Blake CD Review: A Familiar Ring

There’s no doubt that Blake Lewis is the most original “Idol” contestant ever. However, I can’t really say that his album, “Audio DayDream” is all that original.

When compared to other Idols, it is absolutely completely different, but when compared to today’s music, it does have a bit of a familiar ring to it. I guess that’s what happens when your main collaborator is a Timbaland collaborator (Ryan Tedder of One Republic).

But in this case, that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a very good thing…

Reaching into the Justin Timberlake playbook, Blake gives us interludes between some of the songs, which personally I would have preferred he leave off. However, the first one, “Silence Is Golden…(Intro)” is a perfect setup for the first single, “Break Anotha.” I know that “Break” is not everyone’s cup of tea and I can see how it would drive some people crazy, but I love it…

“Gots to Get Her” actually borrows from “Puttin’ On the Ritz.” How does that work, you might ask? Quite well, actually, as it makes for a very catchy tune. I could do without the vocoded ADD as the interlude, though, because it kind of takes away from the song…

The chorus of “Know My Name” is a little weak, but the beat is so catchy, you hardly notice. In fact it’s those infectious beats that save most of the songs on the CD. The guest rap on this one is completely unnecessary…

“How Many Words” is a great song with a real late-80s feel. One reviewer compared some of the tracks to Erasure, and that’s a great comparison. I would say this song is Erasure meets Breathe, if you remember them…

“Surrender” starts out pretty weak, and all of the verses are weak, but it has a good chorus. “Hate 2 Love Her” sounds a little similar to “Surrender,” but it’s still a good song…

A bad interlude leads us into the CD’s only real ballad, “Without You.” It’s pretty, but it’s a little out of Blake’s range…

“Here’s My Hello” sounds like it came straight from a late 80s/early 90s Erasure CD. And since I love Erasure, I love this…

At this point of listening to the CD, I was pretty excited. I was already drafting in my head what I was going to say about the best “Idol” CD recorded. And then I heard the Chris Richardson collaboration, “What’cha Got 2 Lose.” Blake, I know he’s your friend, but let him record his own album. The song is bad with way too much vocoder (the computer that changes your voice, a la T-Pain). Even the beat can’t save this one because it’s lousy, and so is the chorus. Plus it drags on for WAY too long…

Blake doesn’t do himself any favors with the next song either as he does his worst Prince impersonation on “She’s Making Me Lose It.” The synthesizers are weird and it too drags on for what seems like an eternity…

Then, Blake feels the need to remind us what made him famous as he does a beatboxing interlude called “Bshorty Grabs the Mike.” I think Blake is a great beatboxer, but this is a little weak…

Thankfully, the CD does not go completely down the tubes as we get the most Erasure-like song, the beautiful “End of the World.” Blake wisely chooses to stay on that path with two more good ones, “1000 Miles” and “I Got U”…

The CD ends with “…I Choose Noise (Outro),” which is a little strange, but I guess you can’t really have an intro without an outro…

If you don’t like highly produced pop music, you will hate “Audio DayDream.” But if you don’t mind some synthesizers with well-placed beatboxing, then you’ll love it. If I were to give it a grade, I’d give it a very strong A-.

The minus is for those two lousy songs, but they shouldn’t be enough to scare you away from buying this one…

You can listen to the CD for yourself here. Be sure to post a comment or send an e-mail to hdstaytuned@hotmail.com after you listen to it. I’m anxious to hear what you think…