Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Elliott Yamin
Fight For Love

1. Let Love Be
2. Know Better
3. Fight For Love
4. You
5. Can’t Keep On (Loving You)
6. Don’t Be Afraid
7. You Say
8. Apart From Me
9. Cold Heart
10. How Do I Know
11. This Step Alone
12. Someday
Bonus Tracks
13. The Bridge is Burning
14. Don’t Change

Welcome back, Elliott Yamin.

You remember Elliott. He finished third on season five of Idol, the year Taylor Hicks took the crown and Katharine McPhee finsihed second. And he remains one of Idol’s all-time good guys.

For instance, he was back on the show twice last season. He and season-three winner Fantasia traveled to Mongolia to distribute mosquito nets to villagers as part of a Maleria No More program on the Idol Gives Back special. You might remember Elliott being reduced to tears when one of the villagers named her newborn son after him.

A couple of weeks later, he returned to the show to sing “Free,” a song he dedicated to the woman he always called his number one fan, his recently deceased mother, Claudette.

He released his first post-Idol album (self-titled) in March 2007, and it didn’t do badly, especially for an independent release. It debuted at number one on the albums chart, sold more than 500,000 copies and produced a hit single, “Wait for You.”

On Tuesday, Elliott released album number two, “Fight for Love.” And it’s better. Smooth would be a good way to describe it.

(Yes, Elliott fans, I know there was a Christmas CD in between, but they don’t count.)

I’m not sure there’s a song on “Fight for Love” that screams, “Play me over and over.” But there isn’t a clunker on the album either. One solid tune after another, and Elliott shares writing credits on seven of the 12 non-bonus tracks.

The title track is the album’s first single. But it’s equaled or surpassed by several other tracks on the album, like “Let Love Be,” “Cold Heart, “You Say” and the heartache ballad “You.”

About the only complaint about “Fight for You” is a marketing ploy. Seven bonus tracks are available, two each on the Wal-Mart, Target and iTunes version of the album, one on the amazon.com version. So to get all of the new Elliott Yamin music, you’d better be prepared to buy four albums. No thanks.

You can listen to several tracks from the album on Elliott’s MySpace page, including “Shelter,” the bonus single on the Amazon version of the CD.

By the way, the 30-year-old Yamin has also dedicated his new album to his deceased mom. And the final of the 12 standard tracks, “Someday,” was clearly written about her. It’s worth a listen, too.

Elliott will be doing two shows in the area later this month. He’ll perform a show at Ramshead on Stage in Annapolis, Md., on Thursday, May 21. The next night, he’ll perform in Allentown, Pa., as part of the B104 Mayfair Festival of the Arts.

Here are links to stories about Elliott’s new album.

Houston Chronicle

The Associated Press