All and all a somewhat lackluster show, but then again, what did I expect from the “hits” of Neil Diamond…ugh. What, they couldn’t get William Shatner to appear with the hits off of his albums?
Still, of the five remaining, the two David’s did the best tonight.
I did enjoy Paula’s comments about the song that Jason didn’t sing. I am surprised she didn’t comment on how much she enjoyed Melinda Doolittle’s performance tonight as well.
I wonder who the mentor will be next week?
After D.W. got booted last year, I decided to give AI a miss for the season. I strayed from that decision only twice: the first Beatles show, when I allowed Michaela to have the TV on during dinner; and tonight, because it was Neil Diamond.
I missed Forever in Blue Jeans (watching the dog decide whether to take a crap), but Michaela and kaylasmom told me he butchered it, and I trust their judgement. My considered opinion, after hearing September Morn, is that Jason earned himself a ticket home tonight.
Syesha surprised me with Hello Again. Very tasteful and decorous to start, and she saved the pop diva business for later, toward the end of the performance. I disagree with Liberal about gospel being the best approach to Thank the Lord for the Night Time; I thought her r&b arrangement suited the abbreviated version of the song quite well.
The only other things I have to say about the evening are: David Cook commanded the competition tonight; Brooke would do well to work on getting that “billy-goat” quaver out of her voice; and David Archuletta, while he might deliver the performances of his arrangements flawlessly, still misses the mark, when it comes to Neil Diamond. This is because the arrangements are written for the voice of the kind of guy who would be the “before” fellow in the Charles Atlas ads in the back of the comic books, getting sand kicked in his face. The songs, OTOH, are written for a voice whose testicles have descended.
Rumor is that it’s going to be either Flavor Flav or Taco, depending on whether they can work it into Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Urology Clinic taping schedule.
You ARE joking, right? :eek: Would love to see Brooke trying Flava.
I’m just wondering which hit of Taco’s they’re going to go for.
I’m going to barf up all of my impressions here before reading the thread, so forgive me if I happen to repeat any observations/commentary that might have already been done to death in the last couple pages, but I wanna get this out while the clips are still fresh. Quick summary: I agree with the judges, pretty much.
Jason: Adorable as ever, but he just seems to be done with this. He knows he can’t win, so he has given up trying. He’s not bad, not at all, but not good enough. And damn - he really looks uncomfortable without his guitar.
David C: He just keeps getting better, and smarter. He works the camera like no one else, but he can do it without being smarmy. He pwns this competition at this point, no one can touch him.
Brooke: She hangs on because - unlike Syesha or Jason - she still has the power to surprise. Will she be heartbreakingly brilliant? A train wreck? Stay tuned! She seriously needs to quit flapping her yap every five seconds - she could get voted out for that alone - but at least she’s not boring.
David A: Shut your eyes and David’s voice is gorgeous. If this is a singing competition, he is tough to beat. But as a performance competition? Each week he looks more like one of those test lab bunnies that never knows when it’s going to get an electric shock. In long shots he looks awkward. In close-up he looks ready to burst into tears. What happened to that aw-shucks adorable kid who had it all sewn up in week one? I miss that guy. When Paula implores him to “have fun!” what she’s saying is “please stop making us feel like we should be calling CPS.”
Syesha: This one has always been frustrating. She’s beautiful, has a great voice, performs well, sings more or less perfectly, but she still fails to be memorable. I want to like her, but she fails to make me care. Not that she did badly this week - in fact she did quite well enough to be third place, maybe even second - but do I know her? Do I want to? Do I give a shit? No. No, I do not. And I’m afraid the voting public doesn’t either.
Now to go back and see what y’all said!
Actually, that would be pretty funny to see four versions of “Puttin’ on the Ritz”.
Not a big fan of 10-performance nights, as the whole show has a rushed feeling. They really need to either find some kind of filler to make 10 songs fit reasonably into three time slots, or else find a way to make the show 75 minutes. Shoot, don’t awards shows do this all the time?
I could easily see Mercado or Castro going, as they have the same glaring problem: There just isn’t a lot they’re good at, and what they are good at isn’t all taht impressive. Mercado is one of many, many interchangable pop divas, a well Whitney Houston and later Mariah Carey dumped several gallons of poison into, and Castro reminds me of Marcy Playground, music to medidate to.
