American Idol Season 4 - The Showstoppers
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Free Music Notes for American Idol Season 4 - The Showstoppers
Free Music Review: Totally enjoy their talents
Hit: 5 Stars
It's great to hear the variety of voices and talents from this season. Love the opportunity American Idol give to singers!Free Music Review: Great sounds of all kinds
Hit: 5 Stars
This is an interesting cd because of the varied styles and types of songs and singers. Each song has it's own feel.Free Music Review: Good compilation, but not great
Hit: 4 Stars
Here is my review of the songs and singers in the order of their finish (descending):
1. "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" by the top 12 ensemble. This song is one of my favorites from the entire album. Every singer does a great job, and they make this song a very beautiful work of art that is a pleasure to listen to. The only place that does not sound quite as great as the rest is when Mikalah has her line, which does not fit in well with the other singers' vocals. Overall, this is an excellent song that anyone could easily love.
2. "Knock On Wood" by Lindsey Cardinale (12th place). Lindsey was always one of my personal favorites, and I was so sad to see her go. I admit that she is not the best singer in the world, but she was better than some and had fun. I really like this song. Even though she does get a little bit ahead of the music at a couple points during the song, it is still really fun, great, and Lindsey made it her own. Her little "Come On!" at the beginning is also really cute and a cool little twist. She does sound a little strange at certain points, but in the end and overall, she does do a good job. In my opinion, she ranks sixth out of the top twelve.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: "Knock On Wood" or "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing"
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "I Try To Think About Elvis" - good but not the best
3. "God Bless The Child" by Mikalah Gordon (11th place). Mikalah was BY FAR without a doubt the worst performer on this season. Most of this song is incomprehensible, and even though she does do better here than she did on the show, her vocal quality still isn't that great. Her voice is reminiscent of Fran Drescher from "The Nanny" on the show, so it is a relief to hear that the studio help hide that. I really don't like this song because of how hard it is to understand. In my opinion, she BY FAR ranks twelfth out of the top twelve.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: "Love Will Lead You Back" or "Son Of A Preacher Man"
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "God Bless The Child" or "Young Hearts Run Free"
4. "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" by Jessica Sierra (10th place). I LOVED Jessica! She was so great! I thought that Jessica did an amazing version of this song. Even though she did a phenomenal job on the show, she somehow managed to sound even better on the disc! Her voice is so strong and pure! She really brings this song to life and makes it her own! I am so happy this is the song she did on here. In my opinion she ranks third out of the top twelve.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: "Total Eclipse Of The Heart", "On The Side Of Angels", "Shop Around", or "A Broken Wing"
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "The Boys Are Back In Town"
5. "Part Time Lover" by Nikko Smith (9th place). Nikko was not one of my favorites; however, he was an alright singer, but this styling and song choices were usually mediocre. He delivers a great performance on this disc though; however, it is not as memorable as the other songs. Out of the top twelver, I rank him tenth.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: "Georgia On My Mind"
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "Incomplete"
6. "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" by Nadia Turner (8th place). WOW is the only word I can think of to describe this work of art. She has immensely improved since she last left the show. She is a very good singer, but she is not the best nor the worst. I hated her when I first heard her, but my attitude about her and her singing did a 360 when I was captivated and blown away be her performance of this song. I am so happy that this is the song she did for the CD!! Nadia's voice is simply and amazingly beautiful and captivating on this song. It is one of the shortest on the disc, but it is also one of the top three of four. Out of the top twelve, she ranks fifth.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", "Time After Time", or "As Long As He Needs Me"
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "Try A Little Tenderness"
7. "A House Is Not A Home" by Anwar Robinson (7th place). Anwar was my second favorite male performer. He has amazing talent, but I didn't care as much for his song choices. I am so happy that he sang this song for the disc, which was by far on of his best, and his unbelievable talent is un-measurable with this phenomenal performance. Anwar's song is also one of the top three or four. You will be blown away by how amazing he is on this rendition of the song!!! In my opinion, he ranks seventh out of the top twelve.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: "Moon River", "A House Is Not A Home", or "If Ever I Would Leave You"
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "Ain't Nobody"
8. "My Funny Valentine" by Constantine Maroulis (6th place). Constantine was a good singer, but he definitely did not pull the rocker image off that well. I loved him, though, when he did the more ballady and soft-rock type songs! His performance of this song on the disc is okay, but it's really not that memorable, especially compared to some of the others. His voice is strong, and he can hold the notes out well, but he does not hit the higher notes at the end well at all. This song is one of the bottom three or four. In my opinion, he ranks eighth out of the top twelve.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: "I Think I Love You" or "I Can't Make You Love Me"
