Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine American Idol

I got home late so the first I saw was Paris. She's okay, but I left the room to turn on the computer. I guess I wasn't enthralled.

Next was Chris - he's mezmerizing. I agree with Lash and LL. He's the best singer I've seen ever on AI - in fact he's the best damn singer I've seen on tv in years in anything. The guy's a star and I'm buying all his records. I absolutely loved his version of Walk the Line.

Then there was Katherine. I couldn't get over how flawlessly beautiful her face is. She's like a young Catherine Zeta Jones. She sang really well, but had the bad luck of coming after Chris.

Taylor bored me. I'm over the guy.

The shows still on. I'm multi-tasking. Will post my comments on the rest later.

Lisa was pretty bad. Her timing seemed off. And she stayed in her mid register. "Why do Fools Fall in Love" just begs the singer to soar into her upper register. Very disappointing.

Kevin was painful. I had to leave the room. He wouldn't have made my highschool's glee club with that performance.

Elliot was okay, nothing special.

Kellie was, like Chris, true to herself. Good job. Not a great voice, but a really good performance.

Ace - the boy band voice is just not my taste. But I guess he was good if you like that style.

In the clips at the end, I thought Mandissa was good and am sorry I missed her performance. I also like Bucky -- what can I say?

But seeing Chris again gave me chills. He's brilliant and if there is a God in heaven, he will win American Idol, break his contract, and make incredible cds.

My review, least favorite to most favorite...

11. Lisa. Even though I've liked her all along, I just didn't find this performance to be very special. There was nothing wrong with it, but nothing that sparkled.

10. Bucky. I'm not a fan of his and this performance didn't help. Seriously, if he did something really cool, I'd compliment it.

9. Taylor. I've liked him better than this before, but this performance just didn't work for me. I hated what he was wearing and the song was fun but had no POP.

8. Ace. He did well. I like the song a lot and I admired his version. Just no zing, I guess.

7. Kevin. Good vocals and he didn't do anything annoying. I think maybe I should rate him lower than others, but for some reason, I think 7 of 11 is where I'd really place him, tonight.

6. Elliott. He did a great job, but somehow the song didn't grab me a much as others.

5. Paris. LOVE "Fever"! She did a great version of it!

4. Katherine. Looked really great. Did a great song.

3. Kellie. Great song! She did it really well. She was still herself within such a major number.

2. Mandisa. She looked great and did an amazing job on the song.

1. Chris. I had been wondering what he would do ever since I heard that it was 50's week. He picked an awesome song and had it arranged *perfectly* for himself. That is just pure talent and skill. That's why he's #1 on my list.

I love the songs of the 50's so really, the show was very entertaining for me. I wonder if my bottom three will be the actual bottom three, but you just never know....

There's a mini-furor going on at AIByRequest that Chris' arrangement of "Walk the Line" isn't original at all but was instead copied from LIVE's cover of it (Live was a rock band that had a couple of good 90s hits like "I Alone" and "Lightning Crashes").

I don't know if this is true or not, anybody heard the Live version?

I thought LIVE was a great band. I think Chris would be great at singing one of their songs. I don't care if he copied from them (I don't know if he did) but it might be cool if he admitted it.

LIVE did do a version of this on their Awake album that came out in 2004. I haven't heard their's but I could see it being similar. I thought Chris' performance sounded like it was LIVE or could fit their style. If he did use their arrangement it would be nice to acknowledge it. Maybe it'll come up tonight.

Kevin must go. He's getting annoying.

And I had a blast with Taylor's song. I told my wife if he ever releases an album we should get it. Taylor's awkwardness would get on my nerves if I saw him perform live for a whole night, but in small doses, I like it. It's quirky, unique, and all him! However, it's also why I'd buy his album rather than see him live.

But Chris was by far the best performance IMHO (whether he adapted the song on his own, or sang LIVE's rendition...it was still solid gold! Oh, sorry, wrong singing show.

AArrrggg!! I missed it!
)@#!!!%@#%&^^$$$#@!!!!!!!

Taylor's definitely my favorite in this lineup.

