| Arbiter.Of.Taste |
 Posted: May 7, 2008 - 8:49am |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2008
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So many Great Songs to pick from... and, surprisingly, some pretty good choices made. Not THE BEST choices, of course (I’ll get into that in a sec), but at least a nod toward musical heritage. Still, nothing went much more than "pretty amazing karaoke” or “frat-boy party animal” good.
Jason… dude… here’s your ticket home. Of course, I’ve been thinking Marley since you made it into the top 24. “Redemption Song” Marley, not Eric-Clapton-Marley. And it was nice to finally get a Dylan song into the mix. Great song writer, elliptical lyrics, wonderfully detailed and obtuse storytelling; pity you couldn’t pare the tune down to 90 seconds without forgetting what to leave out and what to sing. Or, perhaps you were thinking to scat your way through parts by channeling Ella via Dylan via AI? A brave and dangerous move. I only have one thing to say about your selection of Dylan: Should have been Rainy Day Woman 12 & 35 (Every-Body MUST GET STONED!) Kids, look it up on Bob’s classic Blonde on Blonde album. Heck, you were going home this week anyway, why not a pot-fueled send off, complete with audience sing-along on this stoner classic?!
Syesha… Big choices here, taking on Tina and Sam Cooke. I thought it might be a bit of over-reaching on your part, but I also knew you would have to try pulling yourself out of the Whitney/Mariah rut you seem to keep falling into. Nice try on the Proud Mary, even though you wore the moves uncomfortably and this version of the song is a bit on the screechy side by definition. Sadly, right back into the rut with one of the greatest songs ever when you turned your back on the gospel vibe A Change needs to put it over the top. Your turn was Fine… just fine… and will bring the house down in nearly any cruise ship or resort bar you find yourself playing in the future. Not quite headliner quality.
Big David, our token rocker… Hungry Like The Wolf was never really more than a fun B-Side quality tune, even when it was a hit in the ‘80’s. Frankly, I was surprised it made the Top-500 List. Your performance was more than adequate for the AI audience – a little bit poppy, a little bit grungy – nearly rock & roll. Nearly. Then came the great Who anthem. In 90 seconds. It was like watching the preview of a great movie… but a well done trailer isn’t great art, whereas the whole movie is. Nice try, but this tune needs time to build, time you didn’t have. Better to have swung into an earlier Who song, Kids Are Alright or even My Generation, and tear up the drum set as the song comes to an end. THAT would have been real Rock & Roll!
Little David. It finally hit me this evening… everything you do sounds like it was run through the group Wet Wet Wet. OK, I suppose there can be worse filters to run every performance through (can’t think of any off the top of my head at the moment, but there MUST be), but there are many better ones to consider. Since, for better or worse, you’re going to be around for a while in the music business, do us all a big favor and find a decent mentor (not an AI-imposed mentor) to help get you to a certain level of competency. Try to have some fun on stage (or at least give the impression of having fun). Two Words: Michael Bublé. That’s where your road is heading, so embrace it.
All in all, the show was everything I expected, and More (I Was Thinking Bob Marley!)
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"Now comes the part where I relieve you, the little people, of the burden of your failed and useless lives."
- the Joker
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| mbabula |
| Posted: May 7, 2008 - 8:52am |
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Joined: 22 Feb 2008
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Scott Baio:
Best. Post. Evah.
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Billy Witch Doctor Dot Com is most comfortable with chickens. He has 1 convenient locations.
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| mbabula |
| Posted: May 7, 2008 - 9:02am |
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Joined: 22 Feb 2008
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There's no point in re-hashing all of last night's performances in detail. None were great, the audio mix was awful, and for the last time, Jason absolutely, positively, 100 percent said "Don't vote" after the 1st performance and mouthed "No" after the 2nd when Ryan was reading off his numbers. Think about it: that's exactly what a stoner would say. Remember Jason's YouTube video? He's all like, "No, no, don't record me, I suck," to paraphrase what he actually said. Our boy was showing some humility, and I admire that.
