|
Few would risk making guarantees when it comes to a hodgepodge of a disc like Showstoppers, but one thing is for sure: it's bound to become the only CD in your collection you bought knowing full well you would have to hold your nose through certain tracks. That, of course, is the fun of the American Idol franchise: You may love Carrie Underwood's rootin'-tootin' version of Martina McBride's "Independence Day" but loathe Anthony Federov's syrup-soaked rendition of the '80s chestnut "Everytime You Go Away"; you may swoon over Bo Bice's Grass Roots-style vocal on the Gavin DeGraw hit "I Don't Want to Be" but find yourself making the gag-me gesture when Mikalah Gordon steps up to the mike for a Streisand-aping take on "God Bless the Child." Call it a lowbrow musical twist on the famous theatrical formula "You will laugh! You will cry!", but instead of laughing and crying you will love and hate (then again, laughter and tears could enter into the equation after a close listen to Constantine Maroulis's "My Funny Valentine"). The final cut, an ensemble number, puts this amateurs' jumble into perspective: given the right producer, anybody can sing, even those Simon Cowell would sooner see at a cut-rate karaoke bar. --Tammy La Gorce
| ARTIST: | Various Artists |
| CATEGORY: | Music |
| MANUFACTURER: | RCA |
| TYPE: | Adult Contemporary, Pop, Pop/Rock, Urban, V/a Compilations |
| MEDIA: | Audio CD |
| TRACKS: | Independence Day - Carrie Underwood, I Don't Want to Be - Bo Bice, Best of My Love - Vonzell Solomon, House Is Not a Home - Anthony Fedorov, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Nadia Turner, Part-Time Lover - Constantine Maroulis, My Funny Valentine - Constantine Maroulis, Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Jessica Sierra, Everytime You Go Away - Anthony Federov, Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Anwar Robinson, Knock on Wood - Lindsey Cardinale, God Bless the Child - Mikalah Gordon, When You Tell Me That You Love Me - American Idol Finalists - Season 4 |
| UPC: | 828766884425 |
Related Products:
American Idol Season 4 - The Showstoppers reviews by customers
 Someone put these freaks out of their misery!
I've tried to avoid American Idol every season as much as possible. All the contestants and winners are NOT talented and I think that the redneck Kelly Clarkson, the loser Justin Guarini, the fat slob Ruben Studdard, the flamer Clay Aiken and the High School dropout monkey Fantasia should be shot! These singers are pathetic! Carrie Underwood won and will disgrace country music!
 I can't get enough of American Idol!
I've been watching American Idol every season and have NEVER missed an epidode. All the contestants and winners are talented, and I have all the CDs from Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Fantasia, and others. These singers are the creme de la creme of the finest of pop music. After all, they were selected by three very stern judges as well as the fickle American public. You have to get this CD to experience it. It is awesome.
 Tomorrow's Stars Today or just marketing schmootz?
The AI phenomenon leaves me deeply, deeply conflicted. What's bad is that it's by nature a multi-week karaoke competition in which contestants are scolded for singing anything too far from the mainstream (just ask Nadia). The show is more interested in who'll move more units at at Best Buy and Wal-Mart than in developing the next Dylan, Lennon (unless it's Julian), or Kurt Cobain. On the other hand, I prefer a good pop vocal to most (all?) Bob Dylan, and I really like a few of the singers on this disc.
As I type this, there is less than an hour before we find out whether gorgeous, sweet Carrie can edge out gruff, hairy Bo to be this year's champ. I will be watching "Lost" because 1) the TV schedulers are sadists and 2) finishing second hardly hurt Clay Aiken's career. Here's my song-by-song, person-by-person review after having watched faithfully all season. In order of how they finished:
1. (or 2) Carrie Underwood, "Independence Day": Much better here than last night's rendition. Carrie showed she could handle rock (great job on Heart's "Alone") but the AI machine will likely try and mold her as the next Faith or Shania. Carrie seems genuinely sweet and looked truly sad when most of the others were voted off. She also was visibly more nervous as the show wore on. She's a sweetie with a great voice and I hope she enjoys much success.
2. (or 1) Bo Bice, "I Don't Want To Be." Bo slammed several songs out of the park this year and is the clear favorite of EVERY SECRETARY IN MY OFFICE (except my own, who's a guy). His "Spinning Wheel" and "Vehicle" were better, but including a newer song on the CD makes sense. Now the bad news. The show's clear bias towards him was ridiculous: he was always first or second in those Ford commercials, and if I had a dollar for each time Randy drooled about AI finally having a "real" rocker I could retire. But Bo showed real class the week Seacrest asked him to pick a group to stand with (one "safe", one "endangered") and he stood in the middle. (See Scott and Constantine, below, for the WRONG way to handle the situation.)
3. Vonzell Solomon, "Best of My Love." When "The Vonz" (Seacrest and his nicknames; but "Scotty the Body"?) took on this Emotions scorcher, Simon correctly called it her first memorable performance. Vonzell was inconsistent but at her best was absolute dynamite (this song, "Don't Leave Me This Way", and "Chain of Fools"). Personally, I preferred Nadia. And I don't know what was up with the crying the week she beat out...
4. Anthony Federov, "Every Time You Go Away." I was so glad this kid made the top four. I think he was the best pure singer on the show this year, but the producers didn't want to risk the show being seen as a Clay Aiken factory. To me, "A-Fed" seemed to care as much about pop music as he did about being a star, and his continued enthusiasm in the face of lukewarm reviews from Randy, Paula and (gosh) Simon showed it. He did go overboard with the adult-pop ballads, but consider: those songs are harder to sing than rock, and if you screw up there's no grinding guitars to hide behind. I hope the AI machine lets Anthony make a CD. He really deserves the chance. And what was with Paula unprofessionally crying and hugging Constantine's family the week Anthony outlasted him in the dreaded Bottom Two? Paula, what message did that convey to Anthony and his family? Not cool. Nice moment: Ryan calling Anthony "a class act" after he was voted out.
