Okay, so that’s two votes for Jolene then. 
I know you’re being quite serious, but this cover ain’t my cup of tea. Perhaps I’m distracted by the Rhinestone Cowboy outfit or the gender issues.
No. Upon relistening, it’s Jack White. I certainly appreciate the passion he brings to the song, but absolutely hate the parts where he channels Tiny Tim. So you’re on to something. If David Cook can bring the passion and his great vocals, it may be a great song.
I probably listened to it 20 times in a row on my TiVo this morning (I was stuck on the couch repeatedly holding things together while epoxy set, and I needed something to distract me from how boring it was) and I could still listen to it another 20. I loved it. I think I love it more every time I hear it. I can’t get the iTunes site to work, but I have a question… do they sell it to you in a real file format or do you have to use that piece of crap iTunes software to listen to it? Because I’m not going to pay for something I have to open a totally new program–one I hate–to listen to that one song…
Oh, I actually remembered this type of question when I’m at home near the computer (usually I’m in the car or in class or something and I’ve forgotten by the time I’m near one):
Exactly what does it mean to “dance on the floor in the round”?
I think it refers to dancing in the round versus dancing in the slot. In slot dancing, the leader stays basically in the same place while the follower moves back and forth in a rectangular slot. See West Coast Swing. Round dancing allows the leader to move all around.
FYI, if you have to get a song from iTunes, it will be in AAC format, but you can get around that by burning the song to a CD, and then ripping the CD into MP3 format.
Not very pleasant, but if you have to have the song in MP3, that is the way to go.
Also, it’s not just iTunes that play AAC. For example, winamp also plays them (though I’m not sure if it plays DRM AAC, such as the ones you buy from iTunes)
Thanks for the info. Damn that boy can sing. And how can someone that physically unappealing to me be so freakin sexy to me?! It’s wrong, I tell you! WRONG!
Today is the first time I’ve really poked around the ‘Idol’ section of iTunes and it’s quite a brilliant idea.
It is also a bit surprising. Little David is (almost) always great to watch and his voice is (mostly) flawless, but his studio versions were “just alright for me, dawg” and didn’t entice me to buy. Part of it is song choice, but otherwise they just sounded like a really talented kid singing someone else’s song very well. I don’t have, nor want, an iPod full of that. He performs the songs, he doesn’t own them.
On the other hand, I spent weeks hating Captain Combover and I’ve just bought a bunch of his singles. His voice is not only great, but interesting, and that is key. He may not have invented the arrangements, but he takes them over, makes you forget the other guys. In retrospect, I think it was something about his stage presence in the earlier performances that got in the way of my enjoying them. He seemed like someone afraid he’d be called out as a poseur so put on as much false bravado as he could manage. As he advances I think he’s gaining confidence, and his star quality shows through. Also it helps to be unencumbered by the guitar. Singing solo with an acoustic works (a la Jason Castro); save the electric jamming for your band.
Back to iTunes - Jason Castro I find really charming and gorgeous, and I’m pleased that he holds up well without the visuals. But song choice is still important, and a charming voice singing a boring song does not make me buy. A few of his are download-worthy. And, for good measure, I bought Chikieze’s “She’s a Woman,” because that was truly a great Idol moment. We’ll miss your weirdness, dude. As for the ladies, I don’t know why but I’m not terribly moved to buy their stuff. They are fine but…meh. I could only get through a few bars of Carly’s “Blackbird.” It is rare that I like a Beatles cover enough to put it in my collection next to the real Beatles (David Cook’s -via-Whitesnake version of “Day Tripper” is a notable exception), and whatever she did to that song just grates at me. In general, and no idea why, I’d rather watch the gals sing than hear them. Maybe that’s why my iPod is predominantly male.
So, won’t the iTunes sales be the best indicator of an Idol contestant’s future success on the real music market? I wonder who gets the sales data. Surely the Idol producers, but is it, or will it be, released to the public, like the Billboard charts? Can we tell yet who is the most marketable Idol, in real dollars?
missed the edit window…
I went back to listen to Carly’s “Crazy on You” and decided I’d rather have Heart’s version. I like her, generally (Except for the bad outfits. And the taking a dump on stage…), but a successful Idol convinces you that their version is at least as much worth having as the original.
I believe Idol contestants all sign waivers on all rights to all songs and every thought that comes into their heads for a year. Basically, AI owns them. I have no idea what kind of compensation they get for this.
Rachael, I skew heavily in favour of listening to guys, too, and my husband skews in favour of listening to girls. I suspect it must be that ol’ heterosexual thing.
Just bought “Billie Jean” on iTunes. Wow! It’s even more amazing that I thought.
So far, I’d say that the only real unique talents on the show are David Cook and Brooke. They’re the only ones that consistently come across as artists you want to listen to, rather than contestants on a reality show. Lots of others have really good voices, but don’t bring anything new to the table. They’re not producing music compelling enough to compare to the originals they sing. But Brooke and David C. have already had several moments where they rose above the trappings of the show itself and did something really musically memorable (like Brooke’s Hollywood round audition). Jason Castro did that once with “Hallelujah”, but listening to Jeff Buckley’s version, I think Buckley did it much better. In contrast, Cook took Chris Cornell’s version of Billy Jean and took it to another level.
