Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Scott MacIntyre
“Heartstrings”

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2. Valentine
3. Heartstrings
4. Never Tired
5. Autumn Leaves
6. One Time Too Many
7. Stars
8. In Her Eyes
9. The Sun Still Shines
10. View From Above
11. I’ll Take Tom
12. The Wedding Song

You can’t help but admire Scott MacIntyre’s accomplishments.

He released his first independent CD at age 11. He was admitted to college at age 14. He received the prestigious Fulbright and Marshall scholarships. He released five more independent albums, including one with his family, between 1999 and 2007.

He accomplished all of that despite being visually impaired and suffering from kidney disease serious enough that he needed a transplant to save his life.

Now he’s released his first post-Idol album, “Heartstrings.”

Let’s keep this short and simple.

If you enjoyed Scott MacIntyre on American Idol last season, when he finished eighth, you’ll enjoy this album.

I rated most of his Idol performances as middling. That’s how the album strikes me, too.

Two songs — the cliche-ridden “In Her Eyes” and the jarring “View From Above” — sound like they were in dire need of more time in the song incubator.

But they’re balanced out by two nice pop tunes, “Stars” and “Wedding Song.”

And once on the album, Scott strikes gold. It’s with an ingenious little acoustic song titled “I’ll Take Tom.”

Anyone who’s ever had a MySpace page will be sure to smile when they hear it. A great vocal, too. Better than Scott ever sounded in the Idol finals.

Scott, by the way, wrote all 12 songs on the album. Kudos for that.

You can pick up the album on iTunes and Scott’s Web site. You can hear three full songs, including “I’ll Take Tom” on his MySpace.

Grade: C