If I could choose either, it’d be Castro, as Mercado at least sounds like she wants to win this. Castro, honestly, looks exactly like one of those Cinderellas who’s coming to grips with the reality that he’s not going to be the champ. So he’s decided to play it out, keep doing what he does best, and build some kind of foundation for an unspectacular long-term career away from the hot lights. I don’t know what wasted opportunity Liberal is seeing here; sounds to me like he’s doing exactly the right thing.
Cook, after surviving an onslaught of horrible theme nights for him, finally gets a week that’s right up his alley, and not surprisingly, he ran away with it. I’ve really grown on him over the past few weeks, and at this point he’s the only one left who I actually look forward to listening to. I still don’t think he should win; for certain people, 2nd is the best place, and I’m bewildered that even some of us are still in denial about that. I wouldn’t feel bad if he did, though. Restore some credibility to this as a singing competition and a test of whom America would be willing to pay to listen to. The inevitable Taylor Hicks-esque meltdown would be inevitable, so no drama. 
I don’t see why everyone’s so critical of Archuleta. No, I’m not wild about boy band music either. Yes, he sometimes fluffs it up more than he should. He wants to win this. As a raw 17-year-old with no real connections, he needs a guaranteed contract more than anyone remaining. He’s doing exactly what will give him the best chance of winning, and for that, at least, I have to give him a thumbs-up. And honestly, he’s my second favorite singer after Cook.
White…I dunno. She’s in WAY over her head right now, and I’m not quite sure it’s sunk in just yet. She’s okay, but I haven’t found anything Idol-like about her so far. VFTW has clout, but they’re not omnipotent (as KLC finishing a lackluster th proved).
Should be an interesting results show. I’d be hard-pressed to label anyone safe. (Not even Archie, not as long as Castro is still around.)
DialIdol prediction:
[spoiler]Syesha and David Cook are the top two! That might be an energized fan base (she has a fan base?) reacting to Simon’s “you could be in trouble” remark.
Looks like it’s Brooke or Jason going home. David A. uncomfortably fills the middle spot.[/spoiler]
I wonder… do TPTB want to avoid a David vs. David finale?
Someone mentioned upthread (ETA: fruitbat) that David C. is one of the most impressive contestants since Kelly Clarkson. The comparison rings true for me. Although I completely agree that David A. would benefit most from winning, David C. will be able to make a real career out of it - a la Kelly and Carrie - rather than disappearing immediately (Taylor Hicks) or stumbling for a while before finding a comfortable niche (Fantasia). I think he will even do better than Daughtry - he’s better *than *Daughtry - regardless of how he finishes. I would really like to know the iTunes sales figures, because I would bet money that David C.'s studio singles are consistently outselling the others, and that should be the best indicator of potential success on the market.
Anybody else notice that when the judges panned Jason’s performances there wasn’t nearly the usual "Booooooooooo!"s from the audience? Could be the mob is turning.
Overall, a pretty average night. Too boring to even seriously recap. If I had to choose, I’d rate 'em like this:
David Cook
Syesha Mercado
David Archuleta
Brooke White (on the strength of the second song)
Jason Castro
I think Castro is doing exactly the right thing. If he’s going to market himself to the Ben Harper/Jack Johnson crowd, what better way to do it than to be so laid-back, so unperturbed, that you basically just come out and blow off American Idol? He looks like nothing bothers him. He’s got the same smile when they’re ripping him a new one as he does when they’re praising him. Hell, he got caught yawning on camera while waiting to see if he would be eliminated. How cool is that?
He’ll go home soon, slacker his way off the show, and release “Jason Castro Mellows To the Sounds of the Calypso Beat” or something, and sell half a million records. He won’t be a superstar, but he’ll find a niche out in the indie world making decent albums and playing 2000 seat venues. He doesn’t needs American Idol for that any more - he’s got enough recognition. Now he jjust has to maintain his credibility. Can you really see him parading around singing “This is my Now” and doing the whole promotional thing the winner has to do? I can’t.
