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OLTL Discussion Group
THEME ~~The Neil Diamond Songbook
Did I mention that I LOVE Neil Diamond?!! He's right up there with my Barry and Tony!
''Neil Diamond , 67, began writing songs about the time Simon was born!! His catalog is richer and more varied than most, from the folk rock of ''Cherry, Cherry'' to the anthem rock of ''I Am I Said'' to his '80s work. How will Neil's songs, which have been covered by Johnny Cash, The Monkees and Barbra Streisand, suit the final five? His catalog is a wealth of riches.''
Diamond could be an Idol's best friend or worst enemy. We'll soon find out. We see him greet each contestant. He encourages each to bring their own ''thing'' to his songs. However, will they listen to him??? Each singer will perform 2 songs with the judges withholding comments until both songs have been performed.. The best to all the performers tonight.
ROUND 1
Jason Castro - ''Forever In Blue Jeans'' - He's relaxed, happy, and interprets the song well. However, he chooses to play it safe again, taking no chances. Fun and pleasant performance.
David Cook -''I'm Alive'' - This is a lesser known song and Neil is impressed with him. He's doing Neil proud and sounds a bit like him. Good vocal and interpretation.
Brooke White - ''I'm A Believer'' - She's finally out of her comfort zone. We are seeing a very different Brooke. She's not weepy or nervous but smiling and happy while playing her guitar.
David Archuleta -''Sweet Caroline'' - Neil calls him a kind of prodigy. He changes the song up a bit with his usual 'runs', the first singer of the night to do so. ''Caroline'' is OK, nothing special.
Syesha Mercado - ''Hello Again'' - Neil thinks she does a wonderful job with her song choices. She brings a lot of feeling to the song, and we finally hear a more restrained Syesha.
Ryan's Spontaneous Idea~~an instant review by all the judges. We're not waiting until the end, after all. The judges are caught off guard. Confusing critiques follow:
Randy - Yada, yada, yada..(I've completely missed what he said)
Paula - The poor woman is commenting on TWO performances but we've only seen ONE!!!!
Simon - He expected more from everyone, even David A
NOTE: I didn't tape this so you're getting what I'm able to grab from this RUSHED MESS. This show never learns. To make matters worse, Neil's songs are being cut to shreds to fit 10 of them into one hour.
ROUND 2
Jason Castro - ''September Morn'' - It's OK. At least he isn't gasping for air this week. He plays it safe.
Randy - OK
Paula - safe
Simon - forgettable
David Cook -''All I Ever Really Need Is You'' - He changed it up and made it his own but I preferred ''I'm Alive''.
Randy - rocked the house
Paula - pulled it of
Simon - brilliant & made it his own
Brooke White - ''I Am I Said'' - Sitting at the piano she's singing with feeling but the old Brooke is back, the nervous one. She should have never chosen this song.
Randy - nice job
Paula - showed vulnerability
Simon - much better than the 1st song
David Archuleta -''America'' - He's singing his usual power ballad with a few 'runs' to make it his own. Same old, same old. The vocal is much better than ''Caroline''.
Randy - good
Paula - perfect song for him
Simon - clever song choice
Syesha Mercado - ''Thank The Lord For The Night Time'' - She is power singing again. However, her vocal is strong. I much preferred ''Hello Again''.
Randy - liked it
Paula - showed off her pop voice
Simon - good actress singer
COMMENTS~~ Neil need not worry about losing his career. I apologize for this disjointed recap, but you work with what you're given. This show was an insult to Neil Diamond who had his songs edited beyond belief to fit a ONE HOUR time slot. What a ''throw-a-way'' night! You cannot sing 10 songs in one hour and have them critiqued properly in that time frame. WHY THE RUSH this season? I don't know about you, but I feel as though I've wasted an hour of my time and it's due to the production values of this pathetic show, not necessarily the contestants and their usual dubious song choices! No wonder why their ratings are down!!! The end of this season cannot come soon enough.
RESULTS~~ Wednesday at 9:00 EDT
Special thanks to Linda for posting for me last week and to those who wished me better health. Everything was / is much appreciated.
First Song
Jason--Much better than last week but still doesn't have that edge that I wanted to hear on this song. I kept wanting it to go someplace but it didn't.
