Idol Chatter & Voice Views

For those counting, Steven Tyler’s streak of performances he loved has reached 39.

And it doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon.

I mean, the guy is making Paula Abdul look like a novice at positive feedback in his rookie year on Idol.

Truth be told, the Idols gave the judges plenty of reasons for positive feedback tonight with a round of solid performances on songs from the movies.

Not that they were all quite as great as the judges thought.

On with the recap:

Best of the Night: Well, I’m not positive it was the best vocal of the night. I’m pretty sure giving up that much of your precious singing time to a guitar solo isn’t recommended Idol strategy. But I’ll tell you what. There hasn’t been a performance this season that was more fun than James Durbin’s show-ending rendition of “Heavy Metal,” complete with a couple of patented James Durbin shrieks. Jimmy Iovine advised against it. James Durbin proved him wrong. Great job, James.

Runner-up: Scotty McCreery just keeps delivering one standout vocal after another. This week, it was on George Strait’s “I Crossed My Heart” from “Pure Country.” The only time I cringed during the performance was when the background singers broke in. I wanted to hear Scotty. And they sort of drowned him out. Coincidentally, Scotty and James were at the top of my most recent Idol rankings. In the opposite order.

Deserves to go home: There’s no doubt in my mind — Casey Abrams. Like James, he went against Jimmy Iovine’s advice. In this case, so he could sing “Nature Boy” by Nat King Cole. Unlike James, he did not pull it off. At least not in my mind. And it wasn’t the type of performance that typically resonates with Idol voters. Apparently, some in the crowd loved it. Casey got a standing ovation. Apparently, the judges loved it. I thought it was the weakest vocal of the night by a Pure Country mile.

Please keep her: The only negative critiques all night were delivered to Haley Reinhart. Great. So that’s what we want? To send a sixth girl home? Don’t think so. Not when the girl has as much fun on stage as Haley every week. Granted, her “Call Me” didn’t match “Piece of My Heart.” But it was every bit as good as Paul McDonald’s evening-opening “Old Time Rock and Roll.”  In fact, I rated it a bit better.

Advice to Paul McDonald: Convince the Idol judges to let you play guitar again. You look lost on stage without it. Fortunately, tonight you had the blond saxophone player to distract viewers. Well, at least she succeeded in distracting Steven.

Kudos to Lauren Alaina: Hey, nice on-stage interview, explaining how you sang “The Climb” because it mirrors the Idol experience. And don’t blush at being told you’re a better singer the Miley Cyrus. You are. If you weren’t, you would have been out of this competition long ago. I think.

Baffled by the Idol producers: We weren’t supposed to have any guest mentors this season. Now we get will.i.am two straight weeks? Enough already. Don’t the Black Eyed Peas need him? For something?

Prediction for Thursday: My chosen bottom three would be Casey, Paul and Stefano Langone, with Stefano or Paul heading home because I hold out hope that Casey can recapture his early-season magic.

But I fear Haley will find herself back in the bottom three instead of Casey. Hopefully, enough voters will rally around the girls that Stefano goes home instead.

Check back tomorrow night. I’ll be blogging live during the results show.

Performers are Rihanna and Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson, which makes this week’s results show sound much better than last week’s already.

Song by song grades: (Blog here)

James Durbin; “Heavy Metal,” A
Scotty McCreery: “I Crossed My Heart,” A-
Lauren Alaina: “The Climb,” B
Haley Reinhart: “Call Me,” B
Jacob Lusk: “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” B
Paul McDonald: “Old Time Rock and Roll,” B-
Stefano Langone: “End of the Road,” B-
Casey Abrams: “Nature Boy,” C-