Idol Chatter & Voice Views

David Cook
“David Cook”

1. Declaration
2. Heroes
3. Light On
4. Come Back To Me
5. Life on the Moon
6. Bar-ba-sol
7. Mr. Sensitive
8. Lie
9. I Do It for You
10. Avalanche
11. Permanent
12. A Daily Anthem
13. Kiss on the Neck (hidden track)
14. The Time of My Life

Anyone who ever doubted American Idol’s star-making potential should have been at Penn Sate York Tuesday night, when more than 1,000 fans packed the Pullo Performing Arts Center to pay homage to David Cook, the reigning Idol champ.

I mean, that crowd was full of David Cook fanatics, some of whom traveled long distances to be there because concerts closer to their homes were already sold out when they tried to snag tickets.

Heck, the Pullo Center show sold out in about a week.

This for a guy who was having trouble making a living as a musician in his pre-Idol days. At least, that’s what he said in a phone interview a couple of days before his York concert.

Anyway, I figured the timing was right to take a look at David’s first post-Idol album, released in November. (He also released an independent CD called “Analog Heart” back in 2006). Besides, it offers a wonderful excuse to drop a couple of more concert photos into a blog.

Eighteen weeks after its release, the album “David Cook” is 54th on Billboard’s Hot 200 chart. It peaked at number three and had already been certified platinum sales of more than 1 million copies in January.

The CD has already yielded two top-10 hits. “The Time of My Life” — the single that was going to be released by whoever won Idol in 2008 — reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and the number one spot on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart. The followup, “Light On,” is currently number seven on that chart and has been in the top 40 for 23 weeks.

Are there more hits to come?

Well, the album is loaded with potential. “Come Back To Me” is the next single scheduled for release April 6 to pop radio and sounds like it has “Light On” potential. In a recent vlog, David said “Bar-ba-sol” will be released as a single to rock radio at the same time.

And he hasn’t yet touched two of the best vocals on the album. Those come in “Avalanche” and the ballad “Permanent,” songs that remind us just how good a singer David Cook is and why he was able to wrestle the Idol crown from judge favorite David Archuleta in season seven.

All of which doesn’t mean the album is flawless. Sorry, David fans, but fact is, the pieces of “David Cook” are better than the whole.

Too many songs follow the same formula … soft intro leading up to crashing chorus. By the time track 12 arrives, and David is belting out “Would you sing my song / at the top of your lungs” on “A Daily Anthem,” you’re wondering, “Haven’t I heard this song before?”

On the other hand, David wrote that song and co-wrote nine others on the album, so this isn’t a case of an Idol winner being handed pre-made hits and sent into a studio to record them.

Fact is, it looks like Mr. Cook is well on his way to becoming the most successful male to win Idol.

The most successful Idol ever? Well, two ladies named Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have a several-million albums head start.

One final note on David’s album: You’ll find a hidden track between “A Daily Anthem” and “The Time of My Life.” It’s the hard-driving “Kiss On My Neck,” and it’s truly hidden, starting a full eight minutes after “Anthem” ends.

Here are two reviews of David’s self-titled album.

Rolling Stone: 2 1/2 stars out of 5

USA Today: 2 1/2 stars out of 4

David’s fans will want to make sure to tune in to this week’s episodes of Idol (8 p.m. Tuesday and 9 p.m. Wednesday). Word is we’ll get a sneak peek at the video for “Come Back to Me” during a commercial break. And, during last week’s interview, David said he filmed a segment that will air on this week’s results show.

And, now, as promised, some more David Cook concert photos, captured by York Dispatch photographer John Pavoncello.