David C.--I think that was his best performance! Fantastic! Got the edge of Neil in that song yet it was all David. Ryan--Did not like the little exchange between them. They could have cut that to give someone more time on their song.
Brooke--She had fun with it. She looked more relaxed. I liked it but not sure if it was right for her. Maybe I'm too used to hearing the Monkees sing it, LOL!
David A.--He sang it well but he made it into a ballad, which I didn't care for. It seems he doesn't know how to clip his words. Randy--"da Bomb"? I don't think so.
Syesha--Good job. Very pretty.
Second Song
Jason--It was just okay. Nothing special.
David C.--Beautiful. It was so different from the other song but did a great job.
Brooke--I liked this much better but there is still something missing. Maybe because I'm used to a man singing the song. This one just ended short. Here's where the extra time from that exchange between Ryan and David C. could have gone.
David A.--It was better than the first song but I didn't get that enthused spirit. His ending notes were good.
Syesha--Loved it! She is really showing us what she is about.
Judges
Paula--I think she just got confused because of the way this was done. They were supposed to give critiques on two songs at once. Probably to save time either all of the judges or at least Paula saw the dress rehearsal so she had something down ahead of time. She seemed coherent to me so I don't think that was the problem. Did not like her crowning David C. the winner when just last week she and Randy especially declared David A. the winner. They should not do this. It is totally unfair to the rest of the contestants. Then they wonder why the others don't give it their all. Simon--He didn't like the idea of taking notes and I agree with him that it was "a strange night".
COMMENTS: It definitely was Speed Idol last night. Now tonight for the Results show when we want it to go faster, we will have all this extra stuff when it should only be a half hour show, especially now that they are down to only 5. I think Nigel is getting too mixed up trying to run this show and getting SYTYCD ready to start in just a couple of weeks. Does anyone else here think he treats that show a lot better simply because he is a judge?
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I posted the link up on my Idol News of 4/28/08 about what happened last night with Paula. There are some other interesting things about Idol in it too. You can go up there to read.
I have another link that I posted with it that has an interview with Paula on Ryan's radio show this morning telling what exactly happened. Again, Ryan was just going along with what Nigel told him to do. It was all decided while Syesha was singing her first song. Ryan was told to go out and have the judges do a quick critique. Paula got mixed up because the judges were only told to do two songs at one time. She just happened to be in the studio when Jason was singing at dress rehearsal and wrote down some notes that she was referring to last night because they really didn't have time to take notes during the show. Simon hated the idea also and stopped taking notes. The whole thing was a big mess.
The theme for next week's show is also up. Check out the post up on the Idol News to see what it is. It contains more current songs.
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And then, loopy Paula again! What's in those glasses on the judges table anyway! She's horrible as a judge. For the first time in AI history I am seriously losing interest and most of that is because of Randy, Paula and Ryan.
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"I hope everyone enjoyed tonight’s edition of “Speed Idol”. I didn’t exactly…"
That quote was from the site that has the video clips - Season 7 Top 5 Performance - Recap
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http://mjsbigblog.com/season-7-top-5-performance-recap.htm
and an eventual written recap (usually by the next day), but the videos are up now if anyone missed the show or would like to see a performance over again. On the purple line to click you have two spots. The left side is for just the song but if you click on the right side that says, "w/Neil Diamond comments", you will get the mentoring session with ND and the contestant and then their song afterwards. That it just for the first five songs. The second five, only the song is listed since there was only one session shown with Neil.
To see the clip of the judges remarks for the first set of songs, click on the words (again in purple), "Paula is wasted" - not very nice but that's because she was confused with answering tonight. I really can't blame Paula. She sounded very coherent tonight. I think it was because this thing was rushed through. Going to two songs, the show tonight should have been expanded to an hour and a half to give them more time in between to critique the performance and give the kids a chance to sing the song. It sure sounded like the songs were cut short tonight, more than usual. Anyway, to see these remarks, in case you missed them or didn't quite hear them because it was done so fast, click on that part about Paula and you will get the video of those remarks.
The critiques of the second song are shown after each second song.
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TV-Show-Blog/American-Idol/Episode-Recap-Perform/800038585
I agree, this was "Speed Idol"!
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David Cook...I thought it was wise of him to do 2 songs that weren't hits for Neil, because he sounds a lot like him already. However, I wish it hadn't been those 2 songs. The first one was good, but the second one reminded me of why I didn't care for him the first few weeks.
