Rating System:
WWWWW- You can't go wrong with this
WWWW- Excellent, worthy of attention
WWW- May not change the world, but it's still good
WW- I'm not so sure about this...
W- Makes a great Frisbee
Canadian Idol Season 1: Greatest Moments (W)
There's a running joke about Canadians: everything the Americans do, we do it worse. It couldn't be more true than on the first Canadian Idol compilation, which suceeds in desecrating love songs worse than the second American Idol batch did- which is bad news for BMG (the label behind "Pop Idol"), since it took the Canadians a lot less time to "better" the lows the Americans reached in their second season.
Where to start? For one, I can't understand how "Twitching Boy" Ryan Malcolm actually made it past the auditions, let alone the Top 11: his voice is nothing more than a flat projection, and the lack of power (or any variation, really) destroys his version of "Just The Way You Are". I guess the judges were too busy concentrating on his onstage convulsions to really notice his lack of talent as a singer. Then there's Richie Wilcox, whose whiny and flat rendition of "Your Smiling Face" wins the award for the worst song here, if ever. *shuddering at thought* It's times like those where listening to someone scratching a chalkboard would be more entertaining. Then there's Mikey Bustos completely desecrating Rod Stewart's "Sometimes When We Touch": his whiny projection literally made me pine for Stewart's version, as bad as he is as a singer. Oh, and speaking of horrible singers, don't get me started on Gary Beals...Then there's Billy Klippert's version of "Superstar" was intended to be "rocked up", but the chorus strangely sounds like TATU's "All The Things She Said". I doubt that was intentional, but that's what I heard. In other notes, songs from Audrey De Montigny and Toya Alexis, though wonderfully sung, still come out as boring rehashes, especially De Montigny's: "Reflection" may have been a great song to show off her skills, but it's one of Christina Aguilera's more weaker tracks.
On the plus side, Karen Lee-Baten manages to make a version of Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" that I can actually stand, coming off as the rare time an Idol version is better than the original. Then there's Tyler Hamilton, who actually manages to do Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" some justice.
Still, there's only one place for this album to go- need any new coasters (especially after wearing out the American Idol one)? Forgettable trash if there ever was one.
-DG
Back Home
Discuss this page here