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "Bohemian Rhapsody"
9. "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" by Scott Savol (5th place). I CANNOT STAND Scott except VERY VERY little. He was hideously bad, especially when he tried to hit the high notes. He does, however, manage to do pretty well on the CD. This song does have some highlights, but it still is not quite as good as some others. Out of the top twelve, I rank him eleventh.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: "Against All Odds" or possibly "Dance With My Father"
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: almost everything else he sang on the show
10. "Everytime You Go Away" by Anthony Fedorov (4th place). Anthony was BY FAR the best male performer this season! Anthony does such a great and amazing job and vocal on this great song. His voice is superb, and he really makes this song his own. Not a single bad point in the whole song, and it is just as good as Carrie and Nadia's. Definitely one of the top best. In my opinion, I rank him fourth out of the top twelve.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: anything he sang on the show
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: can't really pick anything
11. "Best Of My Love" by Vonzell Solomon (3rd place). "Baby V" was a great singer with a very strong and powerful voice. She had an amazing beauty and charisma as well as her beautiful and exquisite voice, both of which will carry her very far in the entertainment industry. I loved most of her performances, and I was stunned with her version of this song. This was a very good choice for her to sing; however, it gets quite repetitive after about the first minute and a half or two minutes, but that is just because of how the song was written; her vocal is flawless. I rank her second out of the top twelve.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: anything she sang on the show except... (see below)
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "How Do I Live" - she went way off when she was sad and in tears
12. "I Don't Want To Be" by Bo Bice (2nd place/runner-up). I am happy that this song was chosen for the disc because it is one of the rare few I like of his performances. Bo will also be very productive in the music business and has a VERY large fan following already. He has a great voice, and I really like how he does this song. He does an awesome job, and it was a great choice to have him sing. His voice is strong and powerful, and he really makes the song his own. I rank him ninth, though, out of the top twelve, mostly because of styling and, sometimes, his voice isn't as good as here.
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: "In A Dream", "Heaven", "Stand By Me", "I Don't Want To Be", or "Time In A Bottle"
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "Remedy", "For The Love Of Money", or "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
13. "Independence Day" by Carrie Underwood (1st place/WINNER!!!). I AM SO HAPPY THAT SHE WON!!!!! I have been a faithful fan of Miss Underwood since the first time I ever saw her open her mouth and from the first note that I ever heard her sing!! She has the voice of an angel, is very charismatic and beautiful, seems like a good down-to-earth Christian girl, loves country music (I was raised on country but still love almost all types of music), and is a terrific role model for young girls. She is BY FAR the best, and she will definitely take the music industry by storm!!! She really does an immense amount of justice to this Martina McBride classic. Her voice is stunning and flawless, and she certainly brings this song to life, making it her own and packed with emotion. She makes it her own with her angelic voice while still keeping it like the original. I can't wait for her debut album to come out, and I plan to buy it ASAP on the day that it is released. When Carrie hits the high notes and holds the long notes out, I get goosebumps by how great and stunning she sounds. She literally makes me cry sometimes by her singing. She greatly deserved to win - Simon even told her early in the competition between the twelve that she would win and sell more records than any other previous winner!!! Obviously, I rank her first out of the top twelve!!!!
SHOULD HAVE SUNG: anything she sang except... (see below)
SHOULDN'T HAVE SUNG: "Macarthur Park" - showcases her vocals, but the lyrics are so stupid and not good for her
Overall, this CD is pretty good, but it could have been better. It had its low points such as Mikalah's incomprehensible version of "God Bless The Child" and the non-memorable songs; however, these lows are somewhat easily masked and made up for by its excellent and amazing highlights, such as Nadia's "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", Anthony's "Everytime You Go Away", Anwar's "A House Is Not A Home", and especially, Carrie's "Independence Day"!!! I highly recommend this CD because everyone can enjoy it even though a few, miniscule parts might make you want to gag.
Free Music Review: Tomorrow's Stars Today or just marketing schmootz?
Hit: 4 Stars
The AI phenomenon leaves me deeply, deeply conflicted. What's bad is that it's by nature a multi-week karaoke competition in which contestants are scolded for singing anything too far from the mainstream (just ask Nadia). The show is more interested in who'll move more units at at Best Buy and Wal-Mart than in developing the next Dylan, Lennon (unless it's Julian), or Kurt Cobain. On the other hand, I prefer a good pop vocal to most (all?) Bob Dylan, and I really like a few of the singers on this disc.
