Idolatry - Ain't That Asking For Trouble - The Music of Stevie Wonder

If I had to pick a Stevie Wonder composition to sum up my feelings going into Stevie Wonder night on American Idol, it would be "Ain't That Asking for Trouble,"the B-side to his 1966 cover of Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind." We were looking at probably the ultimate singer-songwriter's catalog, a guy who not only wrote the greatest songs from the late 60's to the end of the 70's and then morphed into a hit record machine in the 80's. On top of that, he could, and did, sing everything. Don't even bother mentioning the singing school he inspired (JayKay of Jamiroquai, Thicke, J-Timberlake, Justin Guarini among others). On a more personal note, as discussed in other posts here, Stevie is one of my all-time pantheon artists, more beloved than Led Zepplin or Lynyrd Skynyrd for example.

So, I entered the show with trepidation. Especially since, to date, the people who sang from the Wonder catalog on Idol this season had butchered his work pretty thoroughly. The problem, as I see it, is soul. Or Funk. Everything, even the slow ballads, have the funk in the trunk. And barring a select few, the Idolators don't have funk. And two of the people who would have been best at producing the funk got booted off last week. I'm still in shock and denial about Gedeon going home before some of the people who are left. Kinnik going bothered me, but intellectually, I got it. Not enough votes, one shaky performance and maybe a lack of IT. But Ged had it going on and still got booted. I think we'll see him again. Kinnik, I dunno about, but definitely more Gedeon.

Anyrate, I was prepared to see my favorites butchered. But that's what the theme nights are all about, right? If we murder some classics, we will put the wheat over here and the chaff can go home, revealed as the one note fakers they really are. And I think we did this, to some extent this week. We certainly helped me sort who I like and who I don't. If you aren't down with the Stevie Wonder catalog, you can't be my Idol. It's that simple. The quality of the body of work is such that if you cannot appreciate it, you obviously don't know anything about music. And my musicians must be, at the very minimum, musically informed. I could probably write a 2000 word tangent here about this being why I like Kid Rock and J-Timberlake but not N'sync or Linkin Park (though the album with Jay-Z raised them in my estimation). I dunno that there is interest in reading that, so the short answer is that the first group understand their place in music and create new space while the second group just don't seem to do it. Any rate, that's far enough from Idol. This week, rather than picking who's leaving, I'm just gonna grade em out. The people on the lowest grading tier are who I think SHOULD go home. Not who I think WILL go home.

Ace Young - Do I Do
This had disaster written all over it. First off, Ace had had two shaky performances going in, relying on his good looks and well controlled falsetto to get this far. Additionally, he picked one of the original tracks from 1982's Original Musiquarium 1, which makes it a weird pick in and of itself. He picks one of the four new tracks off a greatest hits and favorite songs disk. Dangerous territory. On the flip side, Ace is kind of in the Stevie Wonder School of Singing, so maybe there is hope. Overall, he was pretty good. The song was in his range. He was rough in patches, but mostly pretty good. The judges were predictable and therefore below mention. I give Ace a C+. I think he is in trouble of going home, despite not being the worst for the following reasons:

1. This theme was in his wheelhouse, so he should have scored better than a C+.
2. He went first and didn't knock it out of the park. There is bad history here vis-a-vis voting.
3. His time might just be up. I don't believe it's up now, but it draws nigh.
   

The Pickler - Blame it On the Sun
One of my all time favorite Stevie Tracks from my all time favorite Stevie album, Talking Book (which I'm listening to as I write this, so if you want the multiple sensory approach, I'm up to Superstition right now). First off, she needs to go. She doesn't know Stevie's work and didn't really seem that interested in learning. She played the bumpkin (if Flav gave her a nickname, would it be Bumkin?) to the hilt and just didn't seem that into the whole thing. Then she goes out and commits assault on the verse. My wife, unfamiliar with the song, asked if she was murdering it. I said it was First Degree Assault. Then came the chorus, one of the prettiest in the Wonder catalog. The charge got upped to Second Degree Manslaughter. It wasn't dead, but it wasn't going to make it through the night and it was directly because of The Pickler. She even managed to do that country vocal trick on it. You know, the vocal loop-de-loop only country people do. Completely icky and out of place here. Judges were unimpressed. I got bored with it, just like half of America according to Simon. Now, Pickler fans will suggest this is song choice. I don't agree. I would've loved to see one of the good singers in the competition take on this song. Bring the feeling to the chorus. I think, for me, a large part of it is about believability. If you don't make it real for me, I'm not buying. Grade it out as an F-. My thoughts on her going home this week:

1. She laid an absolute stinker.
2. She was early in the show.
3. But, she has only had one real stinker to date.
4. She's cute, especially when she doesn't move or talk.
5. A girl that she's a clone of won last year.
   

