Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Each judge has 12 contestants.

Tonight they start to pair them off as the field of 48 gets whittled down on The Voice.

You know, I don’t mind the swiveling chairs on The Voice.

In fact, I wish we could put Randy Jackson in one on Idol and spin his away from the TV cameras for a timeout every time he says “in it to win it.”

But this boxing ring on The Voice is pretty hokey.

Heck of a first pairing on The Voice, as Adam pits two singer-songwriters against one another — Tony Lucca, the former Micky Mouse Club member, against Chris Cauley.

Surprised he picked two such strong singers to go head to head.

Beautiful Day:  Excellent first battle round matchup, but I thought Chris Cauley actually sounded better.  He controlled the song, where I felt the song swallowed up Tony in a couple of spots  And if Chris has a habit of letting his voice do the talking, he sure was turning up the performance dial on that number.   Blake likes Chris best.  Christina and Cee Lo prefer Tony.   And Adam goes with Tony.   Wrong choice in my mind.

Free Fallin’:  Blake pairs off young country singer Rae Lynn with Adley Stump, another country singer who’s older, but no more experienced.   Rae Lynn gets Miranda Lambert, Blake’s wife, as a mentor.  And Blake says Rae Lynn reminds him of a young Miranda.   Adley has Kelly Clarkson — yep, the original Idol, who says she’s a fan of The Voice — as her coach.   That was a battle of Adley’s big voice against Rae Lynn’s distinct sound.   Honestly, Adley sounded much, much better.   Cee Lo and Christina thought so as well, but Adam thought Rae Lynn has the more unique voice.  And Blake picks Rae Lynn.   Disagree with that choice, too.   I’d understand it if Rae Lynn’s vocal had been more impressive.

Power of Love:  Christina matches pop singer Monique Benabou, who’s had no formal training, against Chris Mann, the guy who sings opera and has had tons of classical training.  That experience aside, guest mentor Jewel and Christina tell Monique she might have the edge because of the emotion she tends to pour into her performances.  I’m pretty sure I like Monique much better than Chris.  I’m pretty sure Chris has the much better, bigger voice.  He held some incredible notes during that performance.  Blake, surprisingly, liked Monique better.  And Christina proclaims that Chris prevails.

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Heck of a challenging song. And Cee Lo Green matches up two of his gals — former Air Force pilot and band member Angie Johnson against Cheesa, the gal from Hawaii whose family moved to L.A. and sacrificed so she could pursue her dream.  That was very evenly matched.  But I felt that, on a song requiring restraint and emotion, Cheesa oversang in spots.  My preference — like Blake and Christina — would be for Angie, by only by the smallest margin.  I would have loved to hear them sing the full version of the song, but that would have taken up too much time, I suppose.  And Cee Lo declares Cheesa the winner.

Ironic:  Blake pairs up his two rockers, Brian Fuente, who fronts a band, and Jordis Unga, who’s performed in punk, pop and rock bands in the past.  And Kelly Clarkson surfaces again, to coach Brian.  And both of these singers seem to have some doubts to overcome.  Brian says he’s not used to performing solo.  Jordis is putting a ton of pressure on herself by considering this “her last chance.”   Personally, I’m not crazy about the song choice for this rocking duet.   OK, this one is easy.  Brian’s turning in one of the night’s weakest performances.  Meanwhile, I love the way Jordis is picking her spots to unleash that graveling one of her’s.  And Blake picks Jordis.  Wise pick.  Oh, I like her fashion, too.  But no, I will not be live blogging during NBC’s new Fashion Star show.  That would be comedic.

If I Ain’t Got You:   Christina pairs up two of her R&B singers, pastor’s son Anthony Evans and Jesse Campbell, who was homeless at one point and sings at churches and weddings.  Jesse was absolutely one of the standouts in the season’s premiere episode.  I don’t recall being nearly as impressed with Anthony.  This was billed as the battle of the night, but I think Jesse easily has the far more distinctive voice.  That said, Anthony pulled off some incredible notes at the conclusion of that.  And Jesse prevails.

Well, I was three for six picking winners tonight, but I’m pretty sure it was the judges and not me who got the first two wrong.

Just joking.   So ends the first battle round episode.

So, let’s see, we witnessed six battles tonight.  At that rate, we have three more weeks of battle rounds before the live performances begin.

Check back next week, I’ll be live blogging again.