11/2 Show Discussion

[razorbacker]

I like DMHO. I'm a sucker for the big band sound.

I wouldn't have gotten rid of The Likes Of You, but that's ok. At least the Hatch is gone.

Going home next week by all rights should be Rocket & The Muggs, followed closely by dot dot dot & the young'uns.

[Google]

 

[Harmony2000]

My favorites tonight were Denver, The Ol #7, and The Clark Brothers. Six Wire and Franklin Bridge just didn't do it for me tonight (they weren't bad but they just weren't as enjoyable as the others) and the rest of them just aren't on the same level.

I'm happy with who went home, didn't like them at all. Agree with the order of who should go next.

[Veggieviewer]

drek...

i forgot to set my dvr tonight!

oh well, thanks for FORT!

The Hatch and The Likes of You ejected? Fine by me...

Now let's toss Suck Suck Suck

[liedenfrost]

The Top Ten: November 02, 2007

1. Six Wire. Obviously, a country band will win this thing, because country music fans dominate the music scene and talent shows right now. It wouldn’t surprise me if the finals featured two country bands. If a talented, but lifeless, rock band like The Hatch can’t make the second round, that’s not a good sign for any of the remaining traditional, R&B, hard, and punk rock bands. Obviously the novelty bands, Tres Bien and Denver & the Mile High Orchestra will have difficulty threatening the title. Of the three country bands, Six Wire is the most polished and likeable, but might be a bit too polished, too pop (Gotta Get Away), and too commercial for country purists, and that could leave the door open for a more traditional country band; e.g. Cliff Wagner and the Old #7, who specialize in Appalachian bluegrass. Six Wire’s original song was well-constructed but their cover of Elton John’s Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me was average. However, this group remains my pick to win it all.
2. Franklin Bridge. In my opinion, the best band in the competition; bar none; featuring difficult vocal transitions and R&B guitar riffs. If they ever learn to stop strangling and interrupting musical flow with narcissistic and superfluous guitar riffs and drum solos, they’d be unbeatable. Love’s Fool was the best performance of the night; a magnificent and contemporary R&B composition. I loved it. On the other hand, this same band tortured Philadelphia Freedom and turned it into an R&B jam session; parts of this song were so rearranged, little of the original remained. Didn’t like it.
3. Cliff Wagner and the Old #7. Old school Appalachian Bluegrass at its best; old school banjo; old school fiddle picking passed down for generations. Little White Chapel was fun, but unlike the judges, I thought Elton John’s feisty Honky Cat was neutralized; reduced to a boring lullaby. Nonetheless, this band entered this competition with a huge following (voting block), so will be around for a long time.
4. Light of Doom. This is the only hard rock band left in the competition, and like Dot, Dot, Dot, these kids raised their game tonight. Dicko is right; Doom is a cookie cutter, pretentious rock band; but as long as they’re not asked to project maturity and life complexities; as long as they stay within the confines of light-hearted rock songs like Light of Doom (the lyrics, and I use the term loosely, consists of two repeating sentences) and Elton’s catchy and hard-rocking Saturday Night’s Alright, they’ll continue to advance.
5. The Clark Brothers. In my opinion, they do everything well (singing and picking), but are otherwise ordinary; the weakest of the three country bands. I have no idea why the judges loved Country Time so much (very average), and I've heard Country Comfort sung better countless time; e.g. Keith Urban.
6. Dot Dot Dot. Probably the most commercial rock band left in the competition. Last week’s performances weren’t very good, and this week’s cover of Elton‘s best love song (Your Song) was abominable, but this week’s original, Stay; was, in my opinion, the second best performance of the night (Love’s Fool took top honors). It’s a shame the lead singer is such a freak and attention junkie; his antics rob the music of meaning and relatability. Dude needs to chill.
7. The Muggs. But only because of the musicianship. The lead singer butchered Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues; vocal performance was hands-over-your–ears bad; unlistenable, and embarrassing. I love what he does with a guitar, and I love the innovative way this band generates basslines, but they’ve got a problem; one Sheila E underestimates. This problem can’t be reduced to, or corrected by, a change in key. It’s deeper than that; the lead singer simply can’t sing, and he's getting worse.
8. Tres Bien. A lot of fun last week, but the dance gyrations and antics ruined both performances for me. Elton’s emotional Love Lies Bleeding was left wanting and unattended.
9. Denver and the Mile High Orchestra. Did Sheila E actually say they sound like Chicago? Tower of Power? EW&F? I disagree. Something else. They are a Big Band (in number), but don't really sound like one. All Night is a meaningless composition and I'm Still Standing was neutered.
10. Rocket. A classic punk treatment of Elton’s ballad, Rocket Man, had failure written all over it from the start. Very poor song choice. It doesn’t help that the lead singer has a chip on her pretty shoulders, and refuses to accept accurate and well-intended criticism. Sometimes individuality works in your favor; fingerprints your style, but sometimes it can also bite you in the butt.

[bbnbama]

I'm always home on Friday nights and its amazing how, since this show has started, I've had to be somewhere else the last 2 weeks!

Its funny how I watched this show and thought certain bands/songs were pretty good/entertaining and then I sign on to the FORT and see that on some of the bands, I am completely opposite of everyone else here! I usually go for entertainment value moreso than great singers so maybe that is the difference.

That being said, I did NOT like Rocket! I liked the name of their original ("Future Ex-Boyfriend") and I liked the lyrics but I agreed with Dicko..she should have picked out some guy in the audience and sung directly to him! I don't like her voice.....And I'm sorry, but her thighs are too big to be wearing those short shorts and bouncing around....not attractive, IMO.....

