Ten Days Of Idol Insanity: The Fifteen Best Songs By Idol Alumni

After the ticker-tape falls and a schlocky ballad is sung by a tearful winner, Idol contestants and winners alike must now do the hard work of making an album, promoting that album and trying not to get dropped from their label. Some do it better than others. For example, these lovely songs:

15: "Crush [Sonic Ether Club Mix]" - David Archuleta
The original version of this song is pretty sappy, I get a little creeped out when kids sing about crushes like they are the real deal. But the club mix is pretty sweet, and the chorus is catchy as fuck.

14: "Bar-Ba-sol" - David Cook
While the majority of David's major label debut is mid tempo lite-alternative rock of the Lifehouse variety, this shredder is a growly bit of southern-fried grit. The hardest rocker from Idol, at least until Adam makes his album.

13: "Invisible" - Clay Aiken
This is trashy pre-fab pop at it's creepiest. From Measure Of A Man comes a tale of stalking, sung with the bubbly voice of the geekiest kid to grace the Idol stage. I dare you not to sing along. (It's impossible.)

12: "Through The Fire" - Melinda Doolittle
It's just a Walmart exclusive track from season six's second runner up's old-school R&B disc Coming Back To You, but this Chaka Khan cover is exactly what Mindy Doo does best. A more gospel inflection takes the pop hit to church.

11: "What About Now" - Daughtry
Chris Daughtry may have only made fourth place in season five, but he has a bigger career with his own band's self-titled debut than any other contestant that season. This slow-burning inspirational rock number is exactly why.

10: "Love Story" - Katherine McPhee
In this brassy beat-heavy homage to 1960s-era pop, the season five runner-up tries to make the JoJo-aping "Over It" not her only hit from her self-titled album. It didn't work, and I'm still stumped as to why. It's a tale as old as time - boy and girl are friends, become more.

9: "Before He Cheats" - Carrie Underwood
What happens when a petite blonde from Oklahoma is cheated on? C'mon, you know the words: she "dug her key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive, carved my name into her leather seats... maybe next time he'll think before he cheats" and made a nation of girls n gays run out to by Some Hearts.

8: "I Ran [Radio Edit]" - Darude feat Blake Lewis
About the same time he was being dropped from his label after the painfully underrated Audio Day Dream tanked, season six's resident beat-boxer hooked up with techno/house mastermind Darude for a couple of tracks. Among those were an AIDS charity single and this brilliant reworking of the Flock Of Seagulls.

7: "No Air" - Jordin Sparks Duet With Chris Brown
This song, from season 6 winner Jordin's self-titled disc and featuring a pre-Rihanna-beatdown Brown, is epic. The number of Runs Per Minute is Whitney-level and the lyrics are ridiculously over dramatic. Just the way I like it.

6: "Because Of You" - Kelly Clarkson
When I first heard this song, from Kelly's breakthrough sophomore work Breakaway, I could understand every word, every emotion. I knew exactly what kind of relationship Kelly had with her mother, because I had the same one. This used to be the soundtrack to my own (therapy-filled) journey to my own wholeness.

5: "And I Am Telling You" - Jennifer Hudson
J.Hud deservedly won an Oscar for her brilliant work in Dreamgirls, and her performance of this song and "I Am Changing" on the soundtrack reveals why. The emotional connection and completely organic performance are astonishing, she is Effie.

4: "Permanent" - David Cook
The seventh season winner brings tears to my eyes with a painfully intimate tunes written for his terminally ill brother and included on his self-titled CD. I danced with my little sister to this song at her wedding, it's a beautiful statement of familial love.

3: "Irvine" - Kelly Clarkson
In this intimate acoustic ballad that closed her artistic statement My December, the original Idol winner cries out to the Divine as she contemplates fading completely. Bonus points for the hidden track that follows, a sassy bar tune about Chivas.

2: "Praying For Time" - Carrie Underwood
For the charity special Idol Gives Back 2, season four winner Carrie performed this George Micheal cover, which was even more emotionally wrenching than her cover of "I'll Stand By You" for the original Idol Gives Back. I still pull it up on the ol' iPod when I need to get inspired to give.

1: "Since U Been Gone" - Kelly Clarkson
The massive second single from Breakaway may be a predictable choice, I know. But when you combine a chick who can sing her face off with any song and the power chords of Swedish pop masterminds Dr Luke and Max Martin, what else can you expect but perfection? Even after being remixed, covered, inserted into Girl Talk jams and otherwise played to death, "Since U Been Gone" is what every Idol contestant dream of when they stand before the judges and belt.