To put it simply, last night was complete butchery. Cook sucked ass, Syesha sreeched, Archie hemmed, hawed, and guffawed his way through both songs, Jason managed to eke out a few notes he never hit before, and all is right with the world.
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Billy Witch Doctor Dot Com is most comfortable with chickens. He has 1 convenient locations.
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| thepoohguy |
| Posted: May 7, 2008 - 9:14am |
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
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Well, from a true VFTW way, Jason was clearly your choice for last night. I mean I've seen train wrecks that were better than that.
I thought Cook was okay. Gasputin (I'm not sure who originally called him this, but I think this is my favorite nickname) was horrible. And I have to admit that I believe Syesha has consistently been the best for the past three weeks.
Can someone answer this question for me? Why is it that she couldn't do justice to a Sam Cook song, but Gasputing can murder a B.B. King, AND and Elvis song and that is "da bawmb"? Totally pimping the Gaspulator. It was never more obvious than last night.
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| bhamcha |
| Posted: May 7, 2008 - 9:20am |
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Joined: 16 May 2007
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Jeez Syesha was spouting SO much crap.
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Sanjaya forever!!! :D
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| crazytom |
| Posted: May 7, 2008 - 9:22am |
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Joined: 22 Mar 2007
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For the best version of Love Me Tender, check out Elvis' Live at Madison Square Garden performance. Now that man knew how to use a full orchestra!
I will give credit to Davy for version of the tune. Not that I liked it, but he did put his original twist on it. That said, the little fucker is a lying sack of shit. He's never heard of Love Me Tender before? And yet he comes out with a perfectly polished arrangement?! Would someone please find another video of him performing this song prior to AI!!!!
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WWSS: What Would Sanjaya Sing?
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| bhamcha |
| Posted: May 7, 2008 - 9:24am |
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Joined: 16 May 2007
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btw prof. chan u were wrong-the funniest line of the show was when seacrest said to archulizzard
"everytime after u hear the judge's comments I feel like u r about to faint"
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Sanjaya forever!!! :D
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| Scott Baio |
| Posted: May 7, 2008 - 9:24am |
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Joined: 05 Mar 2008
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thepoohguy wrote:Why is it that she couldn't do justice to a Sam Cook song, but Gasputing can murder a B.B. King, AND and Elvis song and that is "da bawmb"?
"Stand By Me" is a Ben E. King song, not B.B. King.
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http://notbaio.wordpress.com
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| americanidolexposed |
| Posted: May 7, 2008 - 10:09am |
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Joined: 09 Dec 2007
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Hello all,
I found something about this years songwriting contest you might find interesting.
One of this years top 20 songwriting finalist
Regie Hamm--The Time Of My Life
and last years American Idol Songwriting Contest Winner Scott Krippayne have Co-written together.
I will say that again because it bears repeating--------------------------------
Regie Hamm and last years American Idol Songwriting Contest Winner Scott Krippayne have Co-written together.
Search Regie Hamm Scott Krippayne use the keyword button
http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First
Remember last years 3rd place winner in the singing part of A.I----Melinda Doolittle?--You know (The Ice Cream Girl)
Think about what the odds would have to be in 3 different national contests-----
Regie Hamm Scott Krippayne and Melinda Doolittle all appear on a cd in 2005 called After The Storm
Check out the picture gallery---
http://www.musicforthesoul.org/photoGallery.html
And this is not all there is a lot more,
Americanidolexposed would like to thank V.F.T.W
for the story they did about the contest this year.
unfortunately right after Paula Abdul let the country
know what's really going on MySpace deleted our page
www.myspace.com/americanidolexposed
It's time for this show to end.
A.I.E.
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| warden |
| Posted: May 7, 2008 - 10:18am |
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Joined: 19 Apr 2008
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A few things.
(1) Jason Castro is a bad ass, for two potential reasons. First, I'm reading rumors that he chose "I Shot the Sherrif" for the symbolism. I don't want to explain it... if you aren't familiar with the song and/or Marley, just read the lyrics and it should come, so long as you consider the fact that TPTB are feverishly trying to get Castro off the show.
