"American Idol": Jacob Lusk makes Motown night move
For the "American Idol" hopefuls this was a chance to revive songs that time could not forget, but some of them didn't remember because they weren't alive at the time.
The question was, could any of them create a version that was anything other than just another performance of a famous song by someone who's not as good as the original? A few were able to make Motown come alive
Here are their efforts, in order of appearance:
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1. Casey Abrams put a little grease in his hair. He hoped, perhaps, it would add a little slickness to his performance of the Marvin Gaye classic "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."
Abrams tried to replace Gaye's arrant sexuality with some arrogant strutting. It was entertaining in its way, but somehow seemed forced, rather than forceful.
Steven Tyler took pride in Abrams' "crazy ass out-of-control ego," which was, perhaps, not the best praise to offer to someone with ulcerative colitis.
2. Thia Megia tried to un-ballad herself. The 16-year-old attempted "Heatwave" by Martha and the Vandellas, a V8 of a song that offers energy and muscle. Megia cooked up a pleasant enough replica. But, in truth, it moved the heart about as much as an Oldsmobile.
3. Jacob Lusk embraced Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell's "You're All I Need to Get By" as much as Clint Eastwood's Walt Kowalski embraced his Gran Torino or Eminem embraces certain words beginning with F (Ford not being one of them).
Lusk showed that all he needed to get by was a little modulation, a little soul and a little hug from Steven Tyler. He even managed to find the time to adjust his white jacket, which had ridden up above his bottom.
The hug from Tyler came at the end of a soaring spectacle, when the Aerosmith front man walked onto the stage, uninvited, and took Lusk in his arms.
Tyler was followed by the whole of the front row of the audience. This was, without question, the performance of the night, almost any night in the 10 years of "American Idol."
4. Lauren Alaina was herself hanging on a couple of weeks ago. Her rendition of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hanging On" may keep her in a suspended state. It was expertly sung, but it had all the feeling of a court reporter reading back the content of her stenograph.
5. For some strange reason, Stefano Langone went for Lionel Ritchie's "Hello." It's a song that requires a smooth, mature intimacy, which is not something Langone has demonstrated so far.
He began by sounding like Demis Roussos' nephew. He ended by almost changing genders. Though he sings powerfully, Langone is a little like Liam Neeson waking up in "Unknown" and having no idea who he really is.
A couple of years ago, eventual winner David Cook showed that you can take a song like this (in fact, exactly this song) and turn it into something original. The concept seemed all Greek to Langone.
6. Haley Reinhart wore shorts. But her performance seemed very long. Most of the notes were in the right place, but no one's Corn Flakes would be interrupted by memory of this performance, which as a far as I can remember featured a few growls and the words to Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold on Me."
7. Scotty McCreery, something of a lounge singer, was desperate not to come off as a lounge singer. He was brave enough to take on Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life," and was entirely successful in making it sound like a thousand other country songs.
For some, this would be marvelous. For others, it would be life with no parole. There were pauses in the music, during which McCreery wasn't sure what to do with his arms or his legs. So he resorted to some strange facial spasms that made one, well, wonder whether he'd been practicing in the mirror -the fun mirror at the county fair.
Still, he is who he is, hitting the low notes and giving songs his country styling. And at least he's someone clearly identifiable, which is something other contestants can learn from.
8. Pia Toscano's producer, Harvey Mason Jr, said that the tone of her voice "puts her in the category of other great singers. And that's unique." While viewers pondered how one could be unique when in a category with others, Toscano assaulted Stevie Wonder's "All in Love is Fair."
She understands that the audience really needs to feel her performance. She had eight violins to help her with that, and a cello.
Her singing was excellent. But, currently, it's all a little Vegas, and Vegas is what you do after you become a star, not before. Judge Randy Jackson told her, "I know you can do it. The next time bring something a little bit different to the thing."
9. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "Tracks of My Tears" is simply one of the greatest songs of all time. It's a song of pain, and Paul McDonald chose to chuckle at the anguish with his characteristic Rod Stewart-lite.
It was rough rather than raspy at the beginning. But, by the end, it was at least slightly smoky, even if this Smokey was a cousin of the Swiss Robinsons, rather than the Motown clan.
10. Naima Adedapo, a 26-year-old dance instructor, has done a lot of dancing in this competition so far. Unfortunately, she's accompanied it with very little singing. Her take on Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" was a curious affair.
At the beginning, she tried to move less, in order to give herself a chance to hit a note or two. However, it came over as a languid stroll, rather than a celebratory jig. Until, that is, she decided to change pace and burst into some highly energetic African dancing. Will anyone remember the singing? I wonder.
11. Motown night ended with a rocker. Again it was a Stevie Wonder song, this time, his "Living for the City," as sung by James Durbin. The rocker is teetering on the brink of excessive self-love. By his last shrill note, he had just about persuaded the audience that he didn't yet consider himself the second coming of music's first born, but he still might do well to consider that a small sniff of modesty might give him a little more credibility with the voting teens and grannies - especially the grannies. They still remember Jagger.
Steven Tyler for the longest time sat very still as Durbin strutted, but told the singer after his performance, "Sometimes it takes a little of crazy to make a difference in this world and that's what you were all about."
Somehow, I got the feeling that Bob Babbitt, the legendary bassist who played both on Lusk's performance and on Durbin's, felt more passionately about the former.
This will be a cruel vote, as the loser won't join the "Idol" tour, for which only the Top 10 qualify. The girls should again be more nervous than the boys, but we don't ever know how many votes are cast and for whom, so the producers might slip a boy into the bottom three, just for the fun of it.
THE TOP THREE: Jacob Lusk, Pia Toscano and perhaps James Durbin
THE BOTTOM THREE: Thia Megia, Haley Reinhart and Naima Adedapo
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He is also the author of the popular CNET blog, Technically Incorrect.
