Citation :MUSIC REVIEW: American Idol
BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Jun 15, 2006
American Idol
Title: "Season 5 Encores"
Label: RCA
Rating: 2½
AMERICAN IDOL
This is what we learn from the top 12 "American Idol" contestants: Mandisa and Paris Bennett deserve formidable careers to match their robust pipes, Taylor Hicks' Michael McDonald impersonation is uncanny and Elliott Yamin will thrive once he gets in a studio.
Of course, we're also reminded of Ace Young's superficiality ("I can't wait to throw you a beanie from the stage!" he promises to fans all around the land in the liner notes) and are treated to his lightweight interpretation of George Michael's "Father Figure." But hey, he's pretty, so he's bound to have a career somewhere on the CW network.
Far more excruciating than Young are Bucky Covington ("Superstition") and Kellie Pickler ("Walkin' After Midnight"). That these two outlasted the infinitely more talented Mandisa is a travesty.
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Not that there is anything wrong with Covington injecting the Stevie Wonder classic with some country twang, but the guy just isn't a dynamic vocalist and sounds flat throughout the song. Pickler, meanwhile, attempts sultriness, but her voice is always either dipping too deep or reaching to screech.
Despite some obvious results (Kevin Covais, please spare us the love songs; Katharine McPhee, you're a pleasant singer, but don't even bother trying to sing Aretha; Melissa McGhee . . . who are you, again?), it's Lisa Tucker who is surprisingly great with her strong and saucy "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)." Chris Daughtry proves his rock mettle with Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive," but one suggestion for the fledgling rocker -- aping every nuance of the original is never wise.
As for Yamin, he and Hicks sound the most mature and comfortable, their ease apparent in their smooth deliveries -- Yamin with "Moody's Mood for Love" and Hicks with "Takin' It to the Streets."
Are they the best from this recently ended season? Well, America thought so about one of them. But even though personal preferences will always cloud reality, there is little argument -- Mandisa excluded -- that those who went the farthest deserved to be there.
source:
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