First things first, they're fighting for two original tunes this time around; and I'm interested in seeing how this works out.
Toby is a bastard, but he's a funny bastard, making Dilana run around naked.
Oh and Nirvana returns. Dear God Why?
The Reviews:
Patrice Pike - Original, "Beautiful Thing": Much better fashion choice this week. The song itself is kinda 80s cool, but I don't much like the sound of her voice in it, which considering she wrote it I'm not so happy with. She's REALLY nervous, and the guitar is gluing her in place. She's also a little flat and lacking in energy and expressiveness in spots. Out of breath almost. Finally near the end of the song she gets comfortable and relaxes into it. She's not bad here, but she's just not that great. I'm thinking bottom three again.
Magni Asgiersson - Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit": Why, oh why pick this song? Nirvana has been the kiss of death to all these rockers whenever they've tried it. Even when they've survived, their nirvana covers have mostly sucked hard. I dunno, maybe Magni is jsut trying to show he can do things the others can't. He chooses to go for a straightup cover here, I'm not sure that's the smartest move, BUT, he's got the raw balls out rock for it; and he's working the crowd well. Man that boy can scream and shout. Not quite enough breathy whine in the verse, but hey, he aint Kurt (and he aint dead either). Great energy, great intensity, and he's smirking. You can see him just thinking "Yeah, I can do this, and the rest of you can't".
Ryan Star - Original, "Back of Your Car": Make or break here. This is his perfect chance to shine, or to kill himself. He starts it off hard and intense. The song is great for him. Sonuds very much late 90s power college rock. Bush could have done this, or the GooGoo dolls, or matchbox 20; or it could have been updated for Franz Ferdinand or really any other modern alternative band. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's professional and polished, and kinda cool. Great energy, great intensity, great emotion. It's a decent song overall, and he really rocked the performance hard. Throwing the guitar off jsut after Tommy told Magni he shoudl have done it.. I dunno kinda off putting really, but it actually FIT with the tune. I'm guessing he gets the encore here.
Storm Large - Aerosmith, "Cryin": Tough song man. Steven Tyler is a rock god, and you can't even hope to do what he does; so you HAVE to make it your own. If she doesnt nail this, I wouldnt be surprised to see her first bottom three here. Okay now, she looks HOT. Great look, great wardrobe choice. She opens the song as much smoother, more soul and less growl than Aerosmith, and she carrys that style into the refrain. All power and smoothness and soul here. Great way to work the cord. Then she grunges it up in the bridge, though maybe a bit too much drama. Just GREAT POWER... oooh a little flat on the reprise, and she kind of loses her breath near the end. Overall though, great performance. The only thing is, I was hoping for a spectacular finish and she jsut kind let it go. I think it was her prior wildness that raise my expectations so high, and it's hurting her now, but hey she still kicks ass.
Dilana Robichaux - The Police, "Every Breath You Take":One of the crepiest songs ever written, but of course people ignore that and play it as a love song. Dilana is both creepy and sexy so it's perfect for her. Actually you could almost say Dilana has the female version of Stings voice, only better. Wild and crazy fashion choises here, I found the fake lashes distracting. Oh and those boots lifted straight from Siouxie Sioux were cool. She goes for a pretty straightforward cover, and she executes it well. She brings some nice power and energy into the refrain then smoothes back into the sweet, and liked it. Repeating her name over and over again was ehh, no; but other than that not bad. Her performance was maybe a bit mild but still very cool.
Toby Rand - Eric Clapton, "Layla": I dunno, taking Layla and making it into an alternative rock song... ballsy, but I dont know... Bad choice on the fashion here, rocking the emo hoodie. Though I suppose since he did the song almsot like the Killers would've done it... Oh and now we see why the hoodie, as he strips down bare chested and punks it up. Very cool. Great energy and a very good intense performance.
Lukas Rossi - The Killers "All These Things That I've Done": Don't care for the song, but the killers are natural territory for Lukas... The pressure is really on him here; he knows that he's been on the edge of the bottom a lot; he knows the band doesn't really dig his style; he's been nervous the last few weeks.. though last week was pretty good. He COULD be more emo here, but it would involve actually crying into his journal of bad poetry onstage (oh comeon you know he's got one). He does a fairly straight cover of the tune, but with his growly gravelly style coming up. Decent energy, but maybe a little quiet. Almost losing his voice in a couple of spots. I'm not impressed by his performance here, staring at the band, and vamping it up to the chicks. I don't think the band is impressed either. I'm guessing he's in the bottom three here for the first time.
So far Lukas, Toby, Storm, and Dilana have managed to stay out of the bottom three, but obviously that can't be the case tonight. Based solely on performance, Patrice is a lock for the bottom three, and I'm almost certain she's the one eliminated this week... As to the other though... I jsut don't know. I thought Lukas was mediocre here, but not too bad, and the chicklets like him. Tobys singing wasn't great, and the arrangement was weird, but his performance was really cool...
If I have to be nailed down, I'd say Patrice, Toby, and Lukas (and the first two are bottom three before the close of the show). Tough one really, but I AM sure that Patrice will be eliminated this week.