Brooke White is interesting. I did a little Youtube searching, and found some of her past performances. She’s really got it.
This is her at age 16 singing a Carole King song: Brooke White - So Far Away. She was already showing real star quality, and you can see the same emotion in her performance she has today. It’s no act. Music clearly gets under her skin and she feels it very deeply.
She’s also a good songwriter. Here’s her performing Say Goodbye, a song she wrote. It’s very good. She’s probably a better guitar player than the other guitarists on the show, and it’s not even her primary instrument.
Last one: Brooke singing and playing Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon in 2004.
I realize that the David Archuleta continuum runs from apathy to hatred around here, but I think it’s only fair to acknowledge his Imagine in the same vein as Cook’s Billy Jean.
I’m grateful that this year, once Danny Noriega was sent packing, there remained no contestant that I really dislike. I think David Cook is amazing, and I’ve given him consistently good grades from the beginning — including when the consensus seemed to be that he looked like a serial killer, sported an alleged combover, and sounded like a grunge singer from the 90s.
By the same token, I appreciate that at least one Doper (I think it was Drain Bead) has admitted to an irrational hatred of David A. That admission makes it easier to contextualize the comments made. It’s harder, though, in the case of, say, Sam Stone, whose tastes in music seem generally to mesh well with my own, to understand why David A is pretty much ignored. Or why in other cases, things about him are completely made up, like saying that he’s never done an up-tempo song.
If a person honestly believes that he is talentless, that his voice is unpleasant, or whatever, I can respect — though I can’t agree — with negative assessments. But I wish people would clear up whether they are dismissing him for that reason or something else. It’s just too bizarre to have these discussions when people are either ignoring or disrespecting this very talented young man whose worst trait is his humility and grace.
His worst trait is that he’s an emotionally uninvolved singing robot, to me. Also, while he did do a different take on Imagine as Cook did a different take on Billie Jean the difference to me is that Billie Jean sounded awesome, while Imagine was criminally butchered, and the gorgeous melody that made the song wonderful was destroyed. I think he should have been sent home on general principle for what he did to that song, talent or no talent. I HATED his Imagine more than I’ve hated just about any song I’ve ever heard on AI. Most things are either humorously bad or boring, but that is a song I care a lot about and he completely fucked it.
Okay, well I certainly disagree with the assertion that he’s “an emotionally univolved singing robot”, but if that’s how you feel about him, then it would certainly explain why you would “HATE” pretty much any of his songs. I can respect your opinion, and I think it is probably even prevalent here. But as in so many things, the SDMB demographics don’t seem to reflect those of society — particularly American society — in general. And I would hope that you could respect my opinions as well, and I’ll continue posting my grades listing since a couple of people have said that they do read and enjoy it.
ETA:
By the way, does anyone have any actual evidence or citation that David Cook sports a combover? If not, is that a characterization that we can just drop?
I didn’t hate his ‘Imagine’, but I didn’t much like it, either. It was too overwrought, and he did horrible things to the melody.
He’s technically good, but to me, he’s like the difference between Kenny G. and John Coltrane. Kenny G. is technically good. He’s smooth, and has good command of his instrument. But his music is pointless. It’s background music. I detect a lot of skill, but very little art in his playing.
That’s sort of the way I feel about David Archuleta. I can acknowledge the vocal skill, but after the song is over I have absolutely no desire to hear it a second time. Brooke and David C. sing, and I want to go buy their CDs.
Carly Smithson has the David Archuleta thing going. Great voice - maybe the best voice on the show. But everything she does is mannered and packaged and planned. She tries too hard. Very little of what she’s done sounds truly authentic. Brooke, on the other hand, sounds like the song is just pouring out of her, and however it comes out is however she happens to feel about it. Hard to explain maybe, but I detect a real difference between the qualities Brooke or David C bring to a song, and those the lesser singers bring.
I can respect that too, Sam. Thanks for explaining how you feel.
I agree with Sam Stone about David Enchilada. You know that je nais se quois that stars have? He doesn’t have it. He’s a fine singer, but I don’t care about his performances. Maybe he needs his heart broken a couple of times, getting evicted from his apartment, working at soul-crushing jobs just to pay the rent and eat; maybe then he’ll have a little something to add to the mix.
I think David Cook’s skull is just too big for his hair to cover.
Liberal, I said that I “HATE” his Imagine not that I “HATE” everything he does. I just don’t care for it because it seems vapid and shallow, with nothing behind it. I don’t HATE it it just does nothing for me, and I have no desire to hear it again. Imagine, on the other hand, actually made me angry. Also, I have never said anything to the effect of not wanting you to post your opinions or your gradings or anything at all. I don’t care one way or the other whether you post them, or what your opinions are, just as I’m sure you don’t care what mine are. We’re both just posting here to discuss our points of view, same as everyone else. I only say this because your wording made it sound like there was some question in your mind about me “respecting your opinions” and you sounded a little defensive about continuing to post them, as if I’d somehow said you should do otherwise.
Sam Stone summed up my feelings pretty well.
As for David Cook’s hair, I think it looks bad, and I think “comb over” is a good description of how it is styled, because it’s combed over his forehead. I don’t think he has a “comb over” in the sense of a man who is balding trying to cover up the bald spot, he’s just a man with a massive forehead and he’s trying to cover it with hair.
You mean bangs?