American Idol - Diamond Vision

The Top 5 was mentored and played the music of the one, the only...Neil Diamond. Mr. Solitary Man. Mr. Red Red Wine. Mr. Livingston Seagull. The king of folky melodrama who love him or hate him has come up with some great songs ("Love On The Rocks") and like any enduring artist some hokey crap ("Heartlight" dedicated to E.T. The Extra Terrestrial). The Top 5 gets two "Diamonds in the Rough" to do their thing with. The results were for the most part a snoozefest.

Jason Castro sang "September Morn" and...I can't remember what the other song was but it was a big Diamond hit. Castro sang both like a cat doped up on tranquilizers, the first song seemed so long Paula Abdul thought it was two songs.

David Cook turned in two good performances of lesser known Diamond songs, one an 80's styled pop rocker and the second a ballad. The ballad won rave reviews from the judges, I thought it was good but not the "hot one" it was said to be. (I thought for sure he would do Urge Overkill's take on "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon").

Brooke White chose to lead off with a vapid "I'm A Believer" and end with a fair "I Am I Said". "Believer" was tentative and weak like Juice Newton: the declining years. "I Am I Said" got Brooke back into the Carole King groove allowing her to turn in her best performance in weeks.

David Archuleta went for "America" and some other well known song I can't recall. He got strong reviews from the judges, I thought his voice and vocal approach wasn't right for Diamond's muscular readings.

Syesha Mercado came second only to David Cook in consistency, the ballad "Hello Again" was pleasant while the upbeat second song was an OK rehash of last week's strong performance.

There was a definite feeling of boredom this week with Paula's scatterbrained nonsense providing the only moments of entertaining television. And that's only because it's fun to watch someone go mildly insane on live tv. If things don't start to turn around, I won't be surprised if this is the 2nd to last American Idol (because the rule of thumb for successful tv shows is it has to hang around at least one year after it's really done). It almost seems merciful that someone will be eliminated tomorrow night because whoever wins will probably do so on the lowest rated finale in the franchise's history.