5. Scott Savol, "Against All Odds." To look at him, you'd never guess this guy could do really good impressions of Luther Vandross and Freddie Jackson. The Phil Collins warhorse used here had special meaning to Scott, but do the rest of us need another version of it? I REALLY hated how Scott and Constantine, unlike Bo, took Seacrest's bait and stood with Bo and Carrie, leaving Anthony and Vonzell (who ended up outlasting both of 'em) on the other side like a couple of losers. The next week, he actually thought he was "safe" sitting with Anthony while Vonzell was left standing and they hadn't got to Bo and Carrie yet [if you don't watch, AI ritually tortures the kids like this before revealing who's eliminated each week]. I also think Scott screwed his partners over in the early going when they everybody audition in groups of three. Whew. Yet, he managed to outlast...
6. Constantine Maroulis, "My Funny Valentine." I also cringed at this guy's mugging for the camera and that damn "call me" hand signal every week when they showed his vote-in phone numbers. That said, his version of this true classic is brilliant. I missed the week he did it on the air (I think it was--ugh---"Broadway Week"), but "Yo, dog, I gotta give you props. This was da bomb!" Constantine also did a fantastic job on "I Can't Make You Love Me" that deserves release someday.
7. Anwar Robinson, "A House Is Not a Home." Can someone be too nice? Somehow I never warmed up to Anwar. Neither did RandyPaulaSimon, who kept noting his "technical" skills but seemed to want more emotional punch in his performances. I hope that was the reason for his fairly early exit, and not his non-rumor-squelching song choices by Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan. This Dionne/Bacharach-David classic was among Anwar's best.
8. Nadia Turner, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me." I absolutely loved Nadia, and this Dusty Springfield song was her most, well, showstopping performance. The ex-cheerleader with the wild 'do deserved to go much farther than this. The judges' faulting her for a fine job on an obscure song (Crystal Gayle's "When I Dream") exposes AI's biggest flaw--familiarity over innovation. Sigh.
9. Nikko Smith, "Part-Time Lover". Nice Stevie Wonder imitation by the son of pro baseball player Ozzie Smith. Nikko made the top twelve when Mario Vazquez abruptly quit. By finishing in the Top Ten he gets to tour. Still, I didn't find him as good as...
10. Jessica Sierra, "Total Eclipse of the Heart." This spectacular version of a spectacular song seemed to guarantee local (to me; she's from Tampa) talent Jessica a long run on the show. But the next week she was gone. Snotty Simon hurt her chances by comparing her unfavorably to Carrie.
11. Mikalah Gordon, "God Bless the Child." Not the strongest singer but oy, such a personality! Nothing this side of Mary Roach was funnier than her warning Simon that he had to take her to her prom if she didn't make it through to the top 24. Mikalah may be my favorite all-around performer in the group, even though she's been dissed by the message boards, Billboard, and even Amazon. Like Anthony, she showed a real love of pop music. A mike disaster screwed her up on "Son of a Preacher Man", but she really shined on songs ranging from "Somewhere" to "Young Hearts Run Free" to this slow-burning classic most associated with Billie Holiday. By a 17-year-old! The fade is screwed up though (not Mikalah's fault). The youngest of the top 12, Mikalah was not helped by the three judges alternately advising her to be "sassy and fun" yet "adult and mature". Then they criticized her lack of a consistent style! I hope this girl makes it big. I definitely hope she gets to make a record.
12. Lindsay Cardinale, "Knock On Wood." Odd choice, since this is the song Simon said would make thousands of viewers turn the volume down and then Lindsay was eliminated. I think Lindsay sings it very well; my problem with it was that it was "Sixties Week" but she did the (1979) Amii Stewart disco version rather than the Eddie Floyd original. Well, that and the awful job by the AI band.
As for the "ensemble" version of "When You Tell Me That You Love Me", it seems that the leads of the "bottom four" were erased to allow the "top eight" more lines. This may have been done because only eight were left to perform it when its choice as a single was announced on the air. Officially, all 12 are credited as "background vocalists". Still, I wish they'd kept all 12 leads on the released version.
How many of these people will become stars? How many will get to have hit songs? And how many, given a choice, would kick Simon Cowell right in the Well, we're out of time. Bo or Carrie? Carrie or Bo? Still a half-hour to go...
P.S.: guess there will be an office full of pissed-off secretaries tomorrow. Congratulations to Carrie! (Bo will be fine, trust me. Both are set to have CDs out by September or October.)
| disc
franchise:
will
cheapeast
lowest
cost
Underwood's
"I
equation
Showstoppers
making
sure: CD
tracks.
may
McBride's
may on
Mikalah
Bless
musical
crying
laughter
American
Idol
Season 4 -
The
Showstoppers
best
prices
buying
deal
discount
good
lowest
price
order
knowing
Want for
the the
bound have
rendition
but steps
hate Buy
cheapest
gift
information
to 4 the
take best
price sale
through
when love
see when
but
collection
hold fun
but Go
Gavin
making for
theatrical
laughing
could
Cheapest
Online
American
Idol
Season 4 -
The
Showstoppers
Music
cheap
clearance
discounted
get low
cost price
specials
after free
shipping
syrup-soaked
Various
hodgepodge
course,
version Bo
a will
Music buy
dicount
offer
purchase |
|
