Inspirational Hour

I tuned in a little late tonight and I missed Michael Johns and will have to base my impressions on the recap.

So, apparently the theme was inspirational songs. Lah Dee Dah. You know what I'd like to see? I'd like to see a week where the theme is "You can do anything as long as it's got a tempo of 100 or better", or "Anything but a ballad" night. That's what I'd like to see on American Idol. The theme where the judges pick the songs should happen in the middle of the season, not at the end. Other themes I'd like to see? How about "Ray Stevens night", or "Weird Al Yankovic night", or "Heavy Metal night", or even "Ska-Reggae night"? It'll never happen, but I hope you enjoyed your peek into my imaginary world inside my head.

What I did like tonight was the expanded band, with orchestra and choir. Finally, we got the big sound that we've been wanting all season. The trick to performing with such a big ensemble is that you must be aware that there is a huge wave of sound coming from the band, and the singer must ride that wave like a surfer - on top and slightly in front of it. Otherwise, you get swallowed up by the music.

Michael Johns - Aerosmith's "Dream On": Swallowed by the wave. His vocals rarely penetrated the background chords. I love this song, but I'd never pick it in a million years.

Syesha - Fantasia's "I Believe": For the most part, she surfs. Starts mellow, then projects as the band swells. Hits one awesome money note that unfortunately, was swallowed up. I think she took the microphone away from her mouth on that note.

Jason Castro - Bruddah Iz's "Somewhere Over The Rainbow": True story - My wife and I were listening to Sirius radio in my truck this weekend, and we heard this very version of this song on a channel called "Coffeehouse". Iz mixed this song with "What a Wonderful World" during his recording. I told Bernie jokingly, "I bet Jason Castro does this one sometime this season. I bet he plays the ukelele, too." You may all praise my psychic powers later. Jason does his usual job on this one, only there's real emotion behind it this time, and it makes a difference. A big assist on this one goes to the orchestra.

Kristy Lee Cook - Martina McBride's "Anyway": She's undeniably improving every week. Three straight weeks of good song choices and solid, if not difficult, vocals. She surfs, to my astonishment. She definitely gets the "most improved player" award this season.

David Cook - Our Lady Peace's "Innocent": You had to know this would happen - you restrict the guy, and he gets all creative and impresses the heck out of you, but if you give him freedom, he picks something obscure and unimpressive. I didn't like it, and the fault is all in the song choice - he surfs, he sings it well, he performs it well, he sells it. Only it just isn't a good song.

Carly Smithson - Queen's "Show Must Go On": Weird song choice. Minor key, depressing lyrics. Hardly inspirational. On top of that, doing a Freddie Mercury rock opera song is just not a good idea in a singing contest - to make it work, you have to hold notes and string phrases together with power. Carly seems to realize she made a mistake after the first verse, and she downshifts and starts attempting to cherry-pick places to sing riffs, cutting phrases short and pulling down the microphone. Awk-ward. Not good at all.

David Archuleta - Robbie Williams' "Angel": Sigh. Can we force this guy to sing something other than a ballad? Great song for the theme, great performance. I do have a problem with his enunciation, however. I couldn't pick out a single word of the lyrics other than the catchphrase.

Brooke White - Carole King's "You've Got A Friend": Simon sums it up - "It's like a relaxing walk in the park, isn't it?" This is pretty much what we've come to expect from Brooke. Good, Safe, Nice, maybe a bit boring. Nothing original here. She could have been lip-synching to the 45 record for all I know.

Top 3 Performances tonight: Castro, Archuleta, Kristy Lee Cook

Worst 3: I'd say Carly, Brooke, and David Cook were the worst of the performances.

Actual voting prediction: Well, we know no one's going home on "Idol Gives Back" week, right? Despite that, I think the bottom 3 in votes will be Brooke, Carly, and Syesha. If someone goes home, I'd say it's Carly, with Brooke having an outside shot at elimination.