Music Reviews – Page 5 – The Word Zombie

American Idol, Season 10: Top 6 Performances – “No marching band, no flaming piano.”

By Daimion | April 28, 2011 | Comments 0 Comment

And then there were six. Just under a month to go until the finale of American Idol, Season 10. With the eliminations getting harder to predict, this week saw the Idols singing not only solo, but also in duets on the live performance show. After weeks of current and contemporary themes, Idol chose this week to turn the clock back and appeal to the soccer moms in the audience. This week’s theme? The songs of Carole King.

There is no doubt that Carole King is an amazing artist and songwriter, but still I found it curious Idol decided on her music as the centerpiece for the final six. There were some good performances and some not – but overall the songs didn’t grab me this week. Why you ask? A myriad of reasons – but first a few random observations about the show –

Was Randy going to audition for the new C-Lo Green video after the show? What was with that outfit?
There were a few interesting signs in the audience. The grandmother holding the sing saying “Steven: Walk this Way” was a little disconcerting. And to the guy hold the “I’m Here” sign. Yes, yes you are. But we still don’t care.
Nice to see Constantine Maroulis, Penny Marshall, and the tall guy from “Everybody Loves Raymond” in the audience.
Babyface was a surprisingly good guest mentor with Jimmy this week. Of course, anyone is an upgrade from wil.i.am.

Now on with our regularly scheduled recap…

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American Idol, Season 10: Top Seven Results – “Bada-Boom, Bada-Bing, Bada-Bang.”

By Daimion | April 22, 2011 | Comments 0 Comment

With only five weeks to go until the finale, Idol is quickly coming to the home stretch. After tonight, we find ourselves with only six of the original top thirteen still standing. It’s been a long day for me and I had an itchy finger for the TiVo tonight, so what say we just dive right in to the fun. Shall we?

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American Idol, Season 10: Top 7 Performances – “Mad Max meets Stormtroopers on Melrose.”

By Daimion | April 21, 2011 | Comments 0 Comment

It’s Wednesday night here in the Word Zombie household and we all know what that means. Ritz Cracker chicken for dinner! It also means time for American Idol. This week found the top seven vying for their place in the top six. This is quickly getting serious folks – the votes are going to get tougher and tougher each week from here on out (except for Hailey – can’t we all agree she needs to be the next to go?) Who would rise to the occasion? Who would kiss one of the judges? Who would be accompanied by a marching drum line? Who would make a surprise appearance to open the show? All these questions just happened to be answered in a short 90-minute jaunt with American Idol.

The theme this week was “Songs from the 21^st Century”. A rather broad category but I’ll hand it to the producers; they have gone out of their way not to box the contestants into strange genres miles outside of their comfort zones (Anyone remember Andrew Lloyd Weber night?) Instead they have allowed the contestants room to establish what sort of artist they want to be after the show. They’ve allowed them to begin building a fan base that won’t be disappointed with the eventual albums they release. I think it’s been a brilliant move.

Before we get to the performances, a few random observations:

It was nice to be wil.i.am-free tonight. Strangely, I didn’t miss him for a second.
Jimmy Iovine seemed to be much more supportive of the contestants tonight. Think he had to eat a little crow after the stellar performances last week?
I guess if you are the “most beautiful woman in the world” you can pull off wearing a gold lamay shorts-suit.
I liked having the longer, 3-minute performances this week.
For all the talent this year, I’ve yet to buy a single studio track from iTunes.

No that’s out of the way; let’s see how everyone did.

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Review – “Twenty-One” by Corey Smith

By Daimion | April 15, 2011 | Comments 1 comment

If you haven’t heard of Corey Smith before – well, let me introduce you to him. He’s a native of northern Georgia, a former schoolteacher, a father, a husband, and a musician. He’s also someone you will be hearing a lot more about this year – starting with the release of the first single, “Twenty-One”, off his upcoming album “The Broken Record”.

After many years of releasing his music independently (and selling over 150,000 albums in the process), Corey recently joined forces with Average Joes Entertainment. He is slated to release “The Broken Record” in June. Corey has said the new record is a comprehensive look at how he has changed over the years – a blend of old songs and new songs, woven together to “hopefully convey a message about life”. That blend of old and new perfectly describes “Twenty-One”.

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American Idol, Season 10: Top 8 Results – “Thank you for whipping that out on us.”

By Daimion | April 15, 2011 | Comments 2 comments

Thursday night, sometime after 8:00PM, with the TiVo humming could only mean one thing – time for the America Idol elimination show. After last night’s jaunt through songs from the movies, the top 8 was slated to become the top 7. Were there any shocking results? Would we see the sixth consecutive girl eliminated from the competition? Would there be any professional wrestlers onstage? All those questions and more were answered in just over 60 minutes.

Before I dive into the show, I have to share a few random observations: Was Jennifer really wearing a dress that included curtain tiebacks as shoulder straps? Best sign in the audience – “Bring Back Pia”. Sign that most needed to be fact checked – “Steven is the Most Beautiful Man in the World”. Uh….no. The one thing that made tonight miles better than last night? No wil.i.am in the house.

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