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by The Trades Staff Published: August 31, 2005
Molly says: As I said last week, with Deanna Johnston's departure, the dead weight is gone and the competition has really tightened up. The amped up production values of strings, horns and a gospel choir added to the Greatest House Band Ever indicates the gravitas of the competition at this point. (However, I must say that the Greatest House Band Ever needs no backup.) Ty Taylor - "You Can't Always Get What You Want" Raul says: In this week's "House" episode, we were told that two of the six performances would have choir accompaniment. Clearly, this would be one of them. It's another Rolling Stones classic (when do we get around to "Sympathy for the Devil"?) and Ty's got this one in the bag. His soulful voice really helps deliver a heartfelt performance. The choir doesn't contribute much but there's string and brass sections on stage that are giving their all. Molly says: This is a good song for Ty, and he did a good job with it. It's hard to imagine that he wouldn't have, though, and thus the only flaw I'd find would be that there was no revelation in this song for Ty. J.D. Fortune - "Suspicious Minds" Raul says: J.D.'s got a fixation with this song. I suspect it's got something to do with the fact that he knows it backwards and forwards. Apparently, he used to be an Elvis impersonator. For a guy so young, he sure seems to have gone through a lot. But, in true J.D. style, he modifies the song arrangement, skewing it much more towards the rock end of the music spectrum. It's up tempo and by the end he's thrusting his fist in the air. And here's the choir again. Not very effective, mind you, but they're singing along. Strange. I thought we were promised a choir for only two songs. J.D. plays to the audience - particularly the ladies, and the ladies love it. He should change his name to L.L.J.D. Molly says: J.D. said he'd spent time as an Elvis impersonator, and so singing an Elvis song tonight was closure for him. It might be more closure than he wants, simply because he didn't do that great a job. He was fine, but he didn't seem to really own it -- instead, he was suspended between his personal style and Elvis residue. And unfortunately for him, at this stage "fine" isn't cutting it. I think that Dave Navarro was spot-on in saying that this song might not "elevate" him in the competition. Maybe J.D. wants a shot at singing an INXS song, after seeing how it worked for Marty last week? Marty Casey - "Wish You Were Here" Raul says: This is one massively passionate and emotional song. It doesn't lend itself to dancing around on stage. Marty complies, standing still at the microphone throughout the entire performance. I notice something now for the first time. The star of tonight's show won't be the singers, but House Band. While Marty does his best pouty boy-band stare into nothingness, House Band is nailing every chord, every beat. And where's the choir again. Geez. I've heard better accompaniment from audience sing-alongs. Oh, and for dramatic effect, at the end, Marty has to turn away for a moment and compose himself. Molly says: Excellent song choice for Marty, and excellent execution. To me, he looked a little uncomfortable on stage, but it was a heartfelt performance and one that impressed INXS. Loosening up is the easy part; Marty conquered the hard part in the vocals. Jordis Unga - "Imagine" Raul says: Time for a nap. The hard driving rock-n-roll backbeat is interrupted only temporarily by the docile tones of one of the great ballads of all time (that's what other people call it... I call it boring). Jordis comes out on stage with her guitar but I wonder if she plugged it into her amp as I'm not sure I heard her play one single chord. In fact, her voice is so soft and the piano accompaniment so loud that I have trouble hearing Jordis at all. Kirk Pengilly from INXS calls her performance spellbinding but questions her decision to use a guitar on a night when she's joined on stage not only by a full band but also string and brass sections. Molly says: I'm a heretic. I don't like "Imagine." I never have. For Jordis, it was a good song (although I still think that Jennifer Hudson's version on American Idol 3 is the best I've ever heard). It was still maybe not the best choice for her, though, because it reinforced her as an acoustic singer and not a rocker. If she's in the bottom three this week, I could easily see INXS dismissing her as "not right for [their] band," both because of her acoustic style and because of her use of the guitar as a shield this week. Mig Ayesa - "Live and Let Die" Raul says: I told my wife "You can't screw up 'Live and Let Die'. I can sing 'Live and Let Die'." Mig Ayesa can put on a clinic on how it's very much possible to screw up "Live and Let Die"! I mean, honestly, this is a song Axl Rose can sing effectively while screaming at the top of his lungs. Mig delivers a performance that is not so much "Axl Rose", and certainly not "Paul McCartney". If I have to put a musical label on it, I'd call it "Tom Jones". He gyrates like he's singing "What's New Pussycat?" and struts around like he's back on a West End stage. Most disturbing of all, he apparently totally misses a cue! Or was it intentional? INXS chooses to totally disregard this error. Instead, they praise his performance with only Kirk finding fault in Mig's choice to sing through most of the song's instrumental sections (a mean feat, given how short the song is and how few words there are). On the bright side, the brass and string sections on stage finally get their chance to shine (so that's why they're here!) Molly says: Holy cow, it's time for me to pull out the "K" word -- karaoke! This didn't sound at all polished to me. Mig's voice sounded shrill and strained, and his rock-star strutting looked posed. I'm very surprised that he got such a good response from INXS on this. Suzie McNeil - "Bohemian Rhapsody" Raul says: I brace myself for a car wreck here, knowing that Suzie's only saving grace is that she's a woman so she may be able to hit those falsettos that everyone else who's ever tried to cover this song has failed to hit. But let's remember that this is Suzie McNeil and she's got a naturally husky voice so falsetto may not be in her range. Well, blow me down with a feather! Suzie delivers the performance of her career. She hangs back with the band, giving them the opportunity to shine once again. The call-and-response sections of the song are dead-on. The falsettos are handled effortlessly by one of the members of House Band. The choir (this was supposed to be their second scheduled performance) finally comes through. It's like the perfect storm of music. It all comes together. Suzie's joined the competition. Molly says: Being in the clean-up position indicates that the producers thought Suzie put it away with this one. I think she did a very good job. It was an ambitious song, and she came close to pulling it off. Again, I wouldn't give her the hard-core praise that she got from INXS, but she surely did prove that she belongs in this competition. And how much fun was it seeing the gospel choir jumping up and down and rocking out? Final Thoughts Raul says: The songs this week were - overall - excellent choices. We had a series of recognizable rock anthems, some of them easier to cover than others. Some of them incredibly challenging. What surprised me was that those who went for the easy songs did worse than those who chose the tough songs. Mig bombed while Suzie shined. Selecting a bottom three now becomes difficult as I feel most everyone remaining in the competition is good enough to win. I grudgingly put Mig in the bottom three. I'll also toss in J.D. and Jordis. And I feel that INXS will eliminate Jordis, but should she not be in the bottom three, I suspect they may use this week as an opportunity to eliminate the entertaining but difficult J.D. Molly says: Let's see, how to choose the bottom three? I'd put Mig there for sure. J.D., while a great performer, has lost momentum and didn't do himself any favors witih his song tonight. For the third, I'll say Ty -- not that I think he deserves to be in the bottom three, but a solid workmanlike performance starting off the program is less likely to stick in voters' minds than, say, Suzie's bravura performance at the end of the program. Previous Recaps at The Trades: - Week 7 Competition | Results - Week 6 Competition | Results - Week 5 Competition | Results Other sites: Rock Star: INXS | Sirlinksalot.net |
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