Posted on 01/14/2008 5:52:03 AM PST by silent_jonny
Just looked at the nominees. I don’t get Taylor Swift.
What did you think of Jason Castro tonight?
As a fan of the Cure, I have never heard the Cure perform/cover “Tainted Love” (unless it was during one of their concerts... I’ve never been much of a concert-goer).
Soft Cell did the song, which was actually a cover of an obscure song (and the “Where Did Our Love Go” extension was of course a more popular cover of the Supremes)
Interesting night of performances. I’ve come to the conclusion that variety in the contestants is at least as important as quality in making the show entertaining, and the guys have variety this year.
1. Dave Cook(His best so far. Consistent performer who has been decent at worst)
2. David Hernandez(Thought he did a good job with that song)
3. David Archuleta(IMO, one of his weaker performance but he’s still good. I’ve found something to criticize though—that odd tongue thing he does about every other phrase is sort of toad-like; hadn’t noticed it until tonight but it bugged me once I did.)
4. Michael Johns(Not a great voice but a good performer)
5. Chikeze(Good singer but he’s boring which may be his downfall)
6-7(tie) Jason Castro(not a great voice or even a very good voice and no fantastic performing skills, but his ease while performing makes him difficult to dislike. Agree with Paula that his phrasing is his strength.) Luke Menard(A good singer but his voice is a bit too high pitched for me to really like him.)
8.Danny Noriega(For some reason I thought he could sing, but he’s done nothing since he made it to the top 24 to convince me that he can. And he’s consistently annoying.)
Who should go: Danny Noriega and Luke Menard or Jason Castro
Who will go: I’m going to say Danny Noriega and Chikeze
Luke Menard – weak song choice, tough hitting those high notes in a song with nothing but high notes, too fast a tempo to attempt. Definite step back down after a comeback performance last week. This will likely eliminate him. He’ll sing go-go as gone-gone in his swan song.
David Archuleta – another mellow song choice, but is one of few who has done well with those types of songs. Could have done a little better, but he’s a virtual lock for Top 4.
Danny Noriega – Sounds like an 80s valley girl in the pre-song interview. Campy (as if we’d expect anything else) interpretation of Tainted Love. Way to ruin this song for me, Danjaya. What the bleep is Paula Abdul babbling about? I’m, like, totally on Simon’s side.
David Hernandez – Thankfully fully clothed. Another good song interpretation.
Michael Johns – I don’t get it. Seemed like one of the strongest singers going into this competition, but to me he seems to underperform each week. Maybe my expectations are too high? Maybe he ought to stick to covers of the Doors and INXS? I dunno.
David Cook and his guitar – Rocking version of Lionel Richie’s “Hello.” Brings a uniqueness that isn’t offensive like Danjaya. Still lacks that stage presence others in the competition have. Still kinda bores me. Not bad, not great. Meh.
Jason Castro – hmmm, started a little slow, but has a nice voice to carry this song. This might be my favorite performance of the night, but will the audience dig it?
Chikeze – Nice performance. The girls probably dug it, so I think he’ll continue on.
My top 4 tonight: Castro, Hernandez, Archuleta, Chikeze.
Meh: Johns, Cook
Bottom 2: Menard and, but of course, Danjaya Noriega.
When the news of Hernandez’ strip routine hits the gay community, that could cyphon enough vote from Danjaya and we might be finally rid of Danjaya.
Ok, now I'm confused. I have the Supremes' Anthology Album with "Where Did Our Love Go" and I didn't recognize 'Tainted Love' as sounding like "Where Did Our Love Go".
Now that’s just brilliant! Worthy of LOLCats!
I like Jason Castro. I’ve been voting for him from the start. The dreads don’t bother me. But I didn’t get his performance tonight. I thought he’d lost his phrasing/breath and totally missed the last line. Couldn’t believe it when they all went gaga over him. Sometimes I wonder if we’re hearing the same thing the judges are. I thought it was pretty boring except for Michael and David Cook. No idea what Paula was so excited about!
Do yourself a favor and get the album: Jeff Buckley's Grace. Leonard Cohen did the original but Buckley covered it on his one an only studio album. It is a travesty that he drowned at such a young age. He would have been a superstar. Absolutely brilliant musician/artist. Grace is an unbelievable album.
I'm an 80's music guy so I was hopeful that it would be a good show but wasn't expecting much in the way of song choices given that 90 percent of the "good" music in the 80's wasn't on the radio unless it was college radio. For the most part that was accurate but there were a couple of good surprises.
