It was Lennon & McCartney night and not only did the kids pretty much rise to the occasion, no one sang "Imagine"! How many times have we heard that song trampled? I am a little disappointed no one did " Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" and "I Am the Walrus" (I would have loved hearing Kara scold Katie Stevens for not making the lyric "yellow matter custard/dripping from a dead dog's eye" her own) but all in all a solid night.
And what would a Beatles song be like without a didgeridoo or the bagpipes? Both were employed last night. I worry that this trend to be original and surprising will escalate to where Crystal is playing a musical saw with her teeth and Lee is accompanying himself on the Exedrin Thumb Piano.
Aaron Kelly kicked things off with "The Long and Winding Road." I liked it better than the judges did. Simon blasted the arrangement. I can just imagine Phil Spector sitting with his fellow inmates in federal prison (those hardened criminals are just suckers for singing competitions), enjoying his one hour respite from being passed around like a lit joint, only to hear his gorgeous arrangement ridiculed on national television. Oh are those zany guys from cell block D gonna razz him for that!
Katie Stevens (another reason I'm sure the convicts are such Idol fans) gave one of her best performances, to date singing "Let It Be." Kara (who is starting to look alarmingly like Jack Lord) complimented her on rebounding after three sub-par weeks. Katie is growing on me.
Andrew Garcia sang "Can't Buy Me Love." A better choice might have been "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party So I'll Go." Andrew's not in the league of the front runners and even a Bowafridgeaphone or a gas tank orchestra would not help him at this stage.
Big Mike Lynche turned "Eleanor Rigby" into a Luther Vandross song. But then he turns every song into a Luther Vandross song. The judges were mixed. But compared to David Cook's amazing version of the song from season 7, Big Mike paled.
Simon is always criticizing the contestants for sounding like they're in a musical but where's the only place former Idol kids can get work? In Broadway musicals. Don't kid yourself Simon. You may think these young singers strive to be Kelly Clarkson. They'd kill to be Ethel Merman.
Crystal Bowersox gave the performance of the night with "Come Together" despite the fact that she had bronchitis. Her didgeridoo player hung in there with her and at one point he held a note so long I thought he was going to blow his liver out through the horn.
If this was 1966 Tim Urban would be a member of the Monkees and a bigger star than all the American Idols put together. But it's 2010 and I'm afraid he's going home soon after Andrew.
Casey James did a heartfelt version of "Jealous Guy." Here's my problem with Casey: no one that good looking should ever be allowed to sing the blues. What kind of anguish has this guy had to endure? Being stalked by Kara?
Siobhan Magnus always looks so cute -- except on show night. Then she turns into an audience member of a midnight "Rocky Horror Picture Show" screening. This week she came dressed as Madonna during her ill advised "Papa Don't Preach" phase. But I love Siobhan. Maybe it's because I once had a crush on Kim Darby but I do believe she's an extraordinary singer. After weeks of power screeching she backed way off and did a beautiful sensitive interpretation of "Across the Universe." If she doesn't win this competition she too is headed to Broadway. She'll be starring in "the Addams Family" by Halloween.
Lee Dewyze had the pimp spot and sang "Hey Jude." Since Idol is always looking for new ways to fill time (now they have exit interviews reminding us just how much we all miss The Weakest Link) "Hey Jude" is the perfect song because it can be sung forever. Lee was joined inexplicably by a bagpipe player. Ellen had the line of the night saying the kilted musician had veered off from his parade.
There was no celebrity mentor this week although if the kids wouldn't mind mingling with 200 rapists, murderers, and Goldman-Sachs executives, I'm sure Phil Spector would have been happy to give them all tips.
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Music is about artistry...making your audience feel something. Why not have weeks devoted to love - pain - heartbreak - hope - desire - rage, etc. and let them pick the song from any era or genre. I'm over 50 and I don't want to hear songs that carry memories for me butchered from the original.
I only started watching again after 4 years to see what Ellen would bring to the show. The answer is - not much more than some much needed levity. Watching A.I. is like watching rose blossoms being smothered under volcanic ash....just sad.
Boring night overall. Out of ALL of the songs they had to choose from, majority chose the most generic ones.
