhood my sister lives in, Waianae (Makaha actually).

Trivia, as many of you know, this is the song that played in the background while the ER doctor (Green) died looking out over the water in Hawaii many seasons ago.

Unfourtunately Izzy was very typical of many good ole Hawaiian guys and weighed somthing like 400 lbs and died way to young.

[ulysses5019]

I just listened (and downloaded) Izzy's version that I saw on You Tube. Fantastic!

And for those who have never heard this beautiful song by Izzy or would like some visuals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9KHo9z86rA

[ksbirchtree]

[quote="christie1111"
Trivia, as many of you know, this is the song that played in the background while the ER doctor (Green) died looking out over the water in Hawaii many seasons ago.[quote]

I remember it from there. Also, my nephews played it in the hospital room after their Mom, my sister, passed away after a 10-year battle with cancer. Just thinking about the song makes me cry! And I did that when Jason sang it last night.

I also like Brooke -- she's just a breathe of fresh air.

[ulysses5019]

And here's a version for Christie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6_FYW64QFY

[Sir_Galahad]

Trivia, as many of you know, this is the song that played in the background while the ER doctor (Green) died looking out over the water in Hawaii many seasons ago.

I told Lady G that this is the song I want played at my funeral. No, there's nothing imminent but I felt it's just that kind of song - Bittersweet and sung with heart and soul.

[ulysses5019]

From wiki:

In 2006, a version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", in an arrangement based on Iz', was performed by The Worthless Peons in "My Way Home", the 100th episode of Scrubs, over the closing montage. A recording of the same song by Iz was used in the closing scenes of the final episode of Life on Mars (TV Series). It is also a featured song in the movies Finding Forrester, Meet Joe Black and 50 First Dates. In 2002, the song was used to powerful effect in the closing scenes of Anthony Edwards' last appearance in E.R. as Dr. Mark Greene, in the episode 'On The Beach'. In 2008, American Idol contestant, Jason Castro performed Israel's cover of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" on the ukulele.

[christie1111]

And here's a version for Christie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6_FYW64QFY

Okay, making me cry at work is just not fair.

For those who do watch that version, the end is when they took his ashes out to sea.

And even this year, I would go look it up but there are tears in my eyes, they had the road to Makaha practically closed again because I believe it was the 10th anniversary of his death.

[Sir_Galahad]

And, if you want to hear a killer rock version of Over The Rainbow give a listen to the instrumental version by Chris Impelliteri. That one gets me pumped for a workout every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8cv0rn1HH8

[Snaxx]

Spoiler

The first real surprise of the season this week as the Australian Michael Johns goes home instead of either of the expected bottom 2 (Carly and Syesha, who were the other two of the B3)

[T_Bone0806]

Spoiler

The first real surprise of the season this week as the Australian Michael Johns goes home instead of either of the expected bottom 2 (Carly and Syesha, who were the other two of the B3)

Spoiler

Michael needed to do more blues and soul flavored stuff, but he was definitely better than some still standing.

And "Teflon Kristy Lee" survives another week. The show is losing most of its edgier or entertaining characters. More and more each week it's becoming "the bland leading the bland". Or maybe the "bland blonde leading the bland". I get more and more aggrivated with each week she continues. Pickler didn't have a great voice, but at least she was entertaining. Cook is not only a mediocre singer, she has the stage presence of a cactus.