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The driving beats of the 13 tracks on American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert's first solo disc, For Your Entertainment, hold more than a few surprises. Whether it's the singer's sudden switch into am incredibly controlled falsetto wail in the disc's opening track, the ecstatically elegiac "Music Again," or the way in which driving Middle Eastern-sounding opening chords of "Soaked," give way to a soulful pop ballad, there's a theatricality at work in this impressive CD..
Lambert -- who has starred on stage in Wicked -- made a stir this week with his performance on the American Music Awards of the disc's title track (surprisingly the weakest song on the disc), but once the furor over his performance has died down, it's the music and the singer's versatility that will have people talking. There's a smartness, audacity, and youthfulness at work on Entertainment that's infectious.
The disc has three true standout tracks. First comes "Whataya Want From Me?" - a loopy rockin' lament that's co-penned by Pink, Max Martin and Johan Shellback. At the other end of the spectrum is "Fever" (written by Lady Gaga), an incredibly sexy, explicitly gay disco tune that is irresistible. And finally, there's the moody and evocative power ballad "Sleepwalker," which Lambert delivers with a true rocker's passion and intensity.
There's no denying the power of Susan Boyle's voice listening to I Dreamed a Dream. Boyle soared to global stardom with her stunning rendition of the title track, from Les Miserables, on the U.K. television show Britain's Got Talent, And once again, the song soars in Boyle's rendition. Her delivery is powerful and tinged with haunting regret.
The CD has a number of other highlights, including her cover of "Wild Horses" and her mournful take on "Cry Me a River." She delivers "The End of the World," a tune from Sylvia Dee and Arthur Kent that was one of Skeeter Davis' big hits, with the sort of tremulous vulnerability that one associates with Patsy Cline. Equally appealing is her version of The Monkees' hit "Daydream Believer," which in Boyle's interpretation becomes a country-and-western infused ballad of considerable strength.
Unfortunately, other stretches of the CD, though pleasant, often have similar repetitive quality, veering between new agey warm fuzzies or liturgical bombast. Boyle serves up "Amazing Grace" and "How Great Thou Art" with considerable gusto, but there's an undeniable sense of dutifulness in them.
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