Song Selection: Under My Thumb – Rolling Stones
RigelSeven’s Take:
You know what? I really liked that. Tim Urban has actually grown on me over the past few weeks and I don’t think he’s in any danger tonight. I totally disagree with Randy’s comment that you couldn’t hear Tim’s voice. With the Reggae arrangement and instrumentless breakdown in the middle, the focus was on Tim’s voice and he sounded good. Over the past few weeks, Tim has shown himself to be a master of knowing what his limitations are and keeping the vocals in his range (lesson learned on “Apologize”). Judging by the crowd reaction tonight and the buzz I’ve seen on the internet the last few weeks, Tim may be around for awhile.
Chindi’s Take:
The Reggae Stones? That’s just a really weird decision from my standpoint, harking back to the Countrification of the Beatles in Season 7 by Kristy Lee Cook, in the first week of the Finals. The problem I have judging this performance is I just can’t get past the Reggaefication of the Rolling Stones, and particularly of this Rolling Stones song. ‘Dear Doctor‘ would have worked better because it’s got that sort of rhythm to it with stops and starts that more fits the Reggae style. Tim was definetly going for a bold choice here, trying to do something that would seize the imagination of the crowd and get the votes flowing, but this isn’t the right choice. The worst part of it for me is probably not even the Reggaefication, because I like Reggae music, but it was the generic Reggae music. In some Sound Mixer studio there’s a tape labelled ‘Jamaica Background Music #15′, and that music is on it.
