Lee and Crystal, "Falling Slowly". I know this opinion is not universal, but this was the best performance since Crystal's "People Get Ready." Maybe I've just got a soft spot for this song (and the swirlycam), but this just hit my sweet spot.Thing I noticed: during Jamie Foxx's intro, they mentioned The Soloist this time. They didn't last year, even though it was right around the film's release date. Odd.
Big Mike, "Will You Be There". The inspirational theme from Free Willy. Of course. There wasn't anything special or different about it, but it worked.
The Outlaw Casey James, "Mrs. Robinson." Well, he's no Evan Dando, and there wasn't much singing involved, but it was a lovely little performance.
Crystal Bowersox, "I'm Alright." Of all the Kenny Loggins film songs to chose, I could imagine her taking on "Footloose," "I'm Free (Heaven Helps The Man)," "Playing With The Boys" or even "Danger Zone." This was ... alright, I guess, but indulgent, more of a showcase for the percussionist than the singer.
TOCJ and Big Mike, "Have You Every Really, Truly, Madly, Deeply Loved A Woman?" There were some bad notes in there. Also, no song that Bryan Adams has touched should appear on this show.
Lee DeWyze, "Kiss From A Rose." Chock full o'bad notes and laziness. Constantine's version was much better. Just, just ... yuck.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
WELL, AS A MATTER OF FACT, YES, I HAVE LOVED A WOMAN: Movie night on Idol. Could we avoid "Against All Odds"? Yes. But nevertheless, Massive Suck was not avoided. From the top to the bottom:
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The fact that Mrs. Robinson:
ReplyDeletea. was not tortured by Clifford the Crunchy Muppet is a miracle;
b. is no. 3 on this list simply shows how much this year sucks.
Of course, research reveals that Clifford was a final 4 contestant as well. Gack.
ReplyDeleteOther Top 4 singers have included Nikki McKibbin, Josh Gracin, Jasmine Trias and Anthony Fedorov.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually the exception rather than the rule where the Top 4 doesn't include at least one "What the heck are *they* doing here?" contestant...
-Dan
But no one has bombed the week the way Clifford did. Not even close.
ReplyDeleteI think that 3 of these top 4 would have been "what are they doing here?!?" in seasons past. We were spoiled the last two seasons. This year was a bum top 12 that proved it wasn't really going to do much of anything new and interesting with the songs. And then its momentum was further hindered by having the better themes toward the beginning and the lackluster themes toward the end. Finally, I think even the contestants are bored. There were a lot better songs on the list tonight than what people picked. "Kiss from a Rose" and "Falling Slowly" were just done last season. Wonderful as "Falling Slowly" was (it was THE bright spot of the episode), that's lazy.
ReplyDeleteI deplore the use of duets on this show, both because it's not really fair (in a 3-1 guy to girl situation, whoever gets the female partner is very likely to benefit) and because we all know that the reason why they are doing duets is because they can't fit in eight songs in an hour. That said, I thought that Falling Slowly was clearly the best performance of the night.
ReplyDelete1. Lee & Crystal, Falling Slowly. I could be wrong, but he may have actually hit all of the notes that time. I'm probably wrong, though.... One of the few songs we've rewound to hear again this season.
[gap]
2. Crystal, I'm Alright. I really enjoyed that, and it was a nice tempo change for her.
[largish gap]
3 (tie). Mike, Whatever the Hell He Was Singing. I'm not sure that he hit all of the notes that he intended to hit, but it was all right.
3 (tie). Casey, Mrs. Robinson. I don't really like his voice, but a reasonably nice performance. While Mrs. Robinson is not lacking in substance, Simon, and, yes, there was some rearrangement there, it wasn't much of a wow moment, which Casey needed given....
(largish gap)
5. Casey & Mike, Yucky Bryan Adams Song. I feel for them. Whoever got Crystal as a duet partner was going to be benefited this week, and they drew the short straws. But other than Casey's guitar-playing, and the snazzy suits, there was nothing good about this performance.
(surprisingly large gap, given the above)
6. Lee, Kiss From a Rose. Ugh.
They're all better than Taylor Hicks, though.
ReplyDeleteI adore the song "Kiss from a Rose," and Lee's performance was just so boring. How can you make that amazing song boring? He did it!
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to see how the voting goes from here.....
I really, really liked Mrs. Robinson and was suprised when the judges panned it. Lee was awful.
ReplyDeleteI still would bet that Casey goes home this week and Lee is top 2. Does it really matter how they sing at this point?
This season is just so disappointing. I agree with everyone who thought the Lee Chrystal duet was the high point of the night, but it wasn't that high. I desperately wanted Chrystal's solo performance to be good, and it was, but that was all that it was. I came away thinking that maybe that hot mess from Big Mike was a little more listenable even though I think she has more potential. I think Crystal and Big Mike should be the final two. I like both of them more than a few of the past winners, the soul patrol guy, last years guy, and the guy who wishes he were Big Mike.
ReplyDeleteAnd Adam Lambert has more talent than any of that five.....
ReplyDeleteIt could have something to do with the fact that I'm seven and a half months pregnant, but the extreme swirly cam on Lee and Crystal had me very close to puking.
ReplyDeleteI agree though I'd rather see Big Mike go home this week. I can't help it, I just love me some Casey. I didn't love his song choice this week (he was really asking for those Kara jokes by singing Mrs Robinson), but I thought he did a nice job with it.
ReplyDeleteI was less impressed by Crystal than I have been in previous weeks, and the same goes for Lee. I'm sure they'll be here for the finale though.
And considering the list of songs they had to choose from, it's not really all that surprising there were weird choices. It's misleading of the judges to make comments like "of all the movie songs in the world you chose that song" when really, they couldn't choose a song from any movie they wanted.
The duets were fine. I thought Casey and Big Mike were better than Crystal and Lee - despite the latter two having the better song. (Casey and Mike were saddled with what might just be the cheesiest Bryan Adams song, and that's saying something.)
And what's with the Voldemort treatment of Kris Allen? Why do the judges refuse to say his name? Particularly in this case, when the ONLY reason Falling Slowly was included on the song list- for Lee & Crystal to pick and provide one of the night's highlights - was because Kris went offlist last season and AI got clearance to use it in the first place! Interesting that Randy didn't think it was 'too obscure' a choice this time around...
ReplyDeleteTrue. This was at least the second time that a Kris Allen highlight was redone this year (see also Ain't No Sunshine), and the judges seem to have gone out of their way not to mention him.
ReplyDeleteI have a hypothesis about Casey James: his performances are much more successful when he lets his pretty hair flow free, and less successful when he has a ponytail. Then again, it's even odds he goes home tonight.
ReplyDelete