Top 5 –> Top 4 PHEW!

Ladies and Gentleman, we made it through another results night show. Hopefully the changes that they propose making next year will be to make the results night episode back to the 30 minutes. I can handle (sometimes) a group number, a song by the mentor and then the inevitable boot.

Tonight I decided to fast forward through most of the show. I did see the group number which I found to be a mess. It brought me back to High School days. It was the equivalent of a bad musical on a high school stage. We find out early in the show who the bottom two are: Syesha Mercado (not surprising) and Brooke White (also not surprising). At this point, I am hoping the 437979379 votes that I put in for Syesha have paid off.

More boring performances by Natasha Bedingfield and Neil Diamond.

Brooke White is eliminated from American Idol. To be fair she had a good run and had some good performances scattered throughout. The past few weeks have been rough and she knew it and I think she had accepted the fact that she was probably going home. I will never understand how they expect someone who just got voted off to sing their songs. Brooke had trouble with the lyrics again, but that was just fitting.

Good job Brooke White. You will still get signed and put out a great folksy album.

Phil Stacey – Phil Stacey CD

Phil Stacey – Phil Stacey (Release date: 4/29/08 )

Here comes another Idol alum! Phil Stacey was on last season’s American Idol and did fairly well. Only towards the end of his run did American discover Phil’s knack for country tunes which had been his lifetime in the making. Randy Jackson pointed out that “this is where you belong,” probably with alot more “dawg” and “da bomb” statements.

Phil Stacey has taken the country route like a few other Idol contestants such as, Josh Gracin, Bucky Covington, Carmen Rasmusen, Kellie Pickler, and most notably, Carrie Underwood. Hopefully this release will prove to be successful. From what I know, his first single IF YOU DIDN’T LOVE ME is doing fairly well on the country charts with little or no marketing push.

As I listened to the album, I thought to myself that overall it was a good album. The downfall is possibly the fact that there are no stand-out tracks. So when you put out a good album, but nothing makes you want to go back and press “repeat” over and over again, you end up with a mediocre effort. This is not where you want to be when the music industry has a huge turnover record, almost on the hour. I will say that the second half of the album is better than the first half. Overall, a solid 11 tracks for a very “listenable” album. If you are an Idol and country music fan, you may enjoy this album even more.

The tracks I enjoy the most are IT’S WHO YOU KNOW, BE GOOD TO EACH OTHER, and STILL GOING THROUGH.

I hope that Phil Stacey and the country market prove me wrong. I give this one a 7 out of 10, mainly because I didn’t have to skip any nonsense tracks.

Gavin Degraw – Self Titled CD

Gavin Degraw – Gavin Degraw (release date 5/6/08 )

Well, it has only been 5 years since his first studio release “Chariot” and frankly, I believe that is too long to wait! But saying that, I am glad that it is time for a new Gavin Degraw album. You would think that making an album after 5 years would be a hard task. Mainly because as a singer/songwriter, 5 years would probably yield hundreds of songs. I am happy to find that a few of my LIVE favorites of Gavin’s have seen the light of day in the studio and on this disc.

When I met Gavin back in 2003, he was fresh off his CHARIOT release but yet still had an underground (or indie) following. He played selections from his album and a few from this new self-titled release. What an awesome show. Definitely worth the drive and the $12.

I always found it curious when an artist releases a self-titled CD that is not the debut disc. Maybe it is not that weird to everyone else, but I find it interesting.

Onto my thoughts. After streaming the album a few times on Gavin’s site, I am impressed and pleased. It would have been a shame to wait so long for an album that I hated. My stand outs are COP STOP (of course, except for the crazy crack in the middle that wasn’t edited out-hmmm), RELATIVE (another tour favorite), NEXT TO ME (WAIT A MINUTE SISTER), SHE HOLDS THE KEY, UNTAMED and WE BELONG TOGETHER (from Tristan & Isolde but re-recorded and slowed down). COP STOP has been my favorite for years now as some of my friends know. Maybe I should just name all 12 tracks.

This album is less acoustic sounding than the first. Gavin has added more guitars and drums (overall, more instruments) to his songs and provided a more “rock” sound as evident on the first single, IN LOVE WITH A GIRL. This album is less “raw” than the first album, but its a nice musical transition for his sophomore effort.  There are songs on the album that should (I say should because the industry is fickle) do well on the radio and bring Gavin back as a force to be reckoned with.

Overall, I would give this album a solid 9 out of 10. I LOVE IT. Much thanks Mr. Degraw for providing me with some ear candy.  There is nothing more pleasing than being able to listen to a CD from beginning to end without skipping tracks. I will be purchasing this album on its release date. Thank you for the early stream.

Album is streaming on: http://www.gavindegraw.com/

Things I would like to learn…

A list of things I would like to learn someday, in no particular order:

To play the guitar

To play the piano (again)

To use the programs on my new macbook

To edit videos and music

Photography

To use Photoshop

How to write

This is most likely a living document and may be edited from time to time.