First the good:
David Cook's arrangement of Hello Jason Castro taking on a mountain of a song in Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah as covered by Jeff Buckley. I thought he did a decent job on it and it is a beautiful song. The issue for me was knowing the Buckley version so well that it was hard not to compare. Buckley was one of those guys with a four octave range that could sing anything beautifully. If you have not heard his version, do yourself a favor and get the whole album. One of the best records of the last 20 years.
Michael Hutchens Johns doing Simple Mind's Don't You (Forget About Me): my favorite part of this song was Randy screwing up thinking it was Australia's INXS instead of England's Simple Minds. Whoops! I finally pegged Johns's voice as a blend between Hutchens and Eddie Vedder coupled that with the Morrison look. Not exactly a singers song but he did the original proud.
The mediocre:
David Archuletta: Simon was dead on in his comment about him doing the dark songs. He proved his point when Archuletta made the comment about home less people. It will get very old, very fast. People want to be entertained not preached to every week. Great vocal but he needs to sing something else. And yes, David, Imagine is a horrifically depressing song. Life without God and Heaven and the fruits of your labor being confiscated and given to others against you will is the epitome of depressing. But your a 17 year-old know it all so...
Chikeze: Don;t know what he sang but he didn't suck so...Meh...
The awful:
Everyone else. Good lord the rest sucked.
Luke Menard should be shot for doing a Wham! song. At least pick a decent George Michael song (he had some good one's post Wham!)
Big Gay Dan was just horrible as usual. The attitude is just so over the top ridiculous. Simon was vicious but actually too kind. He's simply horrible. Oh, and he murdered an iconic 80's new wave song. Draw and quarter him.
Stripper Dan was alright but I hate Meatloaf so he gets automatically thrown in the "awful" category.
I think Stripper Dan and Luke go home. It should be Luke and Big Gay Dan but stupid kids will keep him in for a while...
Well, I did get a slight reading on my GaydarTM, but the reading was below Cody and well below Danjaya. Perhaps my GaydarTM needs a tune up, but I’m too scared to find where to get it serviced. :-o
ROTFLMAO!!!!!
Let’s see, last week he sang “Imagine”. He auditioned with the John Mayer hippy ballad “Waiting For the World to Change.” Now he sings Phil Collins’ ode to capitalist guilt “Another Day in Paradise”.
You guys keep ruining my favorite songs. I actually love Another Day in Paradise. I guess I just never understand the message and just listen to the song and not the words...lol.
I’m usually pretty good at spotting the gay ones, but I didn’t get that vibe from this one.
Gay for pay?
David Archuleta: He was coasting this week. And the "social conscience" crap, coming from a know-nothing kid, is going to get real old, real fast.
Danny Noriega: Actually, the best he's sang in the past three weeks. Not that this is saying much. This guy has every possible negative "gay" stereotype, how is that going to appeal to music buyers?
David Hernandez: It was... okay. I agree with Simon that he was better last week. Not a bad effort given the current controversy surrounding his stripper past. Purely on vocals, he should stick around for a while, but he's vulnerable this week.
Michael Johns: I'm still not convinced he's the real deal. He was quite good when he was imitating the original, but every time he tried to put his own spin on it, it didn't work for me.
David Cook: Song choice "red alert" -- he had to really do something to make this song work. And he did. Good interpretation (and frankly, I kind of like it being more up-tempo than... the... original...), and I think Randy's right in that if cleaned up a bit in the studio, it would play well on today's radio.
Jason Castro: Glad to see he dropped the ever-present smile when he's not singing a "happy" song. Nice vocals, and I like that he's comes across as somewhat unassuming.
Chikeze: On the whole, a very smooth vocal, but it didn't wow me at all. Missing the last note was really, really bad for him.
Who Should Go: Danny Noriega, Luke Menard
Who Will Go: David hernandez, Chikeze
kevkrom's overall rankings:
LOL!!
I never heard of her until yesterday, lol
Hernandez looks a little like Ray Romano, but he REALLY looks like that guy from the show “Oz” — Kirk Acevedo.
Maybe someone more competent than I can post a pic. The resemblence is uncanny.
Regards,
I agree. Or it will be one of them and Luke.
And he knows it. Watching his reaction to the judges' comments last night, Archuleta seems to think he's already won this. It's Hillary-esque.
David Hernandez – Thankfully fully clothed.
LOL!
David Cook ... Brings a uniqueness that isn’t offensive like Danjaya.
That's a good point. Cook is better than I expected. Now if he can only wipe that smug look off his face.
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