Didn't disagree with tonight's exit, though it would have fit a little better after last week's "performance".

I just read the spoilers on the Zap2It boards so I know the result, though the show hasn't aired out here yet. I must say I'm relieved. It was long overdue for this singer to exit. Now the real competition begins and I don't care what happens, just as long as Chris wins.

I checked out Live's version (or a snippet of it at least) at the iTunes store. Probably that is Chris' version - BUT CHRIS IS MUCH BETTER!!! Can you tell I'm a total Chris fan. I like him more even than I like Nadia last year (and that was a lot).

Anyone think the little romance or hope for romance that Katherine alluded to last night was Ace?

I don't care for how AI presented Chris' arrangement of "Walk the Line" to be *his* idea though, that isn't fair to LIVE, a band that hit it big during the mid-90s grunge/rock (though they weren't especially grungy) craze.

I will definitely be checking out Live's version.

Just don't blame Chris. He never said it was his arrangement. Makes me wonder if this was a way for Idol to create some controversy for the perceived front runner early on.

Oh absolutely I don't blame Chris. Nothing can take away from that performance.

I just downloaded Live's version from Rhapsody. It is the same arrangement but Chris' style was still way different and just as good, if not better, than their's. And the song, while on a Live album was a studio recording. I don't understand why it didn't get a release. Quite good.

I don't mean to be nasty, but Barry Manilow just kinda bugs me. I know all the Fanilows are mad for him, but ....urg. Classic cheesy songs, but ...urg.

Appropriate elimination. I was surprised because he seemed to have lots of fans (for some reason), but it seemed right. Like now everyone left really is worthy.

OK, just quick ones this week. Much better theme this week, although I would quite like to have seen what they'd have all done with actual Manilow songs rather than just having him as their arranger. IMHO he's a much better writer than Stevie Wonder, but there we go. Anyhoo...

Mandisa: i was on the phone to my Mum when she was one so I was only half listening to her but she was pretty darn good. The problem I have with Mandisa at the moment is that she is so damn good that when she does does a very good performance even though it's a mile ahead of everyone else it's ever so slightly disappointing because you want her to be fantastic. She needs to do something that really makes her stand out.

Bucky: Huyuktb bhu Oh Boy! Ube ksbeku fbh s seb Oh Boy! I swear he gets more inteligable each week. Plus he simply just not a great singer. He can hold a tune, just, but he's not a performer and he's not even vaguely on a par with some fo teh other singers in teh contest. Fully deserved to be in the bottom three.

Paris: This week should have been a chance for her to really shine, especially on something like Fever, but she didn't. She was off key a fair amount and just seemed bit flat performance-wise. I'm a bit over Paris now i think, which is a shame because in the auditions she was fantastic.

Chris: He was very good but really I don't think he was as fantastic as others are making out. Sure he was one of the top performers but it just didn't quite do it for me. Maybe it's the same thing as Mandisa. I want him to be spectacular so when he's just very good he seems... not so good, if you know what I mean. He's still one of my picks for the final three though.

Katharine. OK, first off I have to say that it was a little Broadway, but I think that was the nature of the song as much as anything else. That being said Katharine was my favourite of the ngiht. The girl is absolutely effortless, knows exactly how to work the stage, the audience and the camera and looked utterly gorgeous. She isn't as great a techincal singer as Mandisa but she is quickly becoming my favourite by far. She's really going to have to screw up to make me not like her. Simon was right, last week she became a star. It was the same kind of thing as Fantasia doing 'What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?'. It was that kind of performance where someone who has just been really good makes you sit up and think 'yep, that's a star'.

Taylor: Not a good song at all. It was just borign and didn't go anywhere. he sang it well and he always looks like he's having a great time but once we lose a few more of the weaker performers he's going to be in trouble unless he can pull something incredible out of the bag.

Lisa: Not bad but not great. I like Lisa but she's just a bit forgettable unfortunately. That being said I think this week I actually prefered her to Paris but I wasn't surprised she was in the bottom three.

Kevin: NOt good. Not awful, but certainly the weakest performance of the night. The right person went I think.

