I’m thinking that the average CanIdol fan won’t get the teaser reference. Long story short, when the Stones appeared on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ in 1967, they were scheduled to sing “Let’s Spend the Night Together”, but that line was considered pretty risqué back then, so the Stones were forced to change the words to “Let’s spend some time together”. This was, of course, parodied on ‘The Simpsons’ when Krusty the Clown asked the Red Hot Chili Peppers to change some of the lyrics to “Give it Away”.
Enough of the history lesson. It’s Rolling Stones week on Canadian Idol, and it starts… now.
Opening Credits
Back at the Bassett Theatre in Toronto, ON, and here’s your host, Ben Mulroney, and what is he wearing? Tonight’s theme is The Rolling Stones (a first for any Idol show), and let’s hope that the contestants rock out. Now here are the judges: Jake Gold, Sass Jordan, Farley Flex and Zack Werner.
Question/mic check time!
Jake – (about the influence of the Rolling Stones) The Stones have had an impact all over the world. They are truly the greatest rock and roll band ever.
Sass – (on whether the women are at a disadvantage) A song is a song and you make it your own.
Flex – (advice for the singers) You need to expect to win.
Zack – Tonight is the chance for people to show whether they’re a wedding singer or a headliner and the next Canadian Idol.
Now here are YOUR nine competitors. And here is a look at the Rolling Stones.
Leading off is Chad Doucette, singing “You Can’t Get What You Want”
Jake – Seeing you rock out is kinda cool. You really took that song and took it to another place.
Sass – You take a song and you always put a Chad flavour into it. It was killer.
Flex – You maintain those Chadisms. You can’t dance though.
Zack – You do the Chad thing. I think you’ve got to find a way to make the big note work for you. It’s all Chad, all the time.
Chad really changes the tune up to fit his singing style, but it comes off as really nasal and I’m not digging the singing. That being said, he’s obviously picked up some lessons from Rock Star, as he strolls through the theatre to do some strutting. But overall, it’s either not indicative of what I thought he could do or a true display of Chad’s limitations. 6.5/10
Ben takes a look at Chad’s tattoo.
Eva and Tyler are up after the
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We’re back, and singing now is Eva Avila. She’ll be doing “Wild Horses”.
Sass – Eva la dragone was breathing some fire tonight.
Flex – That was fantastic.
Zack – I really felt like you’re focused on that Susanna Hoffs moment… you don’t even know who that is.
Jake – I’d love to hear you sing the full version because I love to hear you sing.
Nice move from Eva, switching back to ballads after an upbeat song last week. Of course, she’s got perfect tone of voice and you can see her get lost in the song, which I think plays well with the audience. I can’t say enough good things about her singing, so I’ll stop there. 8.5/10
Now it’s time for Tyler Lewis, and he’s singing “Paint it Black”.
Flex – Noone’s evolving or developing at a faster rate than you are. I’m really pleased.
Zack – I’d like to tip the hat to Saskatchewan for keeping Tyler around long enough so that he could use his pipes and rock that song.
Jake – You blew the roof off this building.
Sass – I think they put something in the water in those small towns because the breed rock stars.
Anyone notice that Tyler went for some syncopation in the first couple of lines and then dropped it after? Well, it was a good call, because it didn’t work. I really would’ve liked to see Tyler rock this a bit more, especially since his voice isn’t as strong as, say, Eva’s. Tyler needs to bring the intensity, and this week it wasn’t there. 6.5/10
The trio of Sarah, Brandon and Ashley are coming up after the
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We’re back, and Ben reintroduces Casey LeBlanc, Ashley Leitao and Amber Fleury, who are now a group called Braided. Given that Casey’s in the group, I’m gonna assume that they’re CanPop in the style of Shaye.
Back to the singers, and singing “I Got the Blues” is Sarah Loverock
Zack – It’s kinda odd to choose a straight blues song.
Jake – I don’t necessarily disagree with Zack in the choice of songs. But you did a great job singing the blues.
Sass – I thought it was cool, but I didn’t think it was fabulous.
Flex – You’ve got a lot of technical talent, but you’ve got to be smart. Pick good songs (for you).
