Elliot's New Record

I posted a few days ago (found below) on Elliot Yamin of American Idol fame and his new single "Movin On". It's a great song and I encourage you to buy it if you dig that style (Pop, R&B, Funk, Soul, etc). Recently his whole record was released and I was very excited to purchase it since I seriously believe he is the best singer that American Idol has discovered. Unfortunately my feelings about his whole record are not as positive.

In short, I was disappointed with it. Bad production (except for the single), subpar songwriting, and cheesy, low budget programming. It kind of sounds like the record co. didn't want to spend that much money on him and it shows. To be sure, Elliot is an amazing singer, but if the songs don't really speak it doesn't matter a lick. It doesn't even seem that he gets to show off his amazing vocal chops that much. It's like the songs have constricted him.

One of my biggest pet peeves these days is the obligatory "slap President Bush in the face" song that is chalked full of gross over simplifications about how we all just need to get along. Blah, blah, blah. Elliot has one of these songs on his record. This bugs me. John Mayer has one of these on his last record (that I think is one of the greatest creations ever conceived by a musician) but at least John's song has one of the nastiest (good nasty) grooves ever played by a band.

Don't give up on Elliot just yet. If he even does a mediocre job with his sales with this record, the record co. will probably give him a bigger budget next time and it will be worth a listen just based on his amazing vocals.

If you were to buy a couple more songs from the record get, "A Song For You" and "Alright". These are pretty good too.