As I type this, there is less than an hour before we find out whether gorgeous, sweet Carrie can edge out gruff, hairy Bo to be this year's champ. I will be watching "Lost" because 1) the TV schedulers are sadists and 2) finishing second hardly hurt Clay Aiken's career. Here's my song-by-song, person-by-person review after having watched faithfully all season. In order of how they finished:
1. (or 2) Carrie Underwood, "Independence Day": Much better here than last night's rendition. Carrie showed she could handle rock (great job on Heart's "Alone") but the AI machine will likely try and mold her as the next Faith or Shania. Carrie seems genuinely sweet and looked truly sad when most of the others were voted off. She also was visibly more nervous as the show wore on. She's a sweetie with a great voice and I hope she enjoys much success.
2. (or 1) Bo Bice, "I Don't Want To Be." Bo slammed several songs out of the park this year and is the clear favorite of EVERY SECRETARY IN MY OFFICE (except my own, who's a guy). His "Spinning Wheel" and "Vehicle" were better, but including a newer song on the CD makes sense. Now the bad news. The show's clear bias towards him was ridiculous: he was always first or second in those Ford commercials, and if I had a dollar for each time Randy drooled about AI finally having a "real" rocker I could retire. But Bo showed real class the week Seacrest asked him to pick a group to stand with (one "safe", one "endangered") and he stood in the middle. (See Scott and Constantine, below, for the WRONG way to handle the situation.)
3. Vonzell Solomon, "Best of My Love." When "The Vonz" (Seacrest and his nicknames; but "Scotty the Body"?) took on this Emotions scorcher, Simon correctly called it her first memorable performance. Vonzell was inconsistent but at her best was absolute dynamite (this song, "Don't Leave Me This Way", and "Chain of Fools"). Personally, I preferred Nadia. And I don't know what was up with the crying the week she beat out...
4. Anthony Federov, "Every Time You Go Away." I was so glad this kid made the top four. I think he was the best pure singer on the show this year, but the producers didn't want to risk the show being seen as a Clay Aiken factory. To me, "A-Fed" seemed to care as much about pop music as he did about being a star, and his continued enthusiasm in the face of lukewarm reviews from Randy, Paula and (gosh) Simon showed it. He did go overboard with the adult-pop ballads, but consider: those songs are harder to sing than rock, and if you screw up there's no grinding guitars to hide behind. I hope the AI machine lets Anthony make a CD. He really deserves the chance. And what was with Paula unprofessionally crying and hugging Constantine's family the week Anthony outlasted him in the dreaded Bottom Two? Paula, what message did that convey to Anthony and his family? Not cool. Nice moment: Ryan calling Anthony "a class act" after he was voted out.
5. Scott Savol, "Against All Odds." To look at him, you'd never guess this guy could do really good impressions of Luther Vandross and Freddie Jackson. The Phil Collins warhorse used here had special meaning to Scott, but do the rest of us need another version of it? I REALLY hated how Scott and Constantine, unlike Bo, took Seacrest's bait and stood with Bo and Carrie, leaving Anthony and Vonzell (who ended up outlasting both of 'em) on the other side like a couple of losers. The next week, he actually thought he was "safe" sitting with Anthony while Vonzell was left standing and they hadn't got to Bo and Carrie yet [if you don't watch, AI ritually tortures the kids like this before revealing who's eliminated each week]. I also think Scott screwed his partners over in the early going when they everybody audition in groups of three. Whew. Yet, he managed to outlast...
6. Constantine Maroulis, "My Funny Valentine." I also cringed at this guy's mugging for the camera and that damn "call me" hand signal every week when they showed his vote-in phone numbers. That said, his version of this true classic is brilliant. I missed the week he did it on the air (I think it was--ugh---"Broadway Week"), but "Yo, dog, I gotta give you props. This was da bomb!" Constantine also did a fantastic job on "I Can't Make You Love Me" that deserves release someday.
7. Anwar Robinson, "A House Is Not a Home." Can someone be too nice? Somehow I never warmed up to Anwar. Neither did RandyPaulaSimon, who kept noting his "technical" skills but seemed to want more emotional punch in his performances. I hope that was the reason for his fairly early exit, and not his non-rumor-squelching song choices by Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan. This Dionne/Bacharach-David classic was among Anwar's best.