I think Sarah’s in the wrong competition. She’d be perfect for Nashville Star. That being said, I’m not finding anything wrong with the performance, and it was a great job from Ms. Loverock. 7.5/10
Now it’s time for my favourite singer, Brandon Jones. He’s singing “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”.
Jake – I thought you were good enough to be in the top 22. After that, I don’t think you’re good enough to be in the top Nine.
Sass – I think that song needs more of a staccato approach.
Flex – That was a really smart song choice. You stayed your course, but I don’t see you competing beyond where you are.
Zack – I saw a lot of girls enjoying that. I’m voting for you. (I think Zack’s going for reverse psychology here)
Really, really, uneven performance from Brandon. He brought the intensity during the verses, but then his choruses were… boring. And again, he was off key the entire time, which I’ve tried to avoid saying this week since it doesn’t matter as much in rock songs, but it was bad enough that it warrants mention here. Better intensity than Tyler, but the inconsistency and being off key takes enough points away that he’s at the bottom for now. 5.5/10
Ashley Coulter is up now, and she’ll be doing “Gimmie Shelter”.
Sass – That had a great vibe to it. When you kicked it at the end, I coulda used more of that through the whole thing.
Flex – Really good performance.
Zack – I think since Pat Benetar and some others there hasn’t been anybody like you.
Jake – I couldn’t wait for you to hit that note, and I felt it.
Wow, did the stylists give Ashley a femullet? Anyways, for the first half of the song I was wondering what happened to the Ashley from last week, as she wasn’t near as intense – it was like seeing Pat Benetar singing the Rolling Stones. Then at the end she picked it up, but Ashley needs to be “on” all the time, and I don’t think that this performance will be enough to save her this week. 6/10
Rob wants to start you up after the
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We’ve got two cute ladies sitting in “the Comfort Zone”.
And now, singing “Start Me Up” is Rob James
Flex – Nothing timid or unconvincing about that performance.
Zack – You decided to compete, and I’m seeing that in you more and more.
Jake – I really, really enjoyed that. I saw you having the time of your life.
Sass – I loved it because you played against type. Good, good job.
Rob showed a lot of charisma this week, but apparently at the expense of singing on key. At some point he just lost the tone and had a hard time getting it back. But the difference between Rob, Tyler and Brandon is you saw him keep up that intensity throughout the song, and while I would’ve preferred to see a little more strutting with this song, it was a good showing from a guy who normally plants his feet in one spot. 7/10
Steffi D will pump (clap) you up after the
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Here’s Steffi D., and she’s singing “Miss You”
Zack – There is a little bit of this Andrea Martin thing going on here. I dig you completely now that Nancy Silverman’s gone. OK, he didn’t say that part about Nancy, but you KNOW that’s what he meant.
Jake – You actually pay attention to the lyrics, and you seem to live out the lyrics every time.
Sass – I thought you sang that really, really well.
Flex – We need a lot of people like you around.
Theatrics? In abundance this week. Singing? Probably about as “technically” sound as you can get? Intensity? About Casey Leblanc level, which is to say, not much at all. The thing with Steffi is that I’m not really expecting her to come out and kill the song. Lowered expectations I suppose, but her performance tonight was about what I was expecting from her, and we’ll see if it’s enough to get Steffi to next week. 6.5/10
Ben gushes over Steffi’s “new” look.
We’re wrapping things up with Craig after the
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Our final performance is Craig Sharpe, and he’s singing “Time is on My Side”.
Jake – Nice touch with the rose to Sass. All I can say is, “wow”.
Sass – It was amazing. It sounded like we were in the sixties, and that was cool.
Flex – You didn’t see Zack reaching for the rose.
Zack – You’re a bit of a throwback. If you were British, the Robbie Williams vibe, you’d be a star. Every once in a while on this show you discover something brilliant, and you are brilliant.
This song was much better than last week’s performance, because Craig doesn’t sound like a screeching cat. I’m not sure what he’s saying though, by giving roses away to little girls and Sass. Still, while it was an excellent vocal display, I couldn’t help feeling like I was watching a lounge act, or Barry Manilow in Vegas, something of that nature. 7/10
Now it’s time for the Name Brand Cereal recap and now… it’s time to vote!
And now, because we’ve got so much time left, we get the Canadian Idol band playing us out, and the singers and judges doing SNL-like hugs onstage as we roll credits.
