Cooking with David's Music (David Cook - David Cook)

Member Name: TheChocolateLady

Product:	David Cook - David Cook
Date:	10/04/09 (213 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good songs, good vocals, interesting lyrics,

Disadvantages: Instrumentation wasn't great, not as varied as it could have been

It was no surprise when David Cook became the American Idol winner of Season 7, and probably no less of a surprise that his debut self-named album has already gone platinum. This is an artist who might have remained in the netherworld of oblivion had it not been for the contest, and for many, brought integrity back to the show that it hasn't had since they kicked Chris Daughtry off in Season 5. While Daughtry's first album was a touch of a disappointment due to its slightly monotone quality and less than inspirational lyrics, Cook seems to have taken a big step forward from there without straying from the person we grew to love throughout the competition.

Probably one of the biggest surprises of this album is the fact that the American Idol Songwriter Contest winner "Time of My Life" isn't a bad song, although admittedly, it might be considered the weakest of the collection, but only by a hair. This is probably because it is the most "pop" of all the songs included, and doesn't really have that edgy feel that the rest of the collection has. Cook does put his own rock spin on this song, but it is tinged with much softer drums and piano highlight to give it a more general audience appeal. The other singles from this album "Come Back to Me" and "Light On" are also less harsh than most of the songs here, but they all still reveal the rocker in Cook, while showing a slightly more sensitive side. Strangely enough, these three songs are the only three that Cook didn't have any hand in writing, and if there's a coincidence here, its probably because the promoters were trying to "play it safe" after Cook's first self-produced album "Analog Heart" didn't do so well.

Of these three, "Come Back to Me" is probably the most creative in terms of lyrics. This was written by Amund Bjorklund, Espen Lind, and Zac Maloy, who collaborated with Cook on two other songs on this album - "Lie" and "Life on the Moon". What makes "Come Back to Me" different from the other singles, is that its words have a double focus - what this woman the singer loves apparently needs, versus what the singer wants. This also partially occurs in "Lie" where the singer is saying that while he knows the relationship is over, he wants to pretend it is still okay just for one more night before she leaves him in the morning. And while "Life on the Moon" does fall slightly into the cliche category with lyrics that talk about being "alone in this crowded room", the idea that it is compared to being like life on the moon is more evocative than most words in rock songs you'll hear on the radio today. Still, often his lyrics are on the caustic side which shows off his grunge influences, and yet there's still some poetry there. This shows up in such lines as "Til the daylight turns to ash and blows away", or "This city feels low against the gleam and the glow of its diligence, to their elegance".

Where Cook shines above Daughtry, is in that this album is not in the least bit monotone. There is diversity here that shows a maturity which Chris' debut album just doesn't grab onto. David's genre is listed as "alternative rock, post-grunge" but that doesn't mean we have a collection of twelve heavy songs. Where Daughtry teased us with some quiet openings to his songs, he invariably flies off the handle in each of them, taking us to a higher level and never coming back down through to the end of the songs. Cook, on the other hand, knows how to mix it up in his songs, giving us both worlds of soft and loud, and surprising us within each song. The only problem being that he might be mixing it up a bit too much. What this means is that none of his songs focus solely on being either a ballad or a straight rock song, which might have given this album just a touch more variety. Although he does slow it down for some of his songs like "Avalanche", and "Permanent", and picks up the pace for such songs like "Bar-ba-sol" (which is apparently the next song to be released as a single), "Declaration" and "Heroes", most of his songs alternate between the two.

That said, having both quieter and louder pieces in his songs does allow Cook to show off his vocal abilities. And what an ability it is! Cook's softer interludes really shine through showing he does actually have a real singing voice as opposed to some rock singers out there who tend to mask themselves with shouting or even screaming their songs. While there is a similarity between Cook's quality and Daughtry's, David proves he's the better vocalist in this album, giving us pure tones together with that slightly rough, almost scratchy edge he likes to give us at the ends of his phrases. While not totally unique, it does give us a feeling that Cook delivers a more well rounded performance, becoming the centre of attention in each of the songs (where Daughtry sometimes ends up hidden behind his accompanyists). This brings us to the instrumentation of the album, and the one thing that doesn't really wow us here. Perhaps Cook was overly enthusiastic in putting out his first big-label album but there's a feeling that his back-up musicians weren't allowed to show us what they were capable of, nor does this album show us any of David's own proficiency on guitar, bass or piano. Yes, it is all there and it is all okay, but a couple of guitar or piano solo riffs would have certainly spiced this album up just a bit more.

In general, this is a very good debut album. The songs are creative, Cook can sing and doe it well, and there's an overall cohesive feeling to the collection that makes the listeners feel that Cook probably did deserve to win American Idol 7. While fans of the more pop rock genre will find this a bit more on the heavy side than they're used to, it isn't all harsh and should appeal to a fairly wide audience. It's the type of album that you might want to listen to when you're in a good mood and want a touch of the "down and dirty" without getting into nasty, since it definitely isn't a "chill out" album. It's more the kind of thing you might listen to in the car when you need something to keep you alert but not slap you too much in the face doing so, with enough interesting going on that might make you allow it to stay playing in a loop. In a word, David Cook's album is "solid" and does give us a taste for more, worthy of four out of five stars and certainly recommended.

Thanks for reading!

Davida Chazan © April 2009 (on all sites)

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Technical Stuff:

The official website for David Cook can be found at http://www.davidcookofficial.com/ and the one from American Idol is at http://www.david-cook.org/

You can buy this album new on Amazon for £9.98 or through their marketplace from £6.35.

Track list:
1. Declaration
2. Heroes
3. Light On
4. Come Back to Me
5. Life on the Moon
6. Bar-ba-sol
7. Mr. Sensitive
8. Lie
9. I Did it for You
10. Avalanche
11. Permanent
12. A Daily AntheM
13. The Time Of My Life
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Summary: American Idol Season 7 winner David Cook's debut album is solid.