8. Nadia Turner, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me." I absolutely loved Nadia, and this Dusty Springfield song was her most, well, showstopping performance. The ex-cheerleader with the wild 'do deserved to go much farther than this. The judges' faulting her for a fine job on an obscure song (Crystal Gayle's "When I Dream") exposes AI's biggest flaw--familiarity over innovation. Sigh.
9. Nikko Smith, "Part-Time Lover". Nice Stevie Wonder imitation by the son of pro baseball player Ozzie Smith. Nikko made the top twelve when Mario Vazquez abruptly quit. By finishing in the Top Ten he gets to tour. Still, I didn't find him as good as...
10. Jessica Sierra, "Total Eclipse of the Heart." This spectacular version of a spectacular song seemed to guarantee local (to me; she's from Tampa) talent Jessica a long run on the show. But the next week she was gone. Snotty Simon hurt her chances by comparing her unfavorably to Carrie.
11. Mikalah Gordon, "God Bless the Child." Not the strongest singer but oy, such a personality! Nothing this side of Mary Roach was funnier than her warning Simon that he had to take her to her prom if she didn't make it through to the top 24. Mikalah may be my favorite all-around performer in the group, even though she's been dissed by the message boards, Billboard, and even Amazon. Like Anthony, she showed a real love of pop music. A mike disaster screwed her up on "Son of a Preacher Man", but she really shined on songs ranging from "Somewhere" to "Young Hearts Run Free" to this slow-burning classic most associated with Billie Holiday. By a 17-year-old! The fade is screwed up though (not Mikalah's fault). The youngest of the top 12, Mikalah was not helped by the three judges alternately advising her to be "sassy and fun" yet "adult and mature". Then they criticized her lack of a consistent style! I hope this girl makes it big. I definitely hope she gets to make a record.
12. Lindsay Cardinale, "Knock On Wood." Odd choice, since this is the song Simon said would make thousands of viewers turn the volume down and then Lindsay was eliminated. I think Lindsay sings it very well; my problem with it was that it was "Sixties Week" but she did the (1979) Amii Stewart disco version rather than the Eddie Floyd original. Well, that and the awful job by the AI band.
As for the "ensemble" version of "When You Tell Me That You Love Me", it seems that the leads of the "bottom four" were erased to allow the "top eight" more lines. This may have been done because only eight were left to perform it when its choice as a single was announced on the air. Officially, all 12 are credited as "background vocalists". Still, I wish they'd kept all 12 leads on the released version.
How many of these people will become stars? How many will get to have hit songs? And how many, given a choice, would kick Simon Cowell right in the Well, we're out of time. Bo or Carrie? Carrie or Bo? Still a half-hour to go...
P.S.: guess there will be an office full of pissed-off secretaries tomorrow. Congratulations to Carrie! (Bo will be fine, trust me. Both are set to have CDs out by September or October.)
Free Music Review: better than you might expect - and not always from who you expect
Hit: 4 Stars
well, I'm a little embarassed that I bought this. But the whole TV thing leaves you with a lingering affection for those who hold up well under the spotlight, nobody embarasses themselves, and at least four renditions are ones I actually come back to (in the order they appear on the album; I'm not sure what my order of preference is):
Carrie on Independence Day, Bo on I Don't Want to Be, and here's where it gets a bit surprising: Nikko on Part-Time Lover (not just showcasing once again his consistently great taste in music, but demonstrating flawless musical sensibility, a lovelier voice than I'd remembered, and exceptional nimbleness) and Jessica on Total Eclipse of the Heart (I always liked her and wasn't sure quite why she couldn't make the sale on TV (though I agreed that she didn't) - hadn't quite figured out who she was yet? was a little reserved about some aspects of her personality? - but this displays exactly what she's great at: raw, honest, sexy. I'm sure she's also a sweet girl, but that's not what her voice is best at, and she really does know how to use it on a song that it's well-suited for: she may not quite be able to do the innocent thing memorably (she can do it well enough to make it clear that she knows the emotional territory, but when she went that route she was pretty forgettable, and I think trying to cover ground that didn't play to her strengths, for whatever reason, was why she went out too early), but she conveys heartache tremendously well. The voice is smoky and sexy, and, like Carrie, she knows how to use it when it breaks. She's at her best in something that Heart or Deborah Harry might have sung, i.e., this. (I always thought the best "rockers" (eh, what a term) were Bo, Jessica, and Nadia, and that Constantine, though he could do the Aerosmith thing, made a lot more sense as a latter-day David Cassidy: a "dangerous" guy that eight-year-old girls could put on their lunchboxes - except that Constantine actually seemed kind of sleazy, whereas David Cassidy just had longish hair (this occurred to me at least three weeks before he sang the Partridge Family song - I liked that performance, but maybe just because it vindicated what I was thinking. Poodle in a leather jacket? Perhaps. But nonetheless I thought it was actually one of his bolder and more honest moments.)).
