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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > November > 11
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
11/11: David Archuleta’s album out today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I gotta say that MJ is making me feel lazy! Actually, I have had three other non-“Idol” stories to juggle today and am only now getting to this blog. Shame on me!
Anyway, here’s what’s going on:
-Of course, we have to acknowledge David Archuleta and his first album out today. it’s ranked #5 right now on Amazon.com. behind Enya, Taylor Swift, David Cook (at #3 and out Nov. 18) and the Twilight movie soundtrack.
Ken Barnes over at Idol Chatter liked the album, gave it three stars.
The songs — fashioned by writers ranging from Disney teen-pop specialists to the co-writer of Olivia Newton-John’s Physical, ’60s Australian rocker Steve Kipner (a teen idol in his own time and place with his band Steve & The Board) — suit him well. They sound alike for the most part, just skirting the edges of blandness, but it’s an unfailingly pleasant sound, a lush cushion for Archuleta’s sincere emoting and smooth falsetto glides.
Jim Farber at The New York Daily News also gave the album three stars.:
This has nothing to do with the album but his description of Archuleta is apt:
Though Archuleta is actually 17, he looks no more than 12. And, as a personality, he seems innocent enough to make the kids in “High School Musical” look like embittered crack ho’s by comparison. The twinkly singer exudes a presexual purity more appropriate to the puppy love of ’50s pop than anything from today.
Farber’s a discerning fan and musical expert—just check this graf out:
It might have achieved even more of that had the album’s producers not larded Archuleta’s vocals with so much echo. One of the singer’s most appealing qualities has always been the slight dustiness in his tone, the bare scratch that hints at soul. That, and his dead-on ability to connect to the emotion behind a song, made Archuleta the best singer in this year’s competition - the guy who should have won. Here, though, they’ve planed down his timbre, losing some of the intriguing sadness that, no doubt, lost him the competition but which made him a deeper singer.
MJ notes in her blog that David’s dad “Jeff appeared to be very involved in the production and song selection process for David’s album.” David had his hand in writing four of the songs.
Jeff notes there were some differing opinions with the label, and that he and David had to negotiate and compromise on songs. He stresses, however, that the label really tried to be fair. He says they did listen and let him and David have creative and production input on at least half the songs.
-And though we see “Idol” related stuff on YouTube all the time already, Fremantle has signed a deal with YouTube, according to this report.
Video sharing site YouTube has inked a deal with Fremantle Media, the producer of “American Idol” and similar programs, Reuters reports.
London-based Fremantle and YouTube — now owned by Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) — will work together to produce programs to show on YouTube. They’ll split the revenue from the shows.
-“Idol” producers say they didn’t mean to try to block Josiah Leming’s Warner Bros. album due out in January.
In Leming’s case, his contract with 19 expired “a few months ago,” the spokesperson continued, “so we are not sure what controversy people are talking about.” And in an e-mail, the spokesperson told MTV News that “19 Entertainment wishes Josiah the best of luck on his album release.”
In other words, much ado about nothing from the original New York Post report.
