Well, there's Syesha's song, then.

I thought "All right Now" was really really good when he did it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_AR...eature=related

Who's going to be the idiot who tries "I Will Always Love You"? Dear God, I hope it's Carly.

How about "Coat of Many Colors" for KLC. That should be nice and disastrous.

It seems like a lock that David Cook will go after "Jolene", since it's a popular rock cover, and that's his gimmick, but I think it's a bad idea (then again, people are eating his routine up, so what do I know). It's one thing to copy the distant emo-rockification of famous pop songs like he's done so far, but what Jack White did to "Jolene" is not only incredibly distinct, but it's arguably (and unfortunately) more famous than the original song at this point. I'm also not sure he can get away with the lyrics like White does. If he does it his way, it's going to pale in comparison to White's, and this week the judges have to finally be aware enough of the cover to recognize it. It's Cook's only trick so far, and we all expect him to do it, but I wonder if he'll back away from it.

Why do I get the feeling Ramiele will do something stupid like "9 to 5", complete with walking down the stairs.

das

All Right Now is probably his best performance to date. I wasn't enamored by it like the judges, but it was definitely better than anything else he has done. I do think it pales to the Free original, though. Paul Rodgers had a lot more vibrancy to his voice. And Cook didn't help things with his gimmicky guitar playing.

Day Tripper falls into the same category as most of his songs. He wasn't covering the Beatles classic, he was covering Whitesnake's version. And neither Whitesnake nor Cook did the song justice.

Coming from the judges' POV, I think you have to acknowledge that the judges are subjected to some truly boring performances this season, week after week, but then David Cook gets on stage each week, and the air sizzles, the lights go all flashy and crazy, and the atmosphere of the stage changes, the energy levels go up, and David Cook entertains the crowd with a 2-minute song performance and gets their blood pumping for more. It's a matter of relativity as to why he's getting getting props, while the others are getting slammed by the judges.

Put it another way, if you had to choose amongst the contestants to watch perform for a 30-minute set, who would you pick to have a good time at their concert? At this point, it'd be David Cook. I'm not saying he's a great performer, but in comparison to the rest, he's the one bringing it on stage each week. Even after all these weeks, some of contestants still look so uncomfortable on stage that it makes for a truly dull listening/viewing experience, they haven't quite figured out how to let go and have some fun on stage.

It would have been pure gold to see Amanda cover a Dolly Parton song!

Islands in the stream? LOL

I'd choose three, maybe four other people at this point I'd rather see perform live. I'm probably in the minority here, but this year has provided the least amount of fast forwarding for me. While I'm not crazy about everyone, there are at least a few people performing this year with a distinct style.

edit... make that a distinct style I actually kind of like

My prediction for the final 4:

David A.
David C.
Michael Johns
Brooke White

interesting article on Cook:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/158...326/id_0.jhtml

There's something fishy about "American Idol" contender David Cook.

Cook, the rock-leaning lad with the highlighted comb-over, closed Tuesday night's episode of "American Idol," belting out Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" — a song released the year he was born.

But Cook's take on the track was actually former Soundgarden/Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell's version. Cornell's cover appeared on his sophomore solo album, Carry On, which was released last year.

Sure, "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest prefaced Cook's performance by saying, "With Chris Cornell's version of 'Billie Jean,' here's David Cook," but his introduction was barely audible, coming from the pit of screaming fans located just in front of the studio's stage. And though Cook's performance was very much a cover of Cornell's cover, the "Idol" judges absolutely loved it and praised the performance for its "originality."

Seeing as "Idol" contestants are judged not only for their vocal performances but on their arrangements as well, it seems Cook has been coasting off others' visions. Does this mean Cook has had an unfair advantage over the rest of the "Idol" crop?

Michael Slezak, a senior writer for Entertainment Weekly known for his "Idol" coverage, said he thinks Cook is smart for picking the arrangements he has.

"I think it's a little silly to accuse him of stealing arrangements," Slezak explained. "You know, Chris Daughtry took a real hit when he did a version of [Johnny Cash's] 'Walk the Line' and didn't, at any point, credit Live's version, but in this case, Cook put it out there, clearly having Ryan state, 'He's doing Chris Cornell's version,' and if you listen to both versions, it's not like he did a complete carbon copy of Cornell's, anyway.

"I would understand why people would want to see some of these contestants — if they're going to get credit for being brave and innovative — completely change up a song on their own," he continued. "I think it's also hard to ask them to do that. They only have a week to come up with the arrangements, and then they've got to get the 'Idol' band onboard with it and record their version for the iTunes download, so it doesn't give them a lot of time to come up with a completely innovative arrangement of a song every week. Ultimately, I think Cook deserves credit for being smart and aware of new or different versions of songs — different than the ones people are familiar with. I don't know if he should get credit for being brave, but he should get credit for being smart and singing these songs well."

