Tonight, Neil Diamond mentors the five remaining finalists.
I’m really hoping that Jason will be leaving this week or next. I’m so bored with him.
Does anyone have the spoiler peek at what songs they might be doing? I am completely Neil Diamond ignorant and if possible I’d like to maybe listen to some of them on YouTube or something first.
I was hoping for spoilers myself. I haven’t had a chance to check the usual sites like TWoP.
Last week I thought, before watching, that David Archuleta would swoop in and take the ALW showtune night like an eagle after a bunny, but was disappointed. Tonight, I predict that David Cook, who should be able to work wonders with any of several N.D. songs, will drop the ball (as opposed to Archuleta, whose balls may drop [unless his dad has had them removed to preserve his singing voice]).
Bleah. Is all Neil Diamond like that?
Pretty much, yeah.
Yeah, he’s totally the suburbs- roughly to hard-rock what Long Island Sound is to Harlem.
I’d be surprised, Samp. I’m not sure that facet of them is comparable. David Archuleta is a better stand alone singer, in my opinion, but as I’ve said before, I think David Cook is far and away the better front singer for a good band. And I think one attribute of a great front man is a deep, innate musical creativity, which he uses to form a whole song with his band as a vital element. So I think that makes him less apt to choke on Neil Diamond. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Archuleta sees the songs as something to learn, while Cook sees them as something to teach. This could be the night that Cook emerges as the frontrunner. Check my grades later. (Shameless plug.)
Okay. Here’s the TMZ song list:
Brooke White – “I Am … I Said” and “I’m a Believer”
Jason Castro – “Forever in Blue Jeans” and “September Morn”
David Archuleta – “Sweet Caroline” and “America” (Possibly brilliant choice)
Syesha Mercado – “Thank the Lord for the Night Time” and “Hello Again”
David Cook – “I’m Alive” (another brilliant choice) and “All I Really Need Is You”
Some of it is even worse. My personal favorite: “I Am, I Said,” wherein Neil pours his heart out to his furniture and is sad that it cannot hear him. I’m hoping Archuleta goes for that one.
On preview I see that Brooke may actually be singing that song. If she does that instead of “I’m a Believer,” I may have to shoot myself in the face. Oh wait . . . you mean they are doing two songs each tonight??
Goodbye, cruel world.
I can’t accept that TMZ list…there’s no way Cherry Cherry and/or Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon won’t be performed tonight.
Heh…it seems just about every Neil Diamond YouTube listing is filled with AI comments now.
My thoughts exactly. Has David Cook written all over it (and even has the Urge Overkill remix to copy 
).
I don’t like this bullshit of not judging until after the song. I’d rather get immediate feedback.
I thought that worked surprisingly well for Castro. I thought the castrato vocals would be a little weird, but as Randy likes to say, he worked it out, man.
Cook is going obscure. Some shoe gazer band must have covered these tunes.
Wow, Cook sounds good on this song. I could see this being a hit.
Am I the only one in here tonight? Echo…echo…
Why is Brooke singing this song so low? I can barely understand what she’s saying.
Brooke doing the Monkees…and this is terrible. The worst she’s ever sounded. I think this is the first time I’ve ever thought she really sounded bad.
That “woo” was really irritating as well.
Sorry, I’m here, too, Dio. Jason, to quote Randy, worked it out. David Cook definitely will make the finals. And Brooke’s choice of fluff for her first song actually worked. *ETA I mean she actually didn’t look like she was having an emotional breakdown while she sang it. *
But I agree, it’s weird not to have the judging till after the second song.