So, I guess I'm saying she richly deserves to go home, but it's not gonna happen.

Elliot Yamin - Knocks Me Off My Feet
From 1976's Songs in the Key of Life, part of the triumvirate of great Stevie Albums. This was not Elliot's best night. He was a little too safe. But he never makes a bad decision singing a song. There may be something you don't like about his voice, but he has really impressive control of it and a ridiculously high IQ when it comes to the choices a singer has to make. So, even a blah performance from him is still a B. Stevie summed it up best himself. Elliot makes it all believable. He isn't going anywhere for a long time. Top 6 definitely and a better than zero chance of winning the whole thing.

Mandisa - Don't You Worry About a Thing
From Innervisions, also among the three best Wonder albums. This week, I am troubled by something I see in Mandisa. When she is on, she's the best they have, as we saw last week. But she has trouble putting a verse a chorus and a breakdown together. This week, rough around the start, good chorus, great job breaking it down. We've had this before, where she either is weak at the start or too strong at the end. Worrying from my final two pick. I wonder if there isn't something in her prep ritual that isn't working, because this is the second time it was the start of the song that was rough. I dunno what to make of it all. C+. Comedy with Seacrest and her shoes gets an A. I nearly fell off the couch when Seacrest got down to take off her shoes. Funny. She's not going home this week. Too many people who don't have her talent, even as balky as it is. Few have her upside potential.

Bucky - Superstition
This had me very scared. Very tough song and very easy to go wrong and I'm not that in love with Bucky's voice to start with. Plus, he's country and there's no funk in country. But Bucky won me over a little in the interview. He said he didn't know Stevie but when he heard Superstition he wanted to go out and buy the album. He said it was the same feeling he got when he heard Elvis's Suspcious Minds, which helped me get into Elvis too. Now, before you get on my case for a double standard here (against the Pickler), the difference is effort. Bucky comes from small town North Carolina. I suspect there are two radio stations there and they play both kinds of music: Country and Western. But he's willing to experience new stuff and embrace it. Pickler is a willful hick. If Bucky were from New York, I think he wouldn't be the same hick he is being from Rockingham. He appreciated the Stevie catalog and embraced it. Big points in my book for being open to the new.

The performance itself was not that bad. I was enjoying his vocal until he growled the chorus a little. This is the kind of choice error that Elliot doesn't make. The overall effect though was pretty good and that was surprising. I grade it out as a B. Uncurved, it would be even with Ace, but since Ace was in his comfort zone and Bucky very far outside it, I curved Ace down and Bucky up. Bucky might go home. Why?

1. There's only so much upside here.
2. There was room for people to not like the performance.
3. He's been in the bottom group before.
   

I don't think he's going home, but it wouldn't shock me. Of course, I'm surprised he's still here when it came down to him and Gedeon, but that's another story.

Melissa - Lately
Few things here. First, congratulations on covering your belly. I'm happy. Two, her voice is shot. She made a yeoman's effort in getting through the song, and I think the song change was driven because she doesn't have full command of her instrument this week. I think her original song probably would have been I Wish or Sir Duke. That said, this wasn't too bad. But you could hear her voice failing her in some places. Three, Melissa had been ahead of the boring white chicks by not singing ballads. She joined them this week. I think the voice problem probably drove that. I'm going C-. She could go home because:

1. She was the last girl in and it is widely felt that the girls are a weaker group than the boys.
2. Her voice falling apart is troubling, looking forward. If you're going to make money with her, that means touring, and bad voice doesn't work on tour.
   
3. Song choice. She wasn't a boring white chick, although she was always the last one to my mind. She was boring this week, so I don't see any reason to keep her and McPhee around, and McPhee isn't having voice problems, is better looking, and is a better singer overall.
   

She could go home. I think Pickler is more deserving, as is Covais, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Lisa - Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours
Little girl went Old School. SSD is from before Stevie's really great period, but it's a good song, nonetheless. I think it was a good song choice, since they are always bitching about her singing too old. Sing younger Stevie, quell that complaint. I was a little bored, still, but as always, it's obvious that Lisa from the OC can sing. And she looks the part. Cowell creamed himself. Paula too. Randy was a little down on it, due to the boredom factor. I think, in this case, it's due to age. She's 17. That's not that interesting. No missed car payments yet. I give the performance an B+, because I was bored until she Whitney'ed the end of it up, and that just doesn't do anything for me. She's not going home. Too young, too pretty, too talented. She might could win it all too.

