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| Mighty Casey has . . . |
Casey James
Okay, It's Alright With Me
At this point, the judges are completely extraneous. I mean, they are always kind of needless on this show because, aside from the one save they get to use, they have no vote. I don't really think that many people take the judges' feedback into account when they vote other than as a motivator when they disagree with the reviews. I think they might be right that the song was forgettable, and it fizzled out in a way that left the audience unaware of their cue to clap. But I did think the song suited Casey. It sounded cool. It wasn't annoying.
Daughters
Kara doesn't read my blog, because she thinks Casey's audience is women and girls. That's cool. Casey sounds like he's intentionally trying not to sound like John Mayer. Unfortunately, it very closely resembled Mayer's live performances: stilted, detached, and full of weird guitar faces. I wanted the song to be over very shortly after it started. Things don't look good for Casey. Casey, on the other hand . . .
Crystal Bowersox
Come to My Window
This was a much bigger misstep than what Casey did. Crystal finally exposed herself as a mini-version of Melissa Etheridge. But she is, compared to the original, definitely mini. She doesn't have Etheridgian power, and all that song did was make the gap all the clearer for us. Not good. Not awful, but nothing to remember.
Maybe I'm Amazed
Crystal has sung two of my favorite sing-along songs this year: "Midnight Train to Georgia," and this. She did much better with Gladys. The pace of the song was all wrong. I'm not sure she got the lyrics right, and her transition into falsetto was iffy at best. That just doesn't make me want to vote for her. Crystal has backed into the finale.
Lee DeWyze
Simple Man
Lee seems to understand increasingly well what it means to build toward a climactic moment in a song, and he did that pretty well on this song. He also took a big vocal risk at said climactic moment and pulled it off pretty well. I really didn't expect this much from Lee. He's having a David Cook type season with less artistry and more aw shucks.
Hallelujah
He didn't sing it as a polka? Darn. No bagpipes? Oh, but hey, the Pointer Sisters, the Pips, the Winans, and Whitney Houston circa '97. That was all kinds of wow. Probably the most explosive performance of that song I've heard. I don't know if explosive is what everyone wants out of that song, but it was pretty much vocal C4.
Well, I did say after my fellow bowlers got me to start watching...what was that, top 14? 12? That my top 3 were Lee, Crystal, and Siobahn. Two out of three ain't bad, for meatloaf, or for me.
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