And no, he didn't go solo with Yoko. You can't go solo with anyone else. He did go "Plastic Ono Band" with Yoko and made a pretty album.
She is the real thing, and the biggest talent on the show in a long time. Much better then Carrie Underwood, the superstar. When she sings Janis it is as if she is channeling her, but with better pipes. Her problem is her personality, which is not the star quality of her singing talent. I hope she wins since she is far above the others on the show this season.
I will buy her album when it comes out. I just hope they don't try to turn her into Kelly Clarkson and a power pop singer. I would love to see her put out an album of covers of the best of Janis, Judy Collins and Joan Baez, from their 60s hits. Or her versions of some of Dylan's songs. Or how about her singing Donovan's "Try and Catch The Wind".? Quick pass me that joint. She is an old soul.
As for Siobhan, I don't like her big notes when they are screamed, so I haven't been digging her much lately. I liked that she left that out last night, but wasn't bowled over by her performance.
Okay, here's my take.
Everyone but Andrew, who belongs in a Bare Naked Ladies cover band, had great or decent vocals, with Crystal having the best among the eight who had great or decent vocals and Lee having the worst.
But a performance is more than just whether the vocals are in pitch, strong and clean. It is how the song is interpreted.
From that perspective every performance was dreadful except Crystal, Casey, and believe it or not Tim. What they did was suck the soul, life, heart, or power out of the song. Last night, except for the three I mentioned, was not Lennon & McCartney night. It was Lennon & McCartney as Adult Easy Listening Elevator Music night. ::shudder::
Details on the fiver good singers with lousy interpretations:
Aaron did not get Simon's criticism when he said he should do some research, neither did my 85 year old mother, but at least I explained it. Aaron went one step further than Spector in vandalizing McCartney's raw, simple piano ballad. At least Spector left Paul's stripped down piano based rock in the mix. Aaron's was nothing but the strings and he knew nothing about what the song is about.
cont.
My opinion of the judges dropped big time when they praised Katie for her similar vandalism of Let It Be.
Then Big Mike takes a song designed to be sung over strings and adds a disco beat and Maria miasma. ::shudder::
Then Siobhan, who did a beautiful interpretation of Across the Universe, if she was on the Lawrence Welk Show, takes a guitar based song and tries to make it a piano based one. Okay, switching up can be good, if the switch up adds an edge, like Adam's version of Ring of Fire in season 8. But this piano arrangement was pure shlock. Furthermore, my darling Siobhan destroys the most important word in the song, Om, and totally loses the irony in "Nothing's going to change my world." ::sigh:: Her assignment, watch the Fiona Apple video of this song over and over for an hour.
Lee, whose vocals barely were in the division everyone else division instead of joining Andrew, then takes a piano based rock song and turns it into a guitar one, while the real guitar playing takes place by someone else in the band. Sapping the heart out of the song wasn't enough for Lee. He had to try and top Crystal so he added a bagpipe. Lee, there was a reason Crystal had a diggerydoo and Casey had a Cello, they were an integral part of the interpretation, not a gimmick.
cont.
So tell me, when all these five had great or decent vocals but lousy interpretations, why did the judges pimp four of them but attack Aaron? Did the judges decide it was time for him to go?
Now the three who interpreted the songs well.
Crystal's switch up of Come Together is the kind of switch up that is good. She didn't take away the edge or the rock heart of the song, but made it her own. That's how a switch up is supposed to work, taking a tune and switching it up so it becomes one of the artist's own songs and when the artist is Crystal it's always wonderful.
Casey did the same thing with Jealous Guy. He was miles above Lee in that Casey actually played the guitar and it added to the song. He also changed up the melody a bit, but in doing so made the song fit into his country blues genre. I also liked that he added dynamics.
Both Crystal's use of the diggerydoo and Casey's use of a Cello were vital parts of their interpretation not add ons. I really respected Crystal's honoring of the other musician and inviting him into the spotlight with her. She is a classy lady.
cont.
I would have said something behind the scenes after the show if I were her.
in this day and age of "crazies" he could have been a delusional stalker looking for fame in the worst way possible, I think Seacrest was a tad bit uncomfortable after realizing that was not a good idea.