The Top Ten

Tuesday Night Idol time!

Tonight's theme: Songs sung by No Doubt, or songs that Gwen Stefani really really likes. (How lame is that?)

LaKisha: Really, really good version of "Last Dance". I think I remember someone doing this song in a previous season, and it turned out to indeed be their "last dance". Won't be that way tonight, though. Very strong. Donna Summer is jealous.

Gina: Excellent song choice with "I'll Stand By You". Knocked it out. Full points.

Phil: "Every Breath You Take". The judges liked it. I didn't. This is a song that doesn't sound right unless Sting is singing it, and guys shouldn't try. The equivalent of the "don't sing Whitney" rule except for guys. He didn't do it badly, however.

Haley: "True Colors". This song worked for Cindy Lauper because she vocally blunted her sharp edges in order to pull it off. Haley doesn't have sharp edges to her voice to begin with, so this was vanilla over vanilla. Very pretty, but not memorable.

Sanjaya: "Bath Water". I don't actually think he planned to do it, but he lucked into a decent song for his voice. Ska-like songs don't require much range (lucky for him), but do require you to hit the lyrics solidly in the right spots. One stumble, and you blow up the whole song. He didn't stumble, so it was OK. The faux-hawk, however, was atrocious. If Sanjaya offended the Californians that worship Gwen, he might lose out this week, as the majority of his votes come from Cali.

Blake: "Love Song", by The Cure. I thought this was a straight rip-off of the more modern cover of this song. The judges felt it was current and original. (WTF??) He performed it well, however.

Chris Sligh: "Every Little Thing She Does". I am seriously getting tired of the same old same old from Chris. This week, he did the song in the same style as always, but added a horrible tendency to lose the beat to his problems. He could go home. It's that serious.

Jordin: "Hey Baby". Bold choice, and she did it well, and showed some moves on-stage. The band, however, totally let her down. The backup singers which are SO critical in this song, were so soft that it sounded acapella at times. The drums were the only instrument loud enough, in my opinion. Gwen Stefani's No Doubt performances put her volume at the same level as the instruments instead of being out front with the band playing background, and without that same mix, this song loses it's excitement. Not Jordin's fault. The judges liked the performance, however.

Melinda: "Heaven Knows". Strange coincidence that LaKisha and Melinda both choose Donna Summer? Maybe not. We'll have to choose between these two at some point. Melinda met her usual standard with this one, putting her and LaKisha in a tie at the top once again in my rankings. Pretty funny that Simon could only say that he hated her outfit. I'd have suggested the long white 70's dress for this one.

Chris R.: I told my wife that if he did "Don't Speak", I'd hunt him down and kill him. Guess what he did? The No Doubt song has two great characteristics: The acoustic guitar, and the harmony, (which is really Gwen Stefani overrecording her own voice twice in the studio). Chris performs it R&B style, which omits both of these great things. Unfortunately, it also makes the song sound like "Careless Whisper", and Chris isn't nearly the singer that George Michael is. The judges of course, disagree with me and love it.

My rankings:
1 (tie). Melinda
1 (tie). LaKisha
3. Jordin
4. Gina
5. Blake
6. Phil
7. Haley
8. Chris Sligh
9 .Chris Richardson
10. Sanjaya

My prediction:
If Sanjaya doesn't get his comeuppance this week, one of the Chris's gets kicked to the curb.