Category: CD Reviews (Page 263 of 399)

American Idol: California Dreamin’

Last night “American Idol” gave me a gift. They gave me an hour of my life, since the show was only one hour long instead of the agonizing two hours as it was both nights last week. What’s more, I get another one-hour episode tonight. I mean, that’s a whole hour to eat, sleep, watch something else, or practice being me.

And since the auditions were held in San Diego, the contestants heading to Hollywood would have to only drive a few hours north for the next round. Okay, on with those auditions, and we’ll start with the freaks again:

Some dude named Marat was wearing a puffy white shirt, ala Jerry Seinfeld in the “I don’t wanna be a pirate” episode. He was awful, and since the show was just one hour, they followed that up with a medley of freaks and crap.

Then there was Valerie, who admitted her own idol was Mariah Carey. Uh-oh. Anyway, Val was all breath and technique and had no real voice of her own. Simon said she sounded like Mariah Carey after the CD had been left out in the sun for a year. Randy said it was a terrible audition but that beneath all the technique, there was actually some tone. The best part? Valerie realized that she would be in the “rejects” portion of the show. You got that right!

This was followed by a duo of some dude wearing a sombrero, and a mime. The gimmicks Continue reading »

Less Talk, More Music: Webb Wilder on “The Pat Sajak Show”

Truth be told, the clip I really wanted to show from Pat Sajak’s short-lived late-night talk show was from when Squeeze appeared to promote their Frank album, but, alas, it’s nowhere to be found on YouTube. (I’ve actually got it on a VHS tape; maybe one of these days I’ll upload it myself.) Still, when I stumbled upon this performance from the great Webb Wilder…his first-ever on network television, if Pat’s intro can be trusted…I couldn’t resist posting it instead. It’s not my favorite of Webb’s tracks – that honor belongs to “Tough It Out” – but the guy’s got a powerful heap of energy in just about everything he’s ever recorded, so I have no complaints about “Hittin’ Where It Hurts” serving as an alternate.

Ringo: Still The Most Tempermental Beatle

Granted, the field of competition isn’t as wide as it used to be, but, still, I can’t imagine the ever-genial Paul would’ve walked off “Live with Regis and Kelly” after being told that he needed to shorten the length of his song.

I’m not saying it’s not a little ridiculous that the show’s producer, Michael Gelman, said that Ringo’s song had to be a mere two and a half minutes or less – that’s a pretty paltry time frame, even for a pop song – but Gelman apparently offered to barter with Ringo and cut down his chat time in favor of giving him more time for a song, and Ringo instead opted to hit the highway. Well, he was probably riding on the high of knowing that he’ll be getting an upcoming episode of “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” all to himself, but, still, it smacks of a bit of a tantrum to me.

I have to say, though, that Dave Stewart – the former Eurythmic who’s serving as Ringo’s current musical director – had the best quote about the matter:

“Four minutes (3 minutes and 40 seconds, actually) seemed like an appropriate amount of time for a former Beatle. Mr. Gelman apparently felt Ringo’s musical legacy should take a back seat to additional banter about the size of Ms. Ripa’s derriere.”

You go, Dave!

Video Vault – The Doors

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I buy into the bullshit “rock/sex god” status of James Morrison. I never have and I never will. Then again, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I don’t own the majority of the Doors’ catalogue (save for those two albums minus Jim), because I do. I think the Doors wrote some good, solid tunes, had a few big missteps, and had a lead singer that went from sex god to drunken bozo in a short time. That said, I think the L.A. Woman album is a classic work through and through, and certainly one of the best albums of the ’70s. Here then is the title track done up all video-like.

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