Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Well, Steven Tyler’s streak of critiques without a negative comment has hit 46.

You know what?

Tonight, I can hardly blame him.

Hey, the Idols were good. Very good. Up until the last two performances, I was ready to call it one of the best Idol performance episodes ever.

Perhaps and Idols are gaining skill and confidence.

Or perhaps they felt more comfortable singing songs that were recorded during their lifetime.

Here’s the recap:

Best of the Night: Welcome back, Casey Abrams. For three weeks after that save, you sputtered and stumbled and lost your rock edge. Wednesday night, you recaptured it with Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breathe.” And just when I was about to write you off as a contender for the Idol crown. After that performance — loved the a cappella opening — I’d put Casey back in the top three with Scotty McCreery and James Durbin. Keep rocking, Casey.

Runners-up: “Dance with My Father” was easily my favorite James Lusk performance to date.  He didn’t twist and torture every word of the lyrics. He just stood there and delivered a heartfelt rendition of the Luther Vandross song. I never doubted James’ ability to sing. I did doubt his ability to tone down the vocal histrionics to the point where they didn’t detract from the song. Tonight, he accomplished that. Wonderfully.

My only complaint with James Durbin’s performance, was that it reminded me of an Adam Lambert performance. And no one — James Durbin, James Lusk or anyone else on Season 10 — can hold a candle to Adam’s vocal ability. That said, James’ performance was fearless, packed with fun, packed with theatrics and completes with one of my favorite James Durbin’s vocals to date.

Hey, I rated all three of those performances in the A to A- range, and that doesn’t happen very often.

Deserves to go home:  Stefano Langone. Seriously, regardless of what our esteemed judges said, his rendition of Ne-Yo’s “Closer” was not good. He hit one big note, during which he closed his eyes again, for those keeping track of such things. But my biggest complaint is that after that he just strutted around and spit out a word here and there between making noises, letting the background singers carry the sound. Lucky they were there, huh? And I guess I’m simply immune to the Stefano charm.

Please keep her:  Haley Reinhart lands here for the second straight week. She keeps showing us glimpses of something special. Except for that duet with Casey last Thursday, when we got more than a glimpse. And I still say she has more star power than Lauren Alaina, who underwhelmed yet again Wednesday night. But on a night of very strong performances, I’m anticipating that Haley will find herself on a stool again tomorrow night.

Baffled by the judges: They came down unexpectedly hard on Scotty McCreery. I didn’t get it. His vocal was on the mark yet again. I wouldn’t have guessed he would pick a LeAnn Rimes’ song. Certainly not if he wanted to play it safe, as the judges suggested. What I liked most of all was that he injected fun into his performance this time around after weeks of singing more serious country ballads.  Not the best of the night, but far from the worst.

Advice for Mark Ballas: If you’re truly dating Pia Toscano, or hoping to, wouldn’t it be wise to tell Ryan she’s your favorite American Idol contestant. Heck, handed the perfect opportunity to promote your performance with her next Tuesday on “Dancing with the Stars,” you booted it by naming Casey as your favorite Idol. Come on. If you’ve ever watched Idol, you know in-show plugs are embraced as much as potty-mouthed rock stars.

Congrats to the producers: I’m always complaining about stupid fillers on Idol. With an hour and a half to kill tonight, the lead-in segments to the performances were fun. And it was nice to see all the eliminated contestants — even Ashthon Jones and Karen Rodriquez, who won’t be touring — back on the stage for the opening number. Nice touch.

Prediction for Thursday: I hope I’m wrong, but I fear time has run out for Haley Reinhart. I won’t be surprised to see Stefano Langone and Jacob Lusk in the bottom three with her. Of course, as I’ve already said, the contestant who should be heading home is clearly Stefano.

Coming tomorrow: Live blogging during the results show, which should be great because we get performances from Katy Perry and David Cook.

The song by song grades (blog here):

Casey Abrams:  “Harder to Breathe,” A
Jacob Lusk:  “Dance with My Father,” A-
James Durbin: “Uprising,” A-
Scotty McCreery: “Swingin’,” B+
Haley Reinhart: “Rolling in the Deep,” B-
Lauren Alaina: “Born to Fly,” C+
Stefano Langone: “Closer,” C-