Taylor Hicks vs: Daughtry

American Idol CD showdown

Okay, so I have now listened to both CDs a couple of times and have formulated opinions on both of the albums. So, this will basically be a short review of both.

Daughtry
The album is good. Really good. I'm not a big fan of the style of music here: cock rock as it is referred to. Basically, to me, this kind of music is a just a bunch of strong men, running around screaming about how bad life is and occasionally talking about love. Daughtry's album, lyrically is a little lighter than dark, but musically it falls into all the pratfalls of modern rock.

First off, every song, with the exception of 2 in the middle of the album, are basically the same tempo. For some reason, modern rock loves these mid-tempo ballads that happen to have huge guitars and a screaming vocal on it. I personally enjoy a little rhythmic variety, so for this fault, the album loses points in my book.

Lyrically, the album is actually pretty good. From what I understand, Chris is a Christian and grew up playing praise and worship music, though this album is far from that. I'm not sure if his lyrics reference any kind of relationship with Christ, but few of the lyrics are stupid or cheesy. Most of them are well-thought and well-written.

Overall, the album is a little plodding for me. It's 12 songs that runs under 50 minutes, which is a great for an album, but his guest stars (Slash, main example) and guest writers (Ace Young, Brent Smith, and more) fall a little short for me. What I can say is that the album is obviously music that Chris is passionate about. You can tell he loves the music that he is making, and that is more than could be said for Kelly, Clay and Bo's first albums. So, for straight passion, the album gains points in my book. But with that said, the album does fall short artistically in my mind.

I give the album a B (4.2 of 5)

Taylor Hicks
I have been wondering for a while how this album would turn out. I liked Taylor on the show but didn't love him. His little quirks got on my nerves after a while and I thought his voice was marginal in comparison to other contestants. But I knew that this CD could turn into a hit because of reports I was hearing. The record was produced Matt Serilictic, former president of Virgin Records and the producer of all the Matchbox20 and then the Rob Thomas solo record. Taylor was reported to have written songs with some top songwriters, like John Mayer. Rob Thomas wrote a song for the record. He was covering a Marvin Gaye album cut. Supposedly, the estate of Ray Charles gave him a ballad that Bryan Adams had written for Ray before the soul great passed away. I mean, a lot of things could make this album a hit. Plus, he did win American Idol.

I got the CD today and was, overall, blown away by the CD. It was better than I could have expected. From the opening song to the end of the Taylor Hicks original "Hell of a Day" (a bonus track from the Wal-Mart edition of the album), the album twisted and twitched and turned and made me a happy camper. The first song is a soul-funk groove that rocks. Next is the Thomas ballad, followed by a song that samples the wurlitzer riff from Charles' "What'd I Say".

From a musical standpoint, I was very, very pleased. The album covers a broad range of styles while still holding to a core sound. He goes into old-time soul, some funky soul, some 80's type pop/r&b...he has a Diane Warren ballad, a 6/8 ballad that's beautiful, and then his original songs come out of nowhere and blows the rest of the stuff away. His voice sounds great and he actually can sing! He makes each of these songs his own. My only beef with the album is that I hate brass and this album has a lot of brass. But that's a personal preference and the rest of it is good enough I can overlook the brass.

Lyrically, the album is strong. The writers that he chose can write well and he sings like he knows what he's talking about. There are a couple of lyrics that are a little over the top for my taste, but again, just preference here. the lyrics to the originals are simple, but they fit what is happening musically, so I can take them in stride.

To wrap it up, the album is a fun, twist and shout kind of record that will make you smile. You will listen to this CD all year and when summer comes it'll be a great summer CD to listen to while you roll down the road with your windows down.

I give the CD a flat A- (4.6 of 5)

So, once again, Taylor wins.

But will he win in the sales division? Well, we'll see.