Chicken Little - Part Time Lover
Sorry about that. It's too easy and not mine. But it is pretty apt. On to the nonsense. First off, Part Time Lover is from the hit factory period of Stevie's career, so we know a lot about it, just from the 1985 dating. Monster hit, but not really vital or important. Much bigger hit than say Jesus People of America but nowhere near the impact. The kids, for the most part, picked from the more hit laden, less interesting periods of Stevie's career (pre-1971 and post-1977). The adults, for the most part, picked from albums between Where I'm Coming From to Songs in the Key of Life. I think it's revealing a little.

Someone please tell me what the Hell 16 year old, white bread Kevin Covais knows about being a Part Time Lover. Nothing. And it just continues to come home to me that if they make him the Idol, he will have a complete non-career, producing one hit of unintentionally ironic booty music. I will own it, but only because my favorite song is "You've Got the Touch" from Boogie Nights. Will someone just go and pop the cherry on this kid, so he can be more believable.

The outfit was something special too. The white sneakers appalled my wife. For me, they made his grey baggy slacks look like sweatpants. And here he is, rolled out of bed, to sing us a sexy song, with a slight lisp, in a Broadway styling, that bears no resemblance to any real experience he's had or even imagine.

Now people might be thinking I have it in for Kevin. Like I just don't like him. That he could have picked anything from the Stevie catalog and I would complain about believability. That might be true, but it is a VERY big catalog. What about Uptight? Maybe My Cherie Amour? Heaven Help Us All? Something a little less like real world adult love. You know what, I think I do have it in for Kevin. I just don't like him, his singing, his look, his lisp, and his soul.

The singing the performance was technically pretty good. I've never said he's not good on a technical scale. He did lisp a little. But most importantly, he sucked the soul out of it. And that's unpardonable. F-. I feel better now. I F'd him. He SHOULD go home. He could stay because:

1. Girls 9-14 are a big part of the audience and they like him.
   
2. He's no longer splitting that demographic with Makar.
   
3. He's technically proficient.
4. Too Broadway for Idol hasn't entered the discussion yet.
5. Randy and Paula keep encouraging him, for different reasons. Paula encourages everyone. Randy is amused by the soulless kid. I wish my sense of Irony was that highly developed.
   

Katherine - Until You Come Back To Me
More boring stuff from the best of the boring white chicks. From the period before Stevie was writing his own stuff. I was so fascinated with her outfit that I pretty much missed the whole song, which was boring but competent. I think it was maybe a little cabaret, but not too the point where they'd say anything about it. She's a good looking girl, but she wore a dress that basically said, "I have nice boobs, but the rest is a mess." High waisted and formless below the boobs, it made her look big and boxy with a giant ass. This is a good looking girl. She doesn't need to hide all that. Simon compared the vocal to Kelly Clarkson, which I buy, because she was a very boring white chick when she was on the show, too. I guess that merits a B+. The fashion gets a D.

Taylor - Living For the City
Michael McDonald sings Stevie Wonder. Oddly it worked really well for me. I liked the whole thing and felt he brought that vital Taylor-ness to the whole piece. Taylor is 29 and he picked a song from Innervisions, part of the three. And he rocked it. And it was real. I wish he had gone right after Covais or right before, so you could see, in stark contrast, what I'm talking about here.

This thought occurred to me during his performance. I would like to see Taylor and Yamin sing the exact same song. They have similar voices, kind of, and are best suited to the same milieu of songs. Shouldn't be a Michael McDonald song, but something contemporaneous to the Doobie Brothers. I give Taylor the night. A++. Best performance of the night and he's not going home.

Paris - All I Do
Newer song, from 1980, and the last really good Stevie Album, though this is post disco Stevie and less vital. Paris rocked it hard. We knew she could do this, we were just waiting for it to happen. She did it. This is the Paris that people thought could win this thing. Grade: A, 0% chance of her going home this week.

Chris - Higher Ground
Love this song when Stevie does it. Love the Chili Peppers version. Love the funk of it all. Chris rocked it out, attempting to blend the two versions, with probably 60% Peppers 40% Wonder. It worked. It rocked hard and it fit him perfectly. I didn't like the false nervousness of Chris, wondering what he would pull from the catalog until he discovered Higher Ground. The catalog is full of stuff that would work in his milieu. Overall, my pick to win it all hit it very solid, A+. Also, no chance of him going home.

In summation:

• The following people should sleep well: Chris, Paris, Taylor, Lisa, Mandisa, Yamin
• The following people did the most they could to avoid elimination: Bucky, Ace, Katharine
• People who should worry: Melissa, The Pickler
• Person who should pack: Kevin

I'm not making Kevin the stone cold lock. I don't have a lot of confidence this week, so I'm not gonna risk your house.