Hey, I posted my recap of last night’s show–with pictures here
The iTunes studio recordings are up. You can purchase by clicking the the banner here –>. You help support the site too if you click, so thanks in advance! My take on this week’s recordings:
- Syesha Mercado — “One Rock & Roll Too Many” - Not as fun without the visuals, but good. Does anyone notice there’s a line about smoking pot in this song? There is a giant glory note at the end that she didn’t perform live. I can hear Syesha on a Broadway cast recording right now.
- Jason Castro — “Memory” - Choo choo indeed. While I didn’t think Jason’s performance Tuesday night was a “trainwreck” it definitely had its problems. I don’t think the song choice was all that weird, either. In this studio version, Jason handles the melody deftly and is able to convey the sense of nostalgia and loss. There is a real nice use of his falsetto in spots. Ew. Hate the strings. I’m glad I downloaded this one.
- Brooke White — “You Must Love Me” - The recording gives a hint of what Brooke could have done during her live performance if she hadn’t freaked out. When Brooke is on, she’s sublime. While not one of her best performances, her vocals evoke a sweet vulnerability here. Nice.
- David Archuleta — “Think of Me” - A nice young boy sings a nice song. But somewhere within the syrupy harp and string accompaniment, the meaning of the song–goodbye and please remember me–gets lost.
- Carly Smithson — “Jesus Christ Superstar” - This recording sounds much better than it looked on TV without all the smiling and the shimmying. Somebody in comments thought she may have performed it the way she did in order not to piss off devout Christians. If so, Carly’s recording is certainly braver. It’s got some of the angry, urgent edge the live version lacked. Carly wails away, and it’s good.
- David Cook — “Music of the Night” - Oh wow. It’s the theatre boi in full bloom! The live version had a few rough edges. This studio version is so smooth– it’s David Cook goes pop classical. He does it very well, but it’s not my thing. However, like the performance, this recording has the potential to appeal to an audience of non-rock music lovers. A smart move at this stage of the game. Still, probably won’t have this recording in heavy rotation on my iPod.
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Well mrcritic here is my take on Archie’s performance from Tuesday night. Yyes he did an original arrangement, except that during this particular week it failed. Most people are not familiar enough with the original, so the new arrangement was entirely lost on them. Heck i’ve seen the POTO many many times, and granted it has been several years since, but I really couldn’t remember the original to save my life. And a radio hit….REALLY. WOW gotta find that station in my city that would play that cause I have lived here my entire life and can’t think of one station that would play that “Radio Friendly Classical Pop” song.
If you want to make an impact with rearranging a song on this show, you need to start with a popular song that everyone knows. Sing the hell out of it…then you can make an impact on the audience.
It would definitely play here in MY country. I know this type of music can appeal to A LOT of people.
“Think of Me” is the first darn song in the musical, I can’t believe you don’t remember it.
I’m not exaggerating though when I say that it’s among the best pop covers of an Andrew Lloyd Webber song and I’ve heard a lot of them. Hell, I even thought it IMPROVED on the original. It was sweeter, more emotional and frankly, more interesting.
I honestly felt like I was taking the longest elevator ride up to the penthouse when I heard Archie’s song. While I admire the effort put into rearranging the song, it lacked the luster of personality and experience and comfort with who he is as an artist. That’s probably because he still doesn’t know. It was a very safe, nice high-school-solo performance. And, I mean that in the nicest way possible.
mrcritic- It has probably been 10 years since I have seen POTO and quite frankly I don’t have Broadway hits humming on my iPod, so yes, I don’t really remember it. But the point i was trying to make is that it failed because it made no impact on the majority of the viewing audience because they are not familiar with the original, or like me, it has been so long since they have heard it, they can’t compare it. When you have to be told that you are rearranging a song before you sing it, it looses the shock value. Congrats for knowing the song as well as you do, unfortunately, most Americans are not as well versed in Broadway shows tunes as you.
I don’t know what country you live in, but in here in the States, Top 40/R&B/Country/classic rock stations are not going to be adding that song to their regular daily rotations, regardless of how well it may have been sung.
I like your blog because you seem to be objective and don’t do too much “bashing”! I agree with you about Jason’s studio version of “Memory” it is incredible. I wish he could have sounded like that live! I thought ALW was rude to him as was Randy. But that’s just me..I thought it was funny how they acted like it was weird he chose a song women usually sings when they had them sing Dolly Parton and Mariah Carey. Jason Castro is my fave!!
Excellent point and I concur with the last sentence. Amen!
Michael Crawford has recorded a version of “Memory”
Actually, I’m looking through a search I did in Rhapsody, and there are several versions here performed by males.
Barry Manilow, Michael Ball, Johnny Mathis too.
Of course, these are guys who wouldn’t be offended if you called them “old glamour-pusses” lol.
Barry Manilow did a version of Memory. I don’t care for it much, but I think it was quite popular in “my country.” ;)
This week was “sabotage Jason” week, so the little over-sight didn’t surprise me.
Barry Manilow recorded Memory and I bet that is where Jason heard it, ALW was wrong when he said only a woman with a big voice sang it before
ETA: I’m over ALW and moving on to Neil Diamond!
I thought it was funny how they acted like it was weird he chose a song women usually sings when they had them sing Dolly Parton and Mariah Carey. Jason Castro is my fave!!
EXCELLENT POINT AND SUPERSTAR WAS SUNG BY A MAN BY THE WAY
I am starting to feel sorry for David A - poor kid - Not ever my favorite but I have been watching this AI show since the beginning. FOX is a portion of my bread and butter and when people start feeling one person is bashed too much they get a lot of sympathy votes that take away from your faves. I dont want ANYONE getting so comfortable with this thinking David C is safe, I dont want to see him go!!! Or Jason
I loved Jason’s iTunes song. Actually, his was the only one I bought because his is the only one I’d want to listen to more than once. I can put his songs on repeat and enjoy the heck out of them.
I played the studio version of Memory for my sister (who didn’t see the live performance…and she usually likes Archuleta). She LOVED “Memory” and thought it fit Jason really well. In her exact words, “He captured the emotion of the song.”
You’re lucky, prime. My sister laughs at Jason’s version of Memory. Oh, well…she thinks Jason is pretty much a joke and that he looks like Jason Biggs…only she says JB is cuter. :s
Heh, that’s okay. My mom said that he would be a very pretty girl. lol
Your mom has a very interesting idea of what pretty is…. haha!
I read somewhere Jeff Buckley recorded a version of “Memory” and that’s probably where Jason heard it.
**snort**