Second, he "forgot" the easiest words on Mr. Tambourine Man. The most obvious and repetitive line in the entire song:
"In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you."
Seriously, that line is in the song like 10 times. After he "recovered", he picked up this complicated verse with no trouble:
"Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming."
So, in addition to the rumors of him choosing I Shot the Sherriff as an "Fuck You" to the judges, there's also rumors that he did this on purpose. If one or both of these are true, that is awesome. I love this guy.
(2) I'll be purchasing both of Jason's songs from last night on iTunes. They were both cool.
(3) I can't reiterate how terrible the judges are. They go back and forth between "get outside your comfort zone" and "that wasn't you". Who gives a flying fuck about trying to appease them?
They also go back and forth between being negative on the basis of copycat and creative versions. Of course, that Marley song wasn't going to be a Jamaican reggae song. Yet Simon critiqued it with "the only similarity was the hair". What the hell do the judges want? Creativity or copycatting? A bunch of flip-floppers.
(4) LAST THING. Castro is going to be a good artist. He's one of the best individual and unique talents. He's not a puppet playing this AI game. He has a fanbase and now I expect him to do what he wants, musically. I think he could have some damn good acoustic folk rock with maybe some rasta influence. Consider me a fan. I'll be happy when he gets voted off... though I wouldn't mind if he miraculously made it thru this week, so he can choose his own song next week and then we can see what the producer/judges do to try and screw him over with their song choices. But I'm sure Castro will be more then happy to go.
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Seacrest ponderously announces that the Idols will be singing two songs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of all-time great rock songs. “Maybe one of them will end up in the Hall some day” muses Ryan. Eh, maybe not, dude.
After a lively discussion of what is wrong with Idol here at VFTW, I think we can all agree on one point. What if they took away all the lies and the money-grubbing and humiliation of delusional contestants, and just made the show into a singing competition?
What is so wrong about a nation-wide search for the best undiscovered talent in America? Oh, right. Because this..............................................................
Is American Idol... How could I forget?
How is it possible, that despite having the contestants choosing from a list of 500 of the greatest rock songs of all time we’re left with this bunch of piffle? Maybe it’s because I’ve heard all of these songs a million times before, all done much better. Well, all except “A Change is Gonna Come”, I could stand to hear that song a lot more. But a lot less “Stand By Me”, “I Shot The Sheriff” and “Love Me Tender.” A LOT less, “Love Me Tender” please.
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David Cook
Songs: “Hungry Like a Wolf” by Duran Duran -- “Baba O’Reilly” by The Who
I like this song, but is it really one of the 500 all time great rock and roll songs? David sings it with nice raspy vocals and it’s a pretty solid straight ahead version. We’ve heard David sing much better and more dynamically, though. I think the problem is that for a final four performance it wasn’t tremendously exciting.
Paula makes a desperate pass at David, “Your hungry like a wolf left me with a big appetite...” for Cook’s big, bald kielbasa I’m guessing. After last week’s gaffe that exposed the fake machinery of American Idol, Paula is trying to overcompensate with overt sluttiness this week.
David’s slowed down, grungie version of the venerable Who classic was decent as well. He cut about 28 minutes out of the song... and since the whole thing is build-up there wasn’t much drama left to wring out of the 90 second version. But David hits the shouty parts well and does a good job. I laughed at his ridiculous ‘80s shoulder-pads jacket, however.
GRADE: B -- I wasn’t enthralled by anything but David delivered what his fans expect... Watered down modern rock sensibilities with a soupcon of ego and just enough outside the box song choices to make him seem like “an original.”
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Syesha Mercado
Songs: “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner and “A Change is Going to Come” by Sam Cooke.
Syesha still has the most to prove tonight, what with the David’s doing their thing and Jason seemingly made of Teflon. I still can’t put my finger on the exact reason why I dislike Syesha as she has a big, beautiful voice and has been giving fairly solid performances the last few weeks. Maybe it was about a month and a half of stale Whitney-Mariah covers that killed my interest in her.