Elliott: Like Lisa and Paris, not bad but not really good enough either. I want to like Elliott (even if he does look like Spongebob Squarepants) but he's not done anything the last few weeks to wow me. I think he might go earlier than he maybe deserves to. I did like his honesty about meeting Barry though. That was nice to see.

Kellie: I just don't get her. Her cute dim act is just irritating now and her singing voice just isn't good enough. Not a bad song and not an awful performance but I think she should go now. Unfortunately she's trading on her personality and I think that'll carry her farther than she strictly deserves to.

Ace: Didn't se ehim because we were watching a programme about the 1948 Olympics but I can imagine that we chose the better thing to watch. I just don't like him and think he's another one just trading on his personality and looks.

So all in all a good week, but apart from Katharine no-one really made me sit up and pay attention. I think the problem is the remaining group are all fairly consistently good (tyo varying degrees) but no-one has really pulled ahead of the pack in the way that Fantasia did. Chris, Madisa and Katharine should be shoe-ins for the final three but it could still go any way really.

hmmmm... By far my least favorite episode of AI this season. The theme was "Songs of the 21st century".

NO one blew me away tonight.

I agreed with Simon about Mandisa and Chris' performances being self-indulgent, and in fact thought Chris was awful tonight. I enjoyed Mandisa a bit more. Notable was the Ryan/Chris shout-out to Live for Chris' performance last week. That *needed* to happeen.

Ace and Chris were my least favorites tonight.

Lisa, Kellie and Katharine were just okay to semi-good.

I agreed with Paula that Taylor needed to give the type of performance he gave tonight, and I enjoyed it well enough.

My favorites were the final 3. Bucky brought a smile to my face, I actually thought Paris was probably the best tonight and Elliott was really good.

From AIByRequest...

Chris' wife posts in her blog that Chris did indeed credit LIVE last week, but that it was edited out, and he was very upset that people thought he had taken credit for other musicians' work...

Ace's apparent nervousness tonight was pointed out...

Elliott's fudging-up of his lyrics tonight (I *knew* he had done so, right at the beginning of the song!!) was pointed out...

The fact that none of the judges mentioned Kelly Clarkson by name was pointed out...

I liked Ace, Taylor, and Bucky tonight. I thought Chris was true to himself, but I didn't like the song. I didn't like anybody else. Gotta agree with Lash, this was a bad night. The judges liked Paris and Eliot. I hated both performances - maybe because I hated the songs. Although I like Katherine a lot, I thought she screeched tonight. I don't know who is going home. It could be anybody after tonight.

I didn't see the show (kids forgot to tape it!), but I've listened to the mp3's.

I found it nearly impossible to not compare the songs to either the original version or other covers, that is, the songs I knew.

My opinions on worst to best....

Lisa. Sorry, Kelly Clarkson is a both a powerhouse *and* an emotional storyteller. Lisa didn't come anywhere close.

Katherine. Ditto regarding Christina Aguilera.

(I *love* both of the above songs, so it was probably impossible for me to like anyone else singing them.)

Elliott. Bo did that song REALLY well last season, and the original is great. I liked the kinda funky musical interpretation, but even Elliott's great voice didn't sell this one.

Ace. Not even close to the original. And he TOTALLY should have used the "best soy latte that you ever had" line in his performance. It's the standout lyric in that song, it's SO 21st century. I'm kinda kidding, but kinda not.

Kellie. I don't know this song, but it was really country. She was a tad pitchy, but it was pretty fun, overall.

Bucky. This song was the perfect choice for him. It sounded...legit. I've never rated him this high, I don't think.

Mandisa. I could tell that she was really into it, but it did sound like a lot of shouting.

Chris. He sounded a little pitchy, too, but it was a very "Chris" performance, meaning really rock, really solid.

Paris was very brave to take on Beyonce, and she nailed it!!! I thought she sounded great!

TAYLOR!! For the first time, he's my #1 choice! To be honest, it's probably because I don't know the song and it was really good and he did it really well. Also, I wonder if not having to actually see him might have been part of this.

Who did the original recordings of the songs by Chris, Mandisa, Kellie and Taylor? I know all the rest....