I think Syesha has moved herself into the top 3, along with the Davids. If Brooke doesn’t go home tomorrow, then she’s going to have to come out with two killer performances next week to claw her way back past Syesha.
David Cook is so far ahead of the field right now it isn’t funny. They should just rename it ‘The David Cook Show’, and let him sing four or five songs, and the rest can have a group sing.
Some thoughts…
It might be time for Paula to go to the Betty Ford clinic. She was really out of it tonight.
Brooke redeemed herself a little with the second song but I think this might be her last night.
It really should be Jason’s last night. If this is a singing competition, he has no business being there.
Syesha is finding her groove more and more each week. Unfortunately, it won’t be enough to propel her to the top.
Archuleta was someone I really liked in the beginning. He is boring me almost as much as Jason Castro now. He does have a fantastic voice but he is really boring to watch if you aren’t a 13 year old girl…or Liberal. 
which brings me to David Cook, who is taking complete control of this competition and he knows it. He is easily the most consistent, the most interesting, and the most talented. If he doesn’t win it all, it will be an injustice, IMO.
Paula…seriously…get some help. When you get whacked out, you upset Simon and he takes it out on the contestants. There are only a few weeks left - can’t you just lay off the sauce for a couple of hours each week and then binge when it is all over? Save us all the embarrassment.
I’m going to put a bit of analysis in a spoiler box because it has to do with Dial Idol’s rankings.
Before last night, I was wondering where Carly’s voters were going to go next. At this point, I thought it might be likely that a lot of them would stop tuning in, in disgust. It appears, though, that Syesha may have gotten quite a bit of a boost from Carly’s sloppy seconds. I’m thinking that part of her first-place showing is a genuinely good night combined with a fan-base who wanted to keep her safe after Simon’s odd parting shot, but a lot of it may be due to her picking up the vast majority of Carly’s fans. And if that’s the case, she could be a dangerous sleeper at this point, especially given the fact that Archuleta’s fans seem to be turning on him a bit as well.
I think he wasted the opportunity to ramp up his game. It’s entirely possible that it’s not a lack of desire, but a lack of ability. But I think it’s better to go out with the impression that you’ve done your best than just to peter out like a TS Elliot poem. At this point, I think Jason needs the songwriting skills of Dylan to make anything more than a wedding singer career. I expect he’ll end up as something like a car mechanic with fond memories of this year. And regrets.
I don’t mind disagreement, but please don’t assign to me things I haven’t said — especially when they’re the opposite of what I’ve said. In fact, in my reviews for this very week, I criticized what I was watching and ticked him a minus for it. Last week, I pointed out that he actually looks quite goofy with his Alfred E Neuman face and ears. I’ve also given him a D before (on the first Beatles night), which I’ve never given David Cook. For blind fawning over this or that contestant, you’re going to need to look elsewhere.
Well, I bought his independently released album (download) from Amazon a few weeks back. I’d buy an album of his post-AI in a heartbeat. I refuse to install iTunes on my computer, though, so I don’t contribute to the AI figures.
Hey, I’d watch that!
That certainly wasn’t my intention. I’m well aware that you’ve been critical of his performances in the past and I apologize if my post suggested otherwise.
Having said that, I simply feel that a letter grade anywhere near an “A” for this week’s performances is being more than generous. His voice, which once sounded angelic to me as well, just isn’t sounded that great as of late. It cracked pretty significantly in one of the songs, I don’t recall which, but he sure noticed it. And I just felt that, overall, both songs were pretty lackluster and his vocal tone seems to get more nasally each week. Personally, I think he sang much better when he closed his eyes and licked his lips but those traits have been successfully exercised from his performances and his natural talent isn’t shining like it once was.
I understand that Neil Diamond is probably not on his regular Ipod playlist but you just can’t sing every song as an R & B ballad, which is his strength. When he ventures out of that box, as when he butchered “We Can Work it Out,” he really comes off as out of his element.
I think he has all the makings of a broadway star and even a Miley Cyrus-esque Disney star, but as an American Idol, I just don’t think he has the versatility or maturity for that role. Again, just my opinion and I certainly didn’t mean to imply blind fawning, only that your admiration for him seems to bias your perception just a tad.
Aha! So it’s not just me! VINDICATION!