I hate to say this because I really started out liking them when I first started seeing spoilers but I didn't like The Muggs last night either. I like his guitar playing, I'm amazed that the keyboard/bass guy has recovered so well from his stroke, I like the fact that the lead singer is kinda goofy looking but I didn't like them last night and I didn't like that he smarted off to Sheila E.....I'm sure it is hard to hear for both him and Rocket girl that you are bad singers and that hearing that may cause some friction between you and the band members but he really wasn't good last night, especially on the EJ/BT song.

I would have traded out Rocket for The Likes of You going home this week. The lead singer from The Hatch seemed a little pissed (and a sore loser!)that they got booted.

Rocket and The Muggs should go home next week.

As for the others:
Sixwire: awesome and it freaks me out a little that Andy Childs looks *so* much like Sawyer from Lost!!

Tres Bien!: I liked them more this week. I liked their original song alot.

Franklin Bridge: I like them but I do understand how everyone was talking about too much "stuff" in their performances. But on a purely superficial level-the lead singer is coming across as quite sexy!

Clark Brothers: Love them...Ashley is a cutie...didn't really know the EJ/BT song so I don't have much to base that on.

Light of Doom: I'm one of those adults who happen to like them and appreciate them for what they are...I'm amazed by the musical talent in that band for kids that age too! I adore the drummer and think he is such a cutie patootie! I do wonder what they are going to do when the lead singer goes through puberty and his voice changes...does anyone else sing in that group?

Dot Dot Dot: I said last week and I'll repeat this week...I like them. I don't think they will be around forever in the competition but I think they are a great party/club band. I kinda like how manic the lead singer is and while I did notice him always putting his hand behind his back, he's really no different than other artists who have weird little quirks (Mick Jagger and his peacock strut, Steven Tyler with the microphone stand flipped back over his head, etc).

Cliff Wagner and the Ole #7: I hope they stay in this competition. They are unique..I think I would have a helluva time at one of their shows and I loved their original song and especially his comment about dedicating it to Britney and her 1st hubbie!

DMHO: I love their sound...and I like how Denver did take Dicko's criticism/comments last week and changed accordingly.

I do wonder though if they will have to perform originals every week...what do they do if they don't have enough songs? I guess I'm thinking about Light of Doom in particular and wondering if they have wrote alot of songs.

I love this show and I hate how its not getting the advertising/commercial push that it deserves.

[razorbacker]

Wonder how Light Of Doom is going to do with Billy Joel week? Maybe they can heavy up a version of Tell Her About It.

[Aceon6]

I think Billy Joel's going to be fairly easy for the more accomplished groups. I'd love to see LoD tackle "We Didn't Start the Fire." Betcha #7 or the Clarks do "Travelin Prayer." DMHO would be crazy to ignore "Big Man on Mulberry Street"

[myrosiedog]

Originally Posted by razorbacker

At least Tres Bien was better than last week, but they never seemed to get on pitch on the EJ song. I did like the original, reminded me of the Animals.

Well great minds. Hubby and I said it sounded like the Animals too.

I liked the Muggs the first week. Last night was HORRIBLE. They and Rocket can leave next week.

I kinda like the kids, but htey need a better singer. Or one who's not trying so hard to sound like his voice has already changed. When he hit the high notes, he actually sounded pretty good. Dude, take advantage of your age and before your voice deepens by itself.

I liked Franklin Bridge better this week and I just do NOT like the Clarks. I haven't since the beginnning. I don't know what it is, but they do not do it for me.
Cliff Wagner and Old No. 7 are probably my favorites, followed by Sixwire and the DMHO. Love bluegrass, love big band. Not a huge fan of new country, but I like looking at Sixwire's lead. He does look like LOST's Sawyer.

So how predictible was it that Rocket would do Rocket man and Franklin Bridge from Philly would do Philadelphia Freedom and the county and bluegrass acts would get the kind of country sounding Elton songs? I could almost predict who was going to sing what.

But Love Lies Bleeding is one of my favorite Elton John songs and it was butchered, but not as badly as That's why they call it the blues was by the muggs. UGH.

And actually Dot, Dot, Dot didn't bother me as bad bad bad as they did last week. I didn't say they were good, just not as bed. I only want them to stick around so we can make jokes jokes jokes about their name name name.

[melverine]

My Rankings:

1. The Clark Brothers
2. Dot Dot Dot
3. Sixwire
4. Franklin Bridge
5. Tres Bien
6. Denver & the Mile High Orchestra
7. Cliff Wagner & the Ol' #7
8. Light of Doom
9. The Muggs
10. Rocket

[queenb]

I'm glad the Hatch didn't make it any further, and what sore losers! I was surprised to actually enjoy Dot Dot Dot this week, although I still like the Clarks best. Cliff Wagner and 'ol #7 probably won't win, but I find them great fun to watch every time. I really like the Muggs sound, but agree 100% with the judges--the singer either needs to do something about his performance, or they need a new vocalist, fast. I don't think think a band like this needs a technically great singer, but this dude is ruining it for me. Also, his attitude is horrible. Ditto for rocket's singer. I don't care for them anyway, though, as they tend to make every song sound almost the same to me.
I really want to like Franklin Bridge, but do think their performances are a little busy. I don't want to see all the solos and changes eliminated, just maybe not quite so many when they are only playing for ten minutes or so.
I'll admit that Light of Doom is all right, but as Dicko says, a bit weird to watch a band of kids that young playing that way. Tres Bien is kind of interesting, but not really my style.
As fior Sixwire and the Mile Highs, they have talent, but are just boring to me.