. . . is hosted by an Australian, with an Australian Simon Cowell named “Dicko.”

Snark aside, it’s actually a pretty solid talent show. I watched the first half of last week’s Elton John/Bernie Taupin-themed show and enjoyed it a lot. I later watched the second half and was wowed once again by the first half.

Sixwire is a country band that would appeal to the adult contemporary crowd. Dicko says they’re custom made for the housewives, and he might not be far off with that. However, they’re really talented, had a great original song, could harmonize, and performed well.

The Clark Brothers are three country boys with a guitar, a slide guitar (maybe?) and a mandolin (I think). The lead guitarist is the lead singer with astonishingly good looks. They can harmonize, they can play their instruments, even if the mandolin player looks like he’s in pain through each song, and they’re just plain good.

Tres Bien thinks its a Brit-pop band trapped out of time, except for the fact that no member of the band was alive hen the Beatles were still together. They emulate the look and the sound of that era fairly well, even if they also look like a bunch of the biggest geeks you’ve ever seen attempt to take the stage.

Light of Doom is the first breakdown of the show, and a bad bad harbinger. They’re Heavy Metal Hansen. It’s awkward to watch. it’s a band of 12 year old long-haired boys screaming metal. You don’t want to be too rough on them since they are 12 year olds, but they’re nowhere near up to the level of the other contestants. They have skills, don’t get me wrong. They’re astonishingly good for their age, but there’s still a certain straightforwardness to their music and a lack of imagination that won’t come for years yet. For now, it looks like they’re dressing up and playing pretend, with the posing, the head banging, and all the rest.

Things continued to go downhill.

Dot Dot Dot weren’t bad, but the lead singer is distracting in the way he tries so desperately to look like an older Green Day front man.

The bluegrass band whose name has something to do with Jack Daniels liquor is the cutesy band. They don’t fit in. They shouldn’t win. They’re solid, but not spectacular. But they’re unique in the field, so they’ll get votes for a couple more weeks.

The Muggs were an awful southern rock band. The vocal on the “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” made me wince with every lyric. It sounded exactly like their original song, with slightly different screamed-out lyrics. Ick.

The punk chick band, Rocket, played “Rocket Man.” But of course. Subtlety is not this show’s strong suit. The original song was great. The Elton John cover was weak in the vocals. She sounded tired. It’s tough to stuff all those words in while you’re bouncing around on stage, though.

Thankfully, things ended up on a VERY HIGH note, as “Denver and the Mile High Orchestra” did their two songs, and were spectacular. It’s like the Bryan Setzer Orchestra, but with a lead who plays a trumpet instead of a guitar. The lead singer needs to dance a little more with the music, but I like his attempts to be like Michael Buble or Frank Sinatra, depending on the part. Sure, it’s a bit of a spectacle and not a sure fire radio hit, but I liked them.

Wow, suddenly I feel like I’m in mid-season American Idol mode, except without the patience for spellchecking.

The next episode is on Fox tonight.

This has been another NaBloWriMo-friendly entry.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 9th, 2007 at 8:42 am and is filed under TV, American Idol. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.