American Idol Season 9 Top 10 Compilation CD Review, yay or nay?

This CD is a big nay! A weak compilation in a season of mediocrity. We said in our previous post that we didn’t like some of the song selections in the album. We already bought all of Didi’s tracks on iTunes and heard the studio versions of the rest of the guys but we still bought this CD to show support.

Check out the Cd covers, a review from US weekly, May 24th (Issue 797), and our three-word review for each songs.

All the songs are exactly the same as the iTunes downloads! We knew it would be but not sure why we still hoped the arrangement would be different on the CD.

The CD cover turns into a mini poster when spread out. (So Casey and Siobhan’s faces show a fold!)

The track listing with Grade:

1. Lee Dewyze – “Treat Her Like a Lady” – Current, Commercial sound (Grade: A-)

2. Andrew Garcia – “Forever” – copycat of original (Grade: B-) (His live version was way better done acoustic. This one is a Chris Brown imitation!)

3. Siobhan Magnus – “Paint It Black” – Over-dramatic, too theatrical (Grade: B) (She would have scored big if it were BROADWAY Theme week but this was a Rolling Stones night…)

4. Crystal Bowersox – “Me and Bobby McGee” – Executed like (a) pro! (Grade:A)

5. Casey James – “Jealous Guy” – Still better live (Grade: B-)

6. Aaron Kelly – “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” – (Almost)Painful to listen.  (Grade: D-) (aaargh, why is this track in here??! we liked his other songs better.)

7. Michael Lynche – “Ready For Love” – Clean; Surprisingly good. (Grade: A-)

8. Tim Urban – “Under My Thumb” – RollingStones Classic- butchered! (Grade: F) (This is why we can’t take Tim Urban seriously! “Can’t Help Falling In Love” would have been our pick!)

9. Didi Benami – “Play With Fire” – Sassy, intriguing, fire! (Grade: A-)

10. Katie Stevens – “Let It Be” – Intense…ly hard (to) listen. OR (Not Brooke White) (Grade: D) (Would have picked a different song)

Our two-cents explained:

People are affected different ways watching American Idol. How others can like Tim Urban or Aaron Kelly and we’d rather hear another artist sing is quite a phenomenon in itself. Goes to show how subjective music really is or simply how liking someone or something shows a person’s biases towards what’s presented.

This is a season where the stark difference between a singer and an artist has been blatantly obvious especially so when put side by side. This CD clearly demonstrates this season’s weakest links. We think even the producers of this album knows it.

Listening to this CD in order will make you realize that they’ve arranged this in almost alternate fashion so you will have that high and low urge to skip from one track to another. It is no chance or drawing of lots that the tracks are selected in order from (Lee) good, (Andrew & Siobhan) not so good, (Crystal) good+, (Casey) somewhat good and then past halfway went downhill (Aaron) maybe bad, (Michael) good, (Tim) potentially bad, (Didi) good and lastly, (Katie) could be bad. They must have thought this out real hard. Brilliant.

There’s no arguing at this point that Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze have been a driving force this season. We like both but we are not total fans. Something’s missing. We are not moved, inspired or anything by them. We will still buy their records and support them! We never claimed Didi is the best in our eyes but she moved, inspired and lifted us in ways no American Idol contestant ever did watching all 9 seasons. That says a lot in the end.

Didi Benami is amazing and she has got the best, most dedicated, devoted fans ever. No one can top that.

Yes, we bought this CD because of Didi Benami. No one else.