Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Taylor Hicks
The Distance

1. The Distance
2. What’s Right is Right
3. New Found Freedom
4. Nineteen
5. Once Upon a Lover
6. Seven Mile Breakdown
7. Maybe You Should
8. Keeping It Real
9. I Live On a Battlefield
10. Wedding Day Blues
11. Woman’s Got To Have It
(with Elliot Yamin)
12. Indiscriminate Act of Kindness
(bonus track)

What happens when the most successful former Idol and the least successful former Idol release new albums in the same week?

Kelly Clarkson winds up performing on the first Idol results show of the season; then appears on Saturday Night Live, performing two of the songs on the album.

Taylor Hicks is out in Los Angeles, still playing the role of Teen Angel in “Grease.”

And Taylor’s new CD, “The Distance,” isn’t likely to close the distance between their career paths.

Hey, the first single off the album, “What’s Right is Right” is pleasant enough. Salute-the-troops songs are becoming trite, but “Nineteen” is still one of the better tracks on the CD.

But for every highlight on “The Distance,” there’s a track where someone in the Soul Patrol should have tapped Taylor on the shoulder and said, “Not a good idea, Bro.”

Like when he tries to sing salsa on “Once Upon a Lover.” Like the horrid “Wedding Day Blues.” Trace Adkins could pull off a song about an ex-lover stealing the bride on her wedding day; Taylor Hicks can’t.

And then there’s “Keeping It Real,” a song Taylor helped write, a song that borrows liberally from Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart.” Come on, Taylor. You were 17 when “Achy Breaky” was released. You must know the tune is instantly recognizable.

For bonuses, we get “Woman’s Got To Have It,” a duet with former Idol contestant Elliot Yamin. Plus a 7-minute, 22-second version of Foy Vance’s “Indiscriminate Act of Kindness,” which is kind of Taylor, because it’s a sure cure for insomnia.

Oh, and the lyrics CD booklet that comes with “The Distance” folds out into a poster of a pensive looking photo of Taylor. Apparently he takes this sex symbol stuff seriously.

And he just delivered a wonderful reminder of why “The Distance” is being released on his own label, Modern Womp Records.

Reviews:

Miami Herald: Gives Taylor 2 stars out of 4

Orlando Sentinel: Gives Taylor 2 stars out of 4