MBADC American Idol
Armchair Quarterback 2006
American Idol, from
the perspective of someone who's booked artists at the national-level: who we like in the
competition, what works, what doesn't work, what contestants can do to improve
their chances of success, and advice you can apply to your own career.
Week Sixteen:
The Top 4 Sing Elvis Presley Songs
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Guests:
Tommy Mottola
Taylor Hicks: Taylor Hicks’ is a great singer, but his version of
“Jailhouse Rock” (1957) came off a little too cheesy. Being a classic, it’s
a tough song to pull off. As a song selection, it didn’t show off Taylor’s
vocal strengths to their best advantage, and the Bland Band’s arrangement of
it was just…C-level telethon bad. We’re with Simon Cowell on this one: Leave
“Jailhouse Rock” to the King. Tips for success: Pulling off an
up-tempo classic is always tough, and it rarely works. We’d have preferred
to hear Taylor sing a soulful Elvis ballad to show off his pipes, and “Can’t
Help Falling in Love” (with an updated arrangement) would have been perfect
for him.
Chris Daughtry: Chris Daughtry’s version of “Suspicious Minds” (1969)
was, in our opinion, a slide backwards and confirmed some of the fears we
had early in the competition about his song selection ability. The Elvis
sunglasses turned the performance into more of a parody circa Elvis:
The Way it Is and were a huge mistake that distracted from the
vocals. Performance-wise, Chris didn’t “Dig into it” as Tommy Mottola
suggested, and it just wasn’t powerful. At this point in the competition,
you have to make an impact, and this performance did not. Tips for
success: When singing a cover, never wear clothing similar to the
original artist’s. We’re supposed to focus on you and your performance, not
think of the original artist.
Elliott Yamin: Elliott Yamin’s version of “If I Can Dream” (1968) was,
in the words of our Webmaster, “God awful.” We liked the vocal
arrangement, but the delivery left something to be desired in that he was
off-pitch on the first verse. He recovered on the power notes, but overall
it was very Telethon. Tips for success: Deliver, deliver, deliver on
pitch.
Katharine McPhee: Katharine McPhee’s version of “Hound Dog” and “All
Shook Up” was a bit high school-revue-esque in terms of arrangement and
presentation. She also committed the mortal sin of forgetting the lyrics.
(How is it even possible to forget the lyrics to “Hound Dog” or “All Shook
Up?”) We liked the “All Shook Up” section, but the Elvis moves left us a
little cold, and we had to ask ourselves, “Would that performance be
competitive on today’s charts? Would people pay $150 to $250 per ticket to
see that?” The answer is no. Tips for success: If you’re such a
non-rocker that you don’t know the words to two easy Elvis’ classics, that’s
your clue to do a ballad instead. “Love Me Tender” would have been perfect
for her style and range.
Taylor Hicks: Taylor Hicks’ version of “In the Ghetto” (1969) was an
excellent song choice for him, as well as an excellent vocal arrangement for
his voice. Nerves got to him a bit, but finally we can hear Taylor’s voice.
Thank you, Tommy Mottola, for reigning him in. Randy Jackson’s comments were
right on. Tips for success: Good song selection, and knowing when to
reign in your power to highlight the song and when to unleash it, can make
for a great performance.
Chris Daughtry: Chris Daughtry’s version of “A Little Less Conversation”
(1968) took too long to get into the power vocal, and we kept wishing he’d
get to it sooner. Until he did, it was too subdued and didn’t highlight the
best qualities of Chris’s voice…and we were bored. As to Chris’s comment
that “That’s how the song was written and I wanted to stay true to
Elvis”…The carelessness of that comment lost Chris our vote tonight. Change
it up! You’re not Elvis! Tips for success: Chris’s song should have
been “One Night with You” from that same 1968 Comeback Special. It’s
perfect for Chris’s range, style, and power notes, and is easy to update in
terms of arrangement. Had Chris done this song, it would have blown every
other performance out of the water.
Elliott Yamin: Elliott Yamin’s version of “Trouble” (1958) had an
excellent vocal, but we just didn’t buy it. Why? Because during the
performance, Elliott looked anything but full of trouble and misery.
The song was completely wrong for his image. Ya gotta make us believe it
people. Tips for success: Chris should have done “Trouble” and
Elliott needs a song that fits his image. Smiling during a painful lyric
just doesn’t work, no matter how well you hit the actual notes.
Katharine McPhee: “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (1961) is the perfect
song for Katharine McPhee, but the arrangement was a little too big for her,
so she was pitchy. On Katharine’s version, the arrangement was too slow,
and the range was too big. Simon Cowell put it exactly right: “Too much.”
Tips for success: The Linda Ronstadt arrangement from the 1970’s would
have worked much better for Katharine.
We voted for: No one. Taylor was better than Chris tonight, but he
doesn’t strike us as being marketable enough to be the next American Idol.
Hopefully, Chris will get his act together.
Ryan Seacrest Smart Quip of the Night: None. But as for his sexist
question to Katharine McPhee during her interview portion (“We have a boys’
club here tonight, it’s Elvis themed. Were you nervous about that?”)…Singing
rock and roll (or Elvis songs) has nothing to do with being male or
female. Before Elvis, “Hound Dog” was made popular by Big Mama Thornton…and
Pink, Linda Ronstadt, and Pat Benatar have all done great live, hard rocking
versions of various Elvis songs. We like Ryan a lot, but asking such a
ridiculous, sexist question made him sound like the founder of the
“Old Boys’ Club”…circa 1956. Not cool.
American Idol
Armchair Quarterback
The MBADC American Idol Armchair Quarterback is intended as commentary and
is not affiliated with Fox Television, American Idol, or its producers or
judges in any way. Tips should be taken as a suggestion only and are not
intended as a substitute for qualified vocal coaching or artist management.
The official American Idol website is
http://www.americanidol.com.
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