Lee DeWyze: Should You Buy?, Crystal Bowersox

Hello, This is a review for Lee DeWyze's "Live It Up". I know I can come off as being a bit brutal about DeWyze and it's nothing personal. He's the kind of story that "American Idol" celebrates. A person that works in a paint store with a great voice can show off their potential and become a full-time musician. Susan Boyle is another such story, but seriously it's time for her to go away. She was a great story when she first appeared on the international scene, but she's become a train wreck since then. I just think some people aren't made to be famous. As a wise man once said to me, "some people are meant to be on the sidelines". Anyway, there have been some brutal reviews, like this one: http://blastmagazine.com/2010/11/08/lee-dewyzes-live-it-up-reviewed/ I don't think it's as bad as that reviewer thinks, although "Live It Up" certainly has its flaws. Good points, DeWyze as a great voice. I love to listen to him sing. That's what made him stand out in the early stages of last season's "American Idol". The songs are pleasant enough. My two favorite songs on this CD are "Live It Up" and "The Day The Earth Stood Still". "Live It Up" has such a Jason Mraz feel to it, I wonder if he helped in writing it. I googled it but couldn't find the answer. These would be the two songs I would suggest people buy. This is "Live It Up", this video only has 683 views. Bad points: after about the third song, all the songs start sounding the same. All the lyrics are about love or loss thereof and the all the melodies are eerily similar. As I mention above the songs are pleasant and completely inoffensive. Being inoffensive can be both good or bad depending on your perspective. To me it comes off as a little tame, corporate America, pc boredom. DeWyze's CD had about the same first week sales as the new CD by Cee Lo Green, about 40,000 copies sold. The first week sales of CDs by "AI" winners continues to drop. I believe Kris Allen's first CD was the first "AI" CD to sell less than 100,000 copies. It's certainly not like the good old days. Kelly Clarkson's first "AI" CD "Thankful" sold 297,000 copies on its way to 3,000,000+ sales. The gorgeous Carrie Underwood's first CD "Some Hearts" sold 315,000 copies on its way to 7,000,000 plus sales. I think those sales numbers say it all. Then I hear about some of the changes for Season 10 of "American Idol". For instance no Top 24, making the contestants work with a band, dancers and make a music video etc. In other words they continue to make unneeded changes. The show continues to drop in quality. Please let this be the last season of this show, before all the dreck of late will make us forget how relevant the show was its first 6 or 7 seasons. With such idiots running it, how did this show ever become a hit? Simply Simon and the first few seasons had multiple talented singers. Even non-winners from then have been successful. See Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson. Overall grade: C- The "American Idol" CD I'm really looking forward to is Crystal Bowersox's CD, "Farmer's Daughter". It seems the title track is also going to be the lead single. Miss Bowersox's debut CD arrives in the stores on December 14th. She's been fighting a lot with the record company, about the release date and what the lead single is going to be. I actually might agree with the record company here, I don't know that I would have this song as the first single either. Why we fell in love with Crystal Bowersox in the first place, what a great voice and presence. Not that it matters now but how did she not win: Forgotten classics: A great song for catharsis: themusicaddict