Syesha's “Proud Mary” is a professional attempt, although a 75 year old Tina Turner devastated on this song at the Grammies last year, but that happens. Syesha even throws in some dance steps to show that she’s not a mannequin that sings. I thought the arrangement was a little ponderously paced, but Syesha hits the big notes like a pro.
Syesha sums it up best when she declared: “This song has been covered 100 times.” Now make that 101.
To amuse me Syesha channels Brooke with her “It’s okay, it’s okay” during Simon’s brutal assessment.
She channels Brooke again later, openly weeping after a Glory note filled “A Change Is Going To Come.” On the final 12 second note I got a good look at Syesha’s mighty fine tonsils, and probably her pre-show snack, too.
Syesha’s naive observation that the song “was written during the Civil Rights movement. Sam Cooke sang this song at a pivotal time in history... and tonight is a pivotal time in my life” was pretty daffy. Just because you sang an important song decades later doesn’t make YOU important, girl.
GRADE: B -- Syesha has a pretty voice, but I thought her performances were pretty bland. Simon loved “Change”, of course, because he pops a boner every time he hears a Glory Note. But Simon does get the 2nd best line of the night with “Randy, you made her cry.” That was funny.
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Jason Castro
Songs: “I Shot The Sherriff” by Bob Marley, and “Mr. Tambourine Man” by Bob Dylan
Jason makes VFTW proud with his pair of bad performances. I loved his sly eye roll when Jason tells us he’s singing “I Shot The Sheriff”, of course.
Actually the Sheriff wasn’t terrible, just typically Jason mediocre. But Jason really seemed to be hitting his stride in “Tambourine Man” before he screws the pooch by forgetting the words two bars in. It was horrible and mostly painful to watch after that.
In typical AI Band fashion I couldn’t hear the guitar on the first song. It’s almost like the Producers are trying to send him home... hmm. But Jason does their work for them by tanking the Dylan song, and probably will get his wish.
GRADE: FAIL -- Jason gets the best line of the best line of the night, however. After Simon’s utter dressing down on “Sheriff” he bitches, “I don’t even know what you were thinking.” Jason’s awesome retort: “I was thinking Bob Marley!” That was Bad-ass, bra’. And the Dylan song was just plain bad, ass. So everyone, we urge you, VFTW!!!
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Hey Rascal Flatts are in the audience. They were on “Dancing With The Stars” last week... Talk about reality TV whoring. Those guys blow with super-human levels of puckering.
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And finally... The Archulater... blanding up music for the New Generation.
Archuleta starts with “Stand By Me” a song I never want to hear again. David’s standard dull and listless, although technically adequate singing is “Trying to win the whole thing” according to Randy. And Paula calls David “seasoned.” Seasoned? He’s probably sung this song a thousand times as a veteran of the County Fair circuit.
Then David does a boy-band version of “Love Me Tender”, a song that even Elvis fans have to admit sucks a great deal. Or in Arhulet-ese... Love {Gasp} Me {Gasp} Tender...
David calls it a “fun song to sing” despite squinting his eyes and showing absolutely no pleasure throughout the 90 second running time. It’s as if David goes to his Happy Place every time he performs, because his Dad can’t abuse him while the cameras are on.
GRADE: B -- I would love to give David a grade equal to my hatred of him, but the UCLA sorority girls in the mosh pit squealed like David was the second coming of The King. Or at least the third or fourth coming of Hanson or Kirk Cameron.
Randy gets the unintentionally funny line of the night when he baldly declared his man-boy love for Archuleta: “I loved how you were so tender and caressed each word.”
And with that we’ll leave this soggy, miserable bore of a Final Four.
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Next Week... Final Three. Will AI pull another Daughtry and send the presumed Rocker-Front Runner Cook home at 4? I have to say, after earning our VFTW nomination Jason has delivered the hardcore suckage. Vote Hard and Vote Often, people. VFTW!!!
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Professor Chan For Questions, Comments, Fan Mail --