Also-rans: Vonzell (I can't quite handle all that upbeat attitude, which comes across in the song, because it's inconsistent with how I experience the world, but I can't fault it otherwise); Nadia (still like her taste and her emotional sensibility, but I didn't realize how much her stage presence contributed to how much I liked her on TV - and my top three, in descending order, would have been Bo, Carrie (even if she did sing Macarthur Park as though it really was about losing a cake recipe), and Nadia - but while I loved this song on TV, the rendition is not that memorable on CD - turns out the attitude and the eyes and the hair, etc., were more important to her success than I realized; she's a great performer who maximizes her vocal ability, but I don't know whether she could pull off a recording career); and Anwar (maybe it's just not his era - sometimes I really enjoy his song, but usually I get impatient with it - it comes off as just so genteel as to seem unconnected with a real experience of life. I always expect to like Anwar, but then just realize, well, yeah, great guy, but this is not his kind of music - he doesn't have the sensibility to do mass market stuff, and he probably shouldn't even be trying to do it. I liked him best, probably, on September, which might have been high-end mass market at the time, but what survives the time is that it is sophisticated, which is definitely Anwar - but not how anyone can sell themselves on TV in 2 minutes (setting aside Fantasia and Summertime - but the difference was that while her performance of Summertime was sophisticated, it was also emotionally raw - therefore, though, much more sophisticated than something that stayed on a safe emotional level. Anwar was, I think, not prepared to do anything ugly on TV, maybe because he was thinking about his students too much; but to convey the full spectrum of emotions, Fantasia was right: don't watch your image so much. Be honest. Don't be afraid to be ugly when that's what the music calls for.) (Anwar only makes the second group because I liked him so much as a person. The performance is disappointing.)
Also-rans to the also-rans: On TV, Anthony's engaging personality and obvious competence compensated for the fact that I just have zero taste for boy band music, but he shows once again that he's very good at it (I certainly disagree that he lacks soul; I just think he knows what his voice is good at and what it is that he knows well enough to really sing with conviction, and has the sense to stick with that for the most part); Scott, though not one of my favorites, sounds good, too - what he does here is exactly why he stuck around as long as he did, and it was of course one of his best song choices, along with On Broadway; Lindsay: good performance, actually, and I can certainly see what they liked about her voice, but what a tiresome song (Knock On Wood) (though not as tiresome as it was on TV), and because what's good about it is what's good about Jessica, who hits it out of the park - I can see why she was unlucky enough to go first, but at least it makes you wish you had more opportunity to see what she could do if she had better material to work with; Mikalah - there is promise, this was one of her better choices, and it might be interesting to see her give a go of this in a couple of years - but right now the best you can say is that when she stops and focuses there actually is more to her than shtick. I'm afraid she'll follow the Kim Caldwell track rather than going to college and gaining some experience that might actually give her the emotional substance to understand and make better use of her vocal strengths (or better yet, realize that she prefers biochemistry or philosophy or something).
Hmm. Forgot about Constantine. I had a reaction initially, but it wasn't strong - not as bad as I feared or as good as I might have hoped. I do know that after a few listens I consistently decided to either skip over it or ignore it while it was playing. Well, I guess I had at least this reaction: eh. It's Vegas: salesmanship, not substance, and while there are things he did well, ultimately it all felt like a con job. (to those of you who might live in Las Vegas: what I mean by that is not to indict the town, just the worst aspects of some of the business that goes on there - there should be a Vegas, that stuff has its place, but for me Vegas is a pretty spot (I like deserts) with good people and some fun fake stuff, but the best thing about it is that the flights in tend to be cheap, the casinos will sell you dinner for next to nothing because they hope you're going to dump your money downstairs, and then you can do what you really came to Vegas for: pick up a really cheap rental car to head out to Zion or Bryce or the Grand Canyon or something: somewhere real.)