Surviving Seven Sing Standards; Stewart Supports

Rod The Mod,
in more glorious days



If you recognized Marilu Henner in the opening audience shot, you may very well also remember the early, more credible half of guest muse Rod Stewart's career in the 60s and 70s. Despite the former gravedigger's foray into more questionable musical subgenres in the 80s and 90s, it can still truly be said that he is a legend of rock 'n roll, and in the music business. A bout with thyroid cancer drove Stewart's more recent genre transition towards the not-so-rockin' [so-called] 'Great American Songbook,' a twist of fate that was ultimately a very lucrative one for him.
The Stewart-imposed theme proved to also be very good for most, if not all of the 'Top 7' tonight. And has anyone noticed — this may be the first show in Idol history on which Simon Cowell liked or praised nearly every performance [his only criticism of Kellie was that the song choice was boring].

And now, a Little Touch of Idol in The Night:

Chris Daughtry - I am nearly speechless. If tonight’s Great American Songbook theme ushered in by 'Rod the Mod' accomplished nothing else tonight, it can at least can credited for occasioning the best performance of the entire season by Christopher Daughtry. This was a revelation — not merely for its contrast to his stock-in-trade style, but for its simple perfection as a vocal performance. It was nuanced, heartfelt, in key, and even a bit moving. If Daughtry winds up winning the whole shooting match, I’ll feel a little bit better about it after hearing him sing What A Wonderful World tonight, and he was singing.

Paris Bennett - All 3 judges were wowed by Paris tonight; but oddly, for the first time in four weeks, I was not. These Foolish Things is a very nice song, but was a perfectly bad song selection for Paris. On one level, the performance was letter-perfect, but on another it was sterile and too carefully delivered, as if she were singing for a lip-reading hearing-impaired audience. If justice prevails, votes will be low this week.

Taylor Hicks - I find that Taylor is very consistent at being inconsistent. He can be maddeningly mediocre some nights, and other times can effortlessly pull magic (to use Simon’s word) out of a hat. Tonight was more like one of the latter. Sam Cooke's You Send Me is a sublime song, but not one I had high hopes for as a vocal showcase — but Taylor proved me wrong. The performance was uncharacteristically relaxed, and on the money — and was thankfully garnished by an upbeat and surprising Taylorhixter-ized finale.

Elliott Yamin - It’s tough to find new ways to say this: Elliott is a singer’s singer, and is a pure pleasure to listen to. No surprise that he delivered a spot-on version of It Had to Be You. El was relaxed, smiling, emoting, and just plain looking good, which makes Simon’s “no personality” comment very puzzling. Elliott is one of the best reasons to watch this show every week. He needs to stay, dammit.

Kellie Pickler - It’s no surprise that this entire genre, and Kellie’s selection of the fabulous song Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered would cause problems for Ms. Suds in a Bucket. I was going to give her credit for a certain vulnerable vocal quality that I could ultimately report saved her painfully unsteady performance, but she managed to mangle the song so badly by the end that I have nothing charitable left to say. In fact, I’m quite peeved that she charmed herself out of hot water before the judges, with the infamous KP “Shucks & Shazam” routine, getting off the hook with nothing more than a couple of compliments on her wardrobe. And that doesn’t strike me as fair. Fair, at minimum, would be Kellie in the bottom 3 this week. Dang right.

Ace Young - Instead of dwelling on the fact that he resembled a very tall used car-selling schoolmarm in drag, I'm really going to go out on a limb here. Another fantastic song selection was made on the show tonight with That’s All, which suited Ace’s chops to a tee, causing him to actually remind us that yes, he does indeed have a singing voice. Vocally, he actually reminded me of jazz singer Kenny Rankin, and I consider that to be a great compliment. Ace may be able to stay out of trouble this week, and deserves to, judged on tonight's performance.

Kat McPhee - So, you're watching (or more likely re-watching) this particular performance on tape, sometime after the show? Go ahead, sit back; pour yourself a beverage. Hit the mute button on the remote if you like. You know in your heart of hearts that it’s all golden, and, um, you are so correct. Just keep your eyes glued to that screen. Drink in those gratuitous extreme close-ups. Get a load of those “somebody that I’m longing to see” eyes. Lose yourself in those “I’m a little lamb lost in the woods” lips. Kat has the power to coax ridiculous levels of hyperbole out of Simon, who proclaimed her to be vastly superior to the rest of the bunch. On the other hand, sometimes the planets & stars align, and hyperbole and reality perfectly coincide. Welcome to American McPheever.
Er, Ryan’s back. You can un-mute the sound now.