Brooke...She bores me. I know Neil told her to change the New York City line to Arizona, but it didn't make sense when she sang about 2 shores and it didn't fit the music the second time she sang it.
David A...I usually like him, but not so much this week. I guess I have a problem with other male voices singing Neil, and I really didn't like AMERICA. There really isn't much "song" there. The song has a great arrangement, and it's fun to see Neil do it in person, but it wouldn't be my choice in a singing competition.
Syesha...I certainly don't think she should be the one to go this week. She's growing on me, but there's still something very "beauty pagent" about her when she walks around and sings.
Since Brooke is the one on the vote for the worst site, I think Jason is the one going.
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I'm so angry. What's with AI?? They run the kids through the show like cattle, sing a few bars of ND songs, move on to the next, Ryan ''speed talks'', critiques are to be held off until after the 2nd performance and then Ryan gets all the kids on stage and tries to have the judges do a real fast critique of everyone after ONE song, Paula is so confused she's recapping 2 songs each. blah, blah, blah. This is ridiculous tripe and is NOT entertainment. No wonder the kids are tense.
What kind of show was THAT tonight???? Then, they shredded Neil's songs all to pieces. Do you think they allotted a minute to each song??? I don't want to hear a 'segment' of a song. I want to hear the SONG. Can things get any worse??? Obviously, they can!! Frankly, I don't care who leaves. This is no singing contest and it's not even a popularity contest anymore. Someone needs to reign in Ryan and this show DOES need more time if they do 8 or more songs. I've had it. Boo to Nigel. He should be fired!
I loved Jason's rendition of Forever in Blue Jeans, but his September Morn was just okay I thought. However, I really like this kid.
David Cook's I'm Alive was better than his second song choice, but I thought it was his weakest night. I still think he has NO competition for winning the thing though!!
I really didn't care for Brooke's I'm a Believer. Thought she did better with I Am, I Said, but I don't think her vocals are that great.
David A did much better on America than Sweet Caroline imo. And in fact this HUGE Neil Diamond fan is not much of a fan of that song even when Neil sings it.
Syesha - GO figure! I thought her version of Hello Again was the best vocal she has ever done AND the best of the night! Loved it! She has really come to play the last few weeks. Don't think she'll win, but she deserves to stay at least another week. Her second song Thank the Lord for the Nighttime wasn't my fav, but she performed it pretty well I thought.
I first laughed at Paula, but then felt sorry for her. They watch the rehearsals, so she got all confused. Did you notice how Randy (and even moreso Simon) came to her rescue.
I would personally send Brooke home next. I like her, but I like Jason better. He certainly isn't a great singer, but I love the feeling he puts into his songs. He should stay on the basis of his rendition of Hallelujah. LOL Kidding!
Thank you for the recap songbird. At least they didn't butcher Neil's music as much as I was afraid they would. They didn't do too badly. :-)
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I love Neil, too! What a pleasure seeing his clips, history and listening to him mentor.
I was back and forth so I didn't see everyone. I saw all their second performances but only a few firsts.
How difficult was it for Paula to remember that at the halfway mark they'd only sung one song? I assume she was confused either by the clips with Neil or because she saw rehearsals but that is one of those moments that will get her the cover of every rag out there. Then she really wasn't sure who her comments were to/for. Yep it was the first time they needed to write comments down but did she? I know the guys all read from a paper as did she but wow that was out there. It's moments like these that make me wonder how this show is still surviving OR more importantly why is she still here?
I liked David C. the best and felt Syesha did well. I didn't get the bare feet and was distracted by them. One song yes but when she was still barefoot for song #2 I wondered was it announced that someone stole her Jimmy Choos?
Jason gives nothing to his performances anymore. I'm tired of Brook and that chin action is annoying. Archuletta is a sweet kid but the same, the same, the same and I'm bored.
They should give the title to David C. now. JMVHO.
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I especially liked David Cook's choice of songs, and David A did a great job with Coming to AMERICA.
I think Jason will be a goner, unless his fanbase is bigger than I think it is. LOL!
I thought the Syesha (I know that's spelled wrong) did a fine job, I don't know why Simon said she might be going home tomorrow night. Boo Simon.
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