But this season, Cook has been accused of copping another artist's cover on more than one occasion. Just three weeks ago, a Seattle band came out against Cook, claiming he'd ripped off their rockin' cover of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." Doxology said they recorded their version of the track more than a year ago and even had it available on iTunes and their MySpace page. According to the band's manager, the cover was what Doxology is best known for, but the guys didn't sue Cook — they merely asked for recognition.

Even prior to that claim, several "Idol" fans took to the message boards to cry foul over Cook's cover of Lionel Richie's "Hello," one they claimed was very similar to Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd's solo take on the track.

As far as Slezak is concerned, Cook is just dealing with the inevitable backlash that those labeled as "the ones to beat" face when they're on "Idol."

"He is getting ripped on now because he has emerged as the surprise front-runner, and I think anytime you are in that position, people are going to look for a way to tear you down," Slezak said. "It's the nature of 'Idol.' People have to find things to criticize him for, because right now, he's performing really strongly and moving up in all the 'Idol' polls. His detractors have to latch onto something, I guess."

But no, Slezak insisted, Cook hasn't survived on "AI" because he's had an unfair advantage throughout the contest.

"He's just aware of these versions in the first place," he said. "It's not like Cornell's version was a #1 hit. The average 'Idol' viewer at home may not even be aware of that version, so he could have gone ahead and not credited it at all, and I wouldn't be surprised if the judges didn't know that version. The judges give him credit for bravery and innovation when he's just really being smart and savvy and picking interesting versions of the song that really suit his vocal style. What he's doing is really no different than any contestant on the show. David Archuleta picked Stevie Wonder's version of 'We Can Work It Out,' and Carly Smithson picked Celine Dion's version of 'I Drove All Night.' Cook is just picking slightly more creative and interesting versions of his songs. It's hard to make a case that he's doing something unfair. He's just a smart competitor."

Which bubble is "None of the Above"? Honestly, I don't think I could tolerate any of these people in concert. Cook is energetic for a couple of minutes, but there's no variation between his songs, so it would be the same thing over and over and over again. I might be inclined to download Brooke's "Let it Be" (the emotional performance version, not the ruined "studio" version), but definitely not a concert. If she were playing piano/guitar at a small coffeehouse venue down the street, maybe I'd go see it, but that's about it. Then again, I'm not a 14-year-old girl (anymore), so I'm not really their target demo.

das

Wow, I was just reading up on Chris Conrnell on Wikipedia. I had no idea that was him in Audioslave, just remembered a couple songs from the gorup. I am about ten years behind on news in his genre.

I totally agree that DC doesn't put much variation between his songs. I think other singers are guilty of that, too. All of them seem to have only one style that they're comfortable with and can't display something different -edit- well, I mean.

I've been a fan of the show since day 1, but this season, like last season...
stinks.

Oh well..

i'm pretty sure i could stare at brooke for at least 30 minutes without getting bored - but that's just me - i think she's purdy and probably smells like cookies

As long as I can still remember the Fantasia season, I will never be able to say that "this season stinks"

Totally off topic here, but it seems we are all fans of good music...check out this guy from the Phillipines who sounds so much like Steve Perry of Journey..that he is now the new lead singer of Journey. It is amazing!!
http://music.beloblog.com/archives/2...oundalike.html

I would pick Chikezee I think actually. I think his set would be very mixed and his takes on songs could be very cool. I wouldnt want to hear 30 mins of him doing JUST the soul music, a few of them mixed up with other stuff would be great.

2nd would be Brooke. she looks a bit like my GF, so thats always a plus, and she is certainly talented.

Well, I would have watched Kady for 30 mins, of course she was pretty blah with her voice, but thats gone now... Hmmm beyond that, no one. I thought Carly was really going to be the one this season but fuck if she cant learn that she doesnt need to scream a song to get it out.

To be honest, for the most part I dont really care who wins, but I really dont want to see Archuleta get it. This is going on week #3 where I think he's been pretty bad and dont get the love. Again like Das said, Im not a 14-year old girl either so I guess that answers my questions.

I loves me some hot asian girls!

I would love to go see him on his "Songs written by other people then remade by someone else" tour.

Cook is following the Chris Daughtry path, doing covers of remakes of songs ("Walk the Line" comes to mind though I remember Daughtry doing some others too).

Is that link going to take me to Robbie Carrico’s home page?

ha ha! damn that would have been good! Too bad I didnt think of it!

Cook does nothing for me. Hair doesn't help either. I think Bo Bice did the best job as a rocker on Idol. Of course, he didn't go anywhere after.

Why cover Jack White, when you have a chance to cover. . .


SLY!!!
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Sorry about the video quality, it's the only clip I could find.

Yes, Dolly wrote that song.

Are they doing Dolly Parton songs or country and Dolly is mentoring them?