American Idol Review - 4/29/08 Neil Diamond songs

So, here we are with another week of American Idol.  This week, they had to choose 2 Neil Diamond songs to sing.  They each did one, then they had a review by the judges.. a quick one.. and then they each did their second song.   Jason got to go first.. that ever so dangerous first-up position..

Jason sang - Forever in blue jeans.. perfect song choice   I was really looking forward to hearing him do Neil Diamond, so I guess I was glad he got to stick around one more week, and i was..umm..not really  disappointed. It was nice.  He put his reggae spin on it, and made it kinda funky and  I really loved it..  and that smile at the end.. killer..  it would have been interesting, too, to hear what Carly did with Neil Diamond songs.. but, we 'll just never know. 

September Morn .. so glad to hear this one, one of my absolute favorite Niel Diamond songs.  Gawd he's purty!!  LOL   again with the breathing from him.. but it was a very sweet..and sexy (to me) performance.. got me all goosebumpy. LOL  Was it all it could have been.. or, more to the point, was it Idol quality.. no, not so much..but I still enjoyed the heck out of it. 

Brooke White - I'm a Believer.. this is a Monkee's song to me, but I guess we'll allow it  .. she did well on it.. I liked it, she was really jammin' and getting into it toward the end.. but I wasn't blown away, and at this point, she needs to be doing some blowing people away.  She had a few iffy moments, started out sorta just okay, but then she got it up for the song and pulled it off okay.  I do still like her..but I think her days are numbered.   This could be her week. 

I Am.. I Said.. another Neil favorite of mine.. a much better performance than her first one. This was a good choice for her, and her playing the piano was a great choice too, at least I thought so, and the judges agreed.  She looked like she was about to cry during the judging .. but they loved it.  I really did enjoy this one from her, and it showed more who she is.  Agaiin, as with Jason, I'm not sure it could be called an Idol-worthy performance, but it was a big improvement over some of her recent weeks.

David Cook   I'm Alive.. not one of the most well-known Neil Diamond songs, and  well, i could go on and on about how he rocked the song.. but I won't .. It's David  Cook's normal fabulous performance . ::insert gushing here::  but.. just because I loved it, doesn't mean everyone did..  I don't know that it was all it could have been, but it was really good.  I actually expected a litle more, but it was still a fabulous David Cook performance. 

All I really need.is You.-  I don't know this song.. hmm.. but he was good.. he had that rocker thing .. and the guitar.. I liked this one a lot better than the first one.  it was.. to quote Simon "blazing".. he is in no danger of leacving any time soon.. and Paula just crowned him the next Idol, so I guess he's feeling really good about himself tonight.  lol

David A.  His first song was Sweet Caroline..he tried to make Sweet Carolne more contemporary and pop ballad-ey..and only sorta succeeded .. he gave it a kinda cool vibe, which is a good thing in a way, but I guess, being older and growing up on Neil Diamond, I just love the original the way it was written.  He sang it really well.. all the teeny boppers loved it .. I guess it was a great performance,  I can't say anything bad about it, so I gotta give the boy his props.

America - He put his little "boy band" spin on this one too.. changed the arrangement .. predictable, but it really worked.  It was very good. . I liked the arrangement a lot, the judges loved it, and again the teeney boppers were wetting themselves over it..  David, as expected, did very well for himself, and will still be here next week, I'm absolutely sure.. although, I've been sure before and been wrong.

Sayesha   Hello Again.. I'm so glad someone did this song .. she sang the song beautifully.. I originally had pegged her as the weakest link, even though she has a beautiful voice, and I would have sent her packing out of indifference a couple times already, but the more I see of her, the more she grows on me.  I almost like her more than Brooke and Jason, here lately.  She sang this song sweetly and with emotion.  Some may not like her because she has a Whitney Houston-ish vibe, and she's not ..I don't know what she's not..but she's missing something, but I think she just gets better each week.  She's still not gonna win.. and this may be her week, because she doesn't have the fan base of Brooke or Jason.. but I don't think it would be a wrong choice if she outlasted either Brooke or Jason. 

 Thank the Lord for the Nighttime - a very upbeat, happy song, and she really got into it and performed well.. she is very Whitney-ish here again..and she has a very theatrical style.  I wasn't as impressed with this song. I think it was the wrong choice for her.  She sounded great, but maybe it could have been better.   we'll see how much people listen to Simon when the votes come in.. people may feel sorry for her because of what he said and want her to stay, so him saying she may be in trouble might have helped her...or maybe people don't care enough, and they'll say,"ya know, Simon is right, the girl's gotta go", and she'll get booted.   It will be interesting to see.   We have to remember that, now that Carly is gone, someone is gonna get her fans.. I'm sure David Cook and David A will take their shares of them, but some will spill over to the others.. not that it matters.

Unless I miss my guess, David A.  has the teeny-boppers and some of the older folks giving him love every week, but a lot don't like him too.. so there is, a very, very, very slight, very remote chance that one of the other 3 could snake him.  They won't win...but they could oust David A.  That would crack me up.   David Cook has fans across the board, most people .or at least the people with hearing intact who aren't voting with their hormones, are probably aware by now that David Cook is going to .. or at least SHOULD be going to win the whole enchilada.  So, Brooke, Sayesha, and Jason will take turns going bye-bye over the next few weeks. It's just a question of who goes first.

Can we talk about the judges?  

Paula.. OMG!!  what is she smoking.. ???  I was so confused, when she started talking about their second songs.. I had to stop and think..did I miss something? did they sing two and I somehow spaced?  or are we not going to see the second song, are they in a time crunch or something and we'll have to take the judges word for it?  LOL  that was seriously messed up.  She needs to stop drinking her dinner before the show.

Simon was just mean during the first review..wow.. he was harsh.. but as usual, he was kinda right-on.. Not in his assessments of their performances.. he was way harsh, but he is completely right about the fact that they all really need to step it up, at this point in the game.  They are all good, and performing well most of the time, but we should be seeing much more from most of them by now.  They don't have time for "pretty good" or mediocre performances.. it's down to the wire.. it's go time.  Even though David Cook will probably win, so it really doesn't matter on the one hand, for the other 4, there is that slight 1 in a million chance that one of the bottom 3 could do as I said and actually manage to beat out David A for second place.   Winning America Idol is awesome, but runner up doesn't suck either.