Well.
That’s one way to open the show. :) Read on for my take on this week.
Tommy is perhaps the world’s flashiest drummer, isn’t he? :) Boy can pound some skins. Patrice was...OK. Higher Ground is not really a fit for her vocal style.
Josh nailed Santeria, but. Big but. Why is he still here? Because he’s a good singer, better than those who have been eliminated. But. He has no business fronting a rock band. He’s too smooth.
Dilana CRUSHED that Bad Company song. Just crushed it. She’s simply amazing. As she was standing in front of the guys singing we said to each other “Look, she’s fronting Supernova.” Nice to see that they picked up on it. She’s the one. This week proved she can do straight rock & roll like Can’t Get Enough of Your Love without any of the “I’m the weird girl” vibe. Just smokey rock. When she hit the higher note, it was Robert Plant-esque, which is perfect since Bad Company was a Zeppelin clone and the only other band on Swan Song Records. She looked amazing too. She’s a little older than everyone else, but she matches the band, and she’s aged like good whiskey. Tommy said a couple weeks ago ‘Dilana...I wanna.” Me too, buddy. :)
Toby did Pennyroyal Tea. It’s a hard song to do. He wasn’t bad or anything. Again, not really arresting my attention, more of a generic alterna-guy.
Zayra - Umm. Yeah. OK, her arrangement of 867-5309 was inspired. Turning it into a crushing punk song was brilliant. Her vocal didn’t match the song at all. She didn’t hold a single note on key. Her melody line didn’t match the arrangement. Yes, she’s wild to watch, she’s a brilliant producer, but I have no interest in ever hearing her sing. Donna loves her as a Bjork-alike. I hate Bjork, so there’s that.
Magni was great on Clocks, but he’s not a frontman for this kind of supergroup. He reminds me of the guy from Staind, and not just the baldness. He’s a subdued rocker, so he needs a band that disappears into the background. Supernova is not that band.
Jill Gioa SUCKED. She stank the place up by ruining Don’t You (Forget About Me). It’s like she has no idea what she’s singing, she never listened to the words. She had a “performance” in mind and she was going to do it no matter if it fit the song or not. Her scream is weak, weak weak. She’s not a rocker in any way. I love that Tommy Lee called her on removing all the sexy from the song by changing the key.
Ryan Star frigging killed on Losing My Religion, I mean he knocked it straight out of the park. I’ve never cared about Ryan before. The stripped down piano/vocal was perfect, and he actually seemed like he was living the lyric. He absolutely owned it. Screw R.E.M. Amateurs. :)
Lukas was way off, he knew it, Supernova knew it. His confidence was shattered by Ryan’s amazing performance and Tommy talking about how he could hear Ryan’s voice on a piano track he wrote. The camera caught a shot of his face and and he was scared to death. Donna said that it shows how fragile his ego is, he’s a great talent, but he’s so easily rattled. Not good.
I was DREADING Storm turning Changes into a ballad after watching the reality segment on the web yesterday, but the arrangement snuck up on me and worked. Best her voice has sounded so far, and she looked great with that whole self-control. She looked like a caged animal. In a suit.
Dana really surprised me on Baba O’Riley. She did good, and the band kind of picked up on the fact that she’s on her way. But. She’s not quite there yet.
Performance of the night was Ryan for sure, then maybe Dilana. Also that house band. Those guys are simply amazing musicians. I think they did Clocks better than Coldplay, and as huge, as inspired a Who fan as I am, I almost agreed with Donna when she said they did Baba O’Riley better than The Who.
They should make a Rock Star: Supernova album ala American Idol. Do 12 tracks - 6 with Supernova and the winner, and six with whoever ends up in positions 2-7, with the house band backing them. If Idol can sell that watered down pop crap, then the folks at Rock Star should be able to sell with performers like this.
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