CD Review: Taylor Hicks' Debut

Let me start this off the right way…ahem…Disclaimer: This review was done subjectively and on the basis that I only watched seasons 1 and 5. I’m not a diehard fan of Taylor Hicks, Chris Daughtry, Katherine Mcphee, or any other Idol/Contestant current or otherwise.

I know their respective fans are insanely supportive of their Idols, so I don’t need any Soul Patrol soldiers or Daughtry’s Derelicts or any similar group coming after me for any comments I make. These are just my opinions, folks, nothing more. That being said, here we go…

In my review of Chris Daughtry’s debut, I stated the reasons why I liked him and why I wanted him to lose American Idol 5. Along those same lines, I wanted Hicks to win. Why? He deserved it, plain and simple. Not that his voice is stronger than Daughtry’s (it’s not) or that he lights up a TV screen the way that K. McPhee does in her cleavage-baring yellow dress (he doesn’t). What he had were balls—to be himself, to buck convention and to go after his target audience.

So, does the Hicks’ self-titled debut match the hype and hope surrounding it? Yep, for the most part. But the thing is that when it’s good, it’s good … and when it’s bland, oh boy is it bland. It’s safe to say Hicks ends up batting a solid 8 for 12 as far as the track numbering goes, with the bouncy horns and backing choir vocals of “Heaven Knows” being what most fans are expecting.

“Give Me Tonight” and its funkified pulse add some nice flavor to the mix, minus the fact that Hicks gets a little upstaged by his female counterpart. Despite that, it’s one of the stronger songs and again shows that old school Michael McDonald influence. On the other side of the spectrum, the Ray Charles-like vibe of “The Right Place,” the album’s closer, showcases those soul-powered pipes that made Hicks the Idol winner.

But what about the blandness? “Soul Thing,” I guess Hicks’ attempt to give his Patrol an anthem to rally around, sounds about as moving as a 7th grade love poem. “Gonna Move” takes it up a notch but again falls flat, coming off as contrived and uninteresting. “The Maze,” about the usual wandering-around-like-a-lost-puppy-without-you type theme, gets lumped into that same bland category. “Places I’ve Been,” however, immediately comes to the rescue as Hicks’ voice sounds full of conviction, something missing from “Maze” and some of the other material.

What I’m trying to say, more or less, is the same thing I said about the few other Idol albums I’ve heard—the first ones are a test for the artist and are strictly for the label. I didn’t care for Chris Daughtry’s or for Kelly Clarkson’s. Lucky for KC, she went with her gut for album #2 and came up with some genuinely well-crafted pop-rock hooks. Here’s to Daughtry following suit.

Taylor Hicks’ debut stands above the rest as far as Idol first timers go, but still suffers from some filler issues that keep it from really blowing the other contestants out of the water. I even give him extra points for managing to get Justin Timberlake’s panties in a bunch just by being good.

Equally good is that Hicks still knows his audience, and as long as he sticks with what brought him to the dance in the first place, we’ll probably be watching him get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after a long and fruitful career.

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