Idol Chit-Chat
This is your place to discuss all things "American Idol." The performances, the judges, the past contestants — it’s all right here.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Randy CD Review: Should You Join the "Club"?


Dictionary.com defines club as a group of persons organized for a social, literary, athletic, political, or other purpose.

But with Randy Jackson’s Music Club, the only purpose seems to be because Randy said so. Because the music has no defining tie other then Randy, which produces a real hodgepodge of stuff—and not all good stuff…

The CD kicks off with the high energy “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow” with Paula Abdul. I’ve already told you many times that I love this song so it gets the CD off to a great start. But if you’re looking for the album to sustain that momentum, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

The next track, “Just Walk On By” does follow nicely as Joss Stone gets nice and funky with a great bass line. Trisha Covington, Keke Wyatt and Kiley Dean take the next one, “What Am I So Afraid Of,” a lightweight R&B track that’s been done a million times before, but it’s still decent.

But then, the CD takes a complete left turn with “Like A” by Crunk Squad featuring Killah. On a rap CD, the song wouldn’t be so bad—although I hate the overuse of the vocoder voice machine. Just sing it, dawg!—but following the first three songs, it just doesn’t go…

The CD then gets back on the main route with Kelli Love’s “Who’s Gonna Love You Now,” a lightweight R&B ballad in the same vein as the third song. But just as you get back in the groove, the CD takes two or three left turns and goes blues with “Wang Dang Doodle,” by Sam Moore, Keb Mo and Angie Stone. I’ve got nothing against this type of music, it just—again—doesn’t go and Randy overproduces the chorus as he allows Stone to screech a little…

But no worries, the AC vibe comes right back with “Something to Believe In” by the great combination of Van Hunt, Jon McLaughlin and Jason Mraz. But again Randy overproduces with too much guitar on the chorus. And the song sounds a little too reminiscent of Bryan Adams. But it’s still a solid track…

You might think that since the next track comes from John Rich (and Anthony Hamilton), that the CD may be taking another left turn. But this song is more AC than country and it’s a really pretty ballad. John Rich has a gorgeous voice and his harmonies with the rougher sounding voice of Hamilton are perfect. And Randy’s restrained production works well…

But, unfortunately, we can’t bask in the song’s beauty for very long before Randy goes R&B again with “My R&B” by Brandi Esco. It’s another formulaic song that basically spends the entire chorus namedropping R&B artists—just like Randy himself…

Then it’s time for the Katharine McPhee-Elliott Yamin “duet,” “Real Love.” I put duet in quotation marks because the two don’t harmonize and Katharine pretty much admitted on her blog that she didn’t sing with Elliott. The song is not bad as it has a nice funky beat. I would’ve just liked to have heard the two of them work together as opposed to singing different parts of the song. And remember what I said about Randy allowing Angie Stone to screech? Apparently, Randy thinks allowing female singers to wail uncontrollably over the music is hot. He would be wrong…

Especially since all of that unnecessary wailing leads into the CD’s best track, ‘Willing to Try” by Richie Sambora, Travis Tritt and Lucy Woodward. Bo Bice fans will remember this song from Bo’s first CD (It was the strongest cut, actually.). But before the Bo fans get upset about a remake, they should remember that Sambora actually wrote this song and he does a great job with it (although I don’t like the lyric change in the chorus.). And Travis Tritt is the perfect partner (I never realized how much Bo sounds like him.) to give Richie the opportunity to show off those patented harmonies. But just as the song is supposed to gain momentum, it takes a nosedive as Lucy Woodward joins the song completely unnecessarily, other than to give Randy a female voice to wail over the music. It’s Richie’s song after all, so I think he deserved to sing the climax. Richie and Travis do pull it up a little for the ending, but it never gets back on course. I would love to hear Richie and Travis duet this one without any Randy interference…

The CD closes with a gospel track, “I Understand,” by Kim Burrell, Rance Allen, Bebe Winans, Hezekia Walker’s Love Fellowship Tabernacle Church Choir and Mariah Carey, although her part is a VERY small one (Randy’s famous namedropping strikes again.). It’s a strong gospel song that lulls you into a nice rhythm—which Randy then promptly destroys with an unnecessary preaching interlude. I guess he likes it when men wail over the music too…

As a whole, the CD is not bad. I guess I was just expecting more with all of that star power and that great first track.

And it does make me question Randy’s critiques even more than I already do. However, it does help me understand why he never appreciates the subtle performances…

You can listen to “Randy Jackson’s Music Club Vol. 1” yourself here

Be sure to tell me what you think…