American Idol '06 CDs

Until last year I had never watched American Idol. Before that I saw a few episodes before they got to the final twelve. I found it to be a mean spirited show. The producers of the show seemed to enjoy showing people in humilating positions. And I'm not talking about Simon. I actually found him to be the most honest person on the show. At least he would just tell the person that they had no talent. The producers would pick some of the worst talent out there to put on the show so the auidence could see how bad they were. The problem I had was that these people truly thought they had talent and to be put in this situation, in front of millions of people, I thought was just cruel. I saw one show where a girl, no more than 16 or 17, was told she had no talent and got down on her hands and knees and begged the judges to pick her. I'm sorry I don't see much enjoyment in that kind of debasing of people.

Somehow I ended up watching it last year. After the twelve were picked. The show was about weeding out these twelve than, all who had some degree of talent. I found myself enjoying this half of the show.

I found myself pulling for quite a few of the contestants. My early pick and the one I stayed with for hope of winning it all from the beginning was Taylor Hicks. But I enjoyed Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler and a few others. Now the cds from them have started to appear, these three have all just released cds in the last month and they all share some of the same problems. It's a problem that I see on the show and from what I've heard of past winners. All of them are over produced, trying more for a middle of the road in most regards. It wasn't until Kelly Clarkson quit the Idol producing team and got new people that she finally proved how good she can be.

Daughtry is by the rocker from the show, Chris Daughtry. At the start of the show he was one of my favorites. I loved his version of Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line. As the show went on I found myself disliking him more and more. Or just not caring. I really thought after his Cash song he went downhill fast. His new cd is the only one of the three that I haven't been able to listen to all the way through. He sounds like so many of these faceless rockers out there. I know his cd sold better than any other american idol than clay aikens, but I found it to be boring and just plain bad.

Kellie Pickler's cd is called Small Town Girl and we were beat over the head with the fact that she was from a small town and not too bright during the show. I'm not sure how much of her dumbness was an act and how much was real. I actually liked her on the show and was sad to see her get voted off. My biggest problem with her cd is that it is just too over produced. She actually writes some of the material on it and some of the songs tug at the heart strings, especially the one about her father. I think they were hoping for a repeat of Carrie Underwood with Kellie but Carrie had a more natural feeling to her cd than Kellie. I think Kellie has a future though, she might have to do what Kelly Clarkson did and find some new producers.

Taylor Hicks was always my pick to win from the start. But even of the show he had a problem, he was either the gritty, soulful singer or the slick, veags style singer. And that's the problem with this cd. He went for the slick version over the soulful one. There's no grit in this cd. My favorite song he did on Idol was his cover of Ray Lamongte's Trouble. That was the Taylor I wanted to see, a little country, a little rock, a little soul, all mixed up. This Taylor bored me for the most part. He gets closer on his own song Soul Thing on the cd. I also enjoyed The Right Place. It's not that this is a terrible cd, it's just not the cd I think Taylor is capable of making. It's one that probably won't get much play around here.

So of the three I would have to say I enjoyed Kellie's cd the most. I've actually played it more than once, the other two are going to have more trouble to get another play. I will probably listen to Taylors' at least one more time, a little later, to see if it sounds better after giving it a rest. Chris' will sit in my cabinet and probably never see the light of day again.