A Post-Glumbert Day Lift - Feeling Good (Studio)

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According to an interview with Matt, Adam wasn't happy with his performance last Tuesday, which may have been why he had quite a stern expression on his face after he finished. He didn't look adrenaline-filled happy like he did after some of the other performances and seemed to be scanning the crowd, nervous about how the performance was received. I'm quite sceptical but there are unconfirmed rumours that the band screwed up, losing tempo during the live show but Adam managed to continue regardless. I had noticed that the vocals weren't as flawless as I've heard from him before, and I'd place it close to Tracks of My Tears in quality, but the performance still blew me away. I thought it was by far the best of the night and did not deserve to be landed in the bottom two (or three). That was before I heard the studio recording though, and afterwards, I could understand why Adam may not have been satisfied with the performance. Most of the studio recordings haven't done justice to Adam's vocals and I prefer the live versions much more because they sound rawer and you hear a lot more vocal variation. The studio versions have usually been cleaned up too much and Adam's voice is made to sound a bit sterile. Not to mention that I've disliked many of the instrumentals, especially on If I Can't Have You. But not this time. Feeling Good is simply divine. It takes me on an evocative and exhilarating journey which I'll describe:



It's been a dark period of feeling lost and detached with my stagnant life. The first peep of daybreak from a gap in the curtains stirs and caresses me out of my sleep. The light is cool and soft, and I wake up to the realisation that it's the weekend and for once I've not got a vice tightening around my head and I'm not wanting to throw my guts up from another vague night of pointless excesses and over-indulgence. Looking out the window there's mist floating over the landscape glowing in the mysterious half-light. I'm lured outside, wrapping a velvet cloak around my shoulders and I venture barefoot out into the dewy grass of the garden. It feels cool and refreshing. The silent world inhales deeply, carrying the scent of bygone days and a hazy yearning; long-forgotten memories buried in somewhere in the wind, perpetually enveloping and stroking long-forgotten dreams. I drift to the past in times where pain had yet to be conceived and the excitement of innocent hope expands in my heart, stirring and moulding into an intense, vivid vignette, filling all areas of my existence, my realm. The first bright warm shimmering ray of sunlight piercing through the mist eases me back into the present, and with an invigorating exhale, the breath carries away the final traces of soothing memories and those dreams return to their eternal slumber. I'm startled by my sudden awareness of the subtle exquisiteness that surrounds me. I open myself up, slowly contemplate, listen and absorb all that's around me. I'm feeling and connecting back to the present kaleidoscopic world with fresh, pristine, heightened senses. Inhaling deeply, I'm hit with the crispness of the air, the limitlessness of sky and the richness of the landscape brimming with life. I become immersed and feel a rush as the intensity and fragility and full dazzling beauty hits me all at once and I'm overwhelmed by the energy of it all soaring through me, swelling my heart. I become acutely aware that such preciousness lingers under the surface of the constructed illusion of life. I banish the illusion to reveal lush verdant shoots of rejuvenated optimism. I preserve the moment, my heart becomes light, I smile and venture further into my magnificent wonderland.



That's exactly how the recording makes me feel. As much as I loved Nina Simone's version, hers didn't take me on the same thrilling rollercoaster ride of contrasts. Adam's voice is given plenty of breathing space to unfold, develop, narrate then flourish. I love his riffs and what he's done with the melody. The band thankfully manages to be suitably restrained and seamlessly weaves into rock, winding down to the delightful sounds of the bass and piano of jazz. I'm amazed at the incredible control Adam has over his voice and how different and varied he can make it sound. I think it's a masterpiece showcasing so many different shades and nuances of his vocal repertoire all in one musical panorama: rough, smooth, rich, gentle, velvety, delicate, high, low, powerful belts, and for once they didn't clean it up too much so you can fully appreciate the beauty and resplendency of his awe-inspiring voice, from the spine-tingling enchanting falsetto of Sleep in peace when the day is done, to the gritty power of Freedom is mine. The way that glory note soars then descends sounds other-wordly, sending shiver upon shiver down my spine. If Adam was aiming to demonstrate the range and subtleties of his voice, he did well with the performance but he truly excelled when it came to the studio recording. It's sultry, stirring, anthemic, evocative and powerful, and my favourite studio track so far. In our man's own words, Wooh! Get it!

Top 5 Results - Feeling Not-So-Good

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What a night. I'm feeling shattered. After watching that episode, I spent ages trying to lift myself out of the gloom the show cast over me, and found reassurance online with fellow Adam obsessives who were equally as shell-shocked. Part of me tells me just to get a fucking grip, it's just a TV show, but the other part knows it will ache if the pleasure of seeing more Adam is cruelly snatched away.

Adam was soberly dressed almost head-to toe in black, resembling the look from his New Year's Upright performances sans sparkly Bowie T-shirt. He looked very comfortable and relaxed.