Review: Melinda Doolittle - "Coming Back To You"

On the opening track of Melinda Doolittle's deliciously retro debut album, the Idol alum wants to "get back to the fundamental things... to the elements of style." So she does, taking us back to the 60s soul sounds of Motown and Stax. But unlike fellow retro-fetishing pop artists like Amy Winehouse, she doesn't take it any place new.

Lead single "It's Your Love" is full of bombastic drums, strings and female BGVs that sound exactly like a lost Gladys Knight recording. The title track is smooth as butter, possibly the best song on the record. When she tackles the blues classic "Dust My Broom" she really shows the most gritty gospel stomp but she follows it with a sleepy reading of "I'll Never Stop Loving You" - most famously recorded by Doris Day. Melinda Doolittle wins me back with the gospel standard "We Will Find A Way" and cinches the deal with the Wal-Mart exclusive track, a lovely soul cover of Chaka Khan's "Through The Fire."

On Idol, Melinda was always the consummate professional. Her control ed vocals effortlessly inhabited any song, from Faith Hill to Bon Jovi. Unfortunately that level of polish prevents this album from reaching the heights a vocalist like her could reach. It's nice, but we've all heard most of it before.

Mindy Doo, live on Ellen...

Looking Forward: New Albums from Lily, Idols, Marianne Faithfull and Patrick Wolf

I'm getting excited! I may have insinuated that the musical world was in the crapper at the moment a few weeks ago, but it was all in jest. Some really great sounding albums are in the pipeline for the first half of the year. Here are the albums that will get me out of bed early on a Tuesday morning, just to have them on release day before work!

Melinda Doolittle - Coming Back To You (Febuary 3rd on Hi Fi Recordings)
She may have come in third on season 6 of American Idol, behind unexpected pop sensation Jordin Sparks and beatboxing hottie Blake Lewis, but no one can deny the soulful vocals and completely polished and professional presentation of Melinda Doolittle. She releases a throwback pop record, which promises all the retro Motown smoothness of Duffy and the gospel grit of Gladys Knight. Download the title track for free at her website. Lead Single: "It's Your Love" (auto-play link)

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You (Febuary 10th on Parlaphone/Capitol)
She may have ditched the ska-lite sound for a more polished electro sound, but the lyrical bite will never go away. Even after doing a bit of growing up after a miscarriage and a spat with Elton John, Lils still swears like an adorable sailor, snaps at hypocrites (including Bush 43 on the delicately titled "Fuck You") and doesn't know what's right or what's real anymore... What I know is I will be buying whatever she's selling. Lead single: "The Fear" (slightly NSFW language)

Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted (March 17th on Sony BMG)
The original American Idol returns with her fourth album, more in the power pop tradition of Breakaway than the somber rock of her last disc. You already know I'm obsessed with Kelly and lead single "My Life Would Suck Without You" and I'll be bringing you news as I hear it. Oh, BTW rumor has it the next single will be the Katy Perry-penned "(I Do Not) Hook Up" (link is for the Katy Perry demo version, no Kelly leaks... yet.) ZOMG I LOVE KELLY! Sorry, I couldn't contain it any more. Lead Single: "My Life Would Suck Without You"

Marianne Faithfull - Easy Come, Easy Go (March 17th on Decca)
Have we found a female counterpart to Johnny Cash? She had the drug problems and the sometimes actor/singer career, and now she has the whiskey-soaked vocals covering an astonishing array of songs, from Smokey Robinson to Morrisey to Billie Holiday. From the recently Stereogum premeired Decemberist cover of "The Crane Wife 3" and the glorious version of Neko Case's "Hold On, Hold On" to the disturbing latter-day Dolly Parton song "Down From Dover" Marianne goes there and I am so excited to hear this new sound emerge. Four songs available to preview at the album's official website.

Patrick Wolf - Battle (TBA, on Bloody Chamber Music)
Patrick had Marianne Faithfull duet with him on the haunting "Magpie" from his last disc, the noise-pop inspired The Magic Position. He takes it a step further on Battle, scoring a major get with his doppelganger, the fabulous Tilda Swinton, dropping spoken word bits as "the voice of hope" with an even more deranged backdrop of strings, marching band drums, choirs and electrosynths. It might be too esoteric for me, but I'm defiantly intrigued. Listen to a mega mix of new tracks at Battlestocks.

Also looking forward to the rumored new album by Whitney Houston and not at all looking forward to the new U2 disc.