A clip was shown of the contestants attempting to bake cakes at the mansion which turned into an all-out messy food fight that trashed the kitchen and some of the dining room. Some of the clip was slightly uncomfortable viewing, especially when Danny was grabbing Allison. It's a funny thing, this obsession, because the fact that Adam didn't appear in the clip apart from breaking an egg and pouring cake mixture, further endeared him to me and increased my respect for him. He stood well away from hurling food and I've attributed this to his respecting that it's someone else's luxury mansion he's privileged to be staying in. I feel that it's due to his innate courtesy and consideration. It made the others (bar Kris) look like spoiled brats who acted like they owned the place and I felt they deserved to foot the bill for the clean-up. Of course I may be completely wrong and they edited him out, but in that situation, unless it was in my own house, I would have stood back too. Oh dear, I've already fallen into Adam-can-do-no-wrong territory like a crazed fan.

The group performance this week was pretty decent and they all appeared to sing live. I really missed Paula's choreography though, because they didn't move around the stage well and at one point, even Adam stood almost still (just shaking a leg) while the others tested out their swaggers. Adam had two solo parts that he sang in a cabaret style, one of which was difficult because it jumped about a lot, but was typically done well and he looked happy.



For the first time, I was a little nervous when they were announcing the results. I don't know what happened during previous seasons when it came to the top five, but the format was slightly different than usual. I hoped that they would announce Adam as safe early on so that I could switch off and go to bed.

The contestants lined up on the stage with Adam in the middle. Ryan started by placing Matt and Danny in different groups with Danny looking very smug. It looked fairly obvious which was top and which was bottom. Allison joined Danny and Kris joined Matt which made it slightly less obvious. Next came a very uncomfortable and strained moment where Adam was asked to choose which group he thought he belonged to amid groans from the audience. I'm annoyed that they deliberately tried to shaft him because whichever decision he made would've been a little awkward. It was a truly horrible thing to do to him, but after a brief protest, he made a decision fairly quickly and went for the Danny/Allison side. I instinctively didn't like the decision and thought he would have been better staying on the fence but I also thought he showed sincerity. It was a snap decision though, and I hope it doesn't reflect badly on him by supposing over-confidence. I found the next part unnecessarily degrading and I hated it when Ryan pushed Adam over to the other group to announce he was wrong and in the bottom three, to the sound of gasped disbelief. It was as if they were deliberately trying to humiliate him, wrestle him from his perch and throw him under a train at full pelt. I was fucked off, still am, about his malicious treatment. Why the hell did they have to do that to Adam, the most pleasant and interesting person on the show? They could have just been straightforward and told him he was in the bottom three without all the bullshit. They didn't need all that drama. When the judges commented on it, they seemed suspiciously very nonchalant. They blatantly love Adam, so they should've been shitting their pants.

After what seemed like ages and after I made a few dips into the forums needing to consolidate my thoughts asking WTF?, the three were brought back to the stage and Kris was told he was safe, with Adam and Matt in the bottom two. At that point, I expected Matt to leave, but I wasn't ruling out a shock quite yet. When Adam was told that he was safe, the air around me relaxed again and there was a massive collective sigh of relief all around. He let out a big sigh and being sensitive to Matt, didn't show any signs of being happy about it. He gave Matt a big hug and told him he was proud of him. I thought I heard Adam swearing along the lines of '...the fuck up...', but the sound was too muffled to be intelligible. He appeared to give Matt a peck on the cheek, but again, I'm not sure because of the camera angle.

Well that was a huge relief but I'm still feeling angry at America, for either failing to recognise shit-hot talent or for loving mediocrity. Come on, that performance had WOW! factor in abundance. I'm furious with the producers for the way they treated Adam because he really didn't deserve to be shat upon for what he's done for the show, and for fucking with us and using him if all that bullshit was staged just to up the ratings. I wanted to give him a big hug and hope his forcefield is up so he doesn't lose any confidence or feel the need to tone down or change direction. I think he was a little shaken after Ring Of Fire, so I hope this doesn't freak him out or make him feel unbearable pressure.

There are explanations about vote splitting, conspiracy theories abound about how the producers wanted to punish Adam for his spoiler in his phonecall to the Upright, about the judges' pimping and use of reverse psychology to influence the voting, about the unfeasibility of Adam coming behind Kris and Allison, about Adam's placing being used to boost the show's ratings, to increase the revenue from votes, about the producers trying to shock people out of voter complacency, making sure Adam makes it to the final, about reminding Adam who's boss... but none of them can ever be proved.

I'll admit that being in the UK, I haven't voted because it's serious hassle, but I might have to start. That fucking episode was a bunch of alcoholic tramps who vomited, pissed and shat their diarrhoea in my mouth after eating 3-day-old rotting, infested curry salvaged from an alley bin washed down with flat Special Brew, and despite having rinsed my mouth with industrial strength bleach X number of times, I'm still left with a foul taste. This can never happen again. GET VOTING!

Top 5 - Feeling Good

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Fucking hell!

Sorry, but just had to get that out of the way first. I watched the live streaming and various parts of Adam's performance froze and got missed but it still hit me like a bullet train at maximum speed. I'm feeling pretty tired after having stayed up so late just so that I could watch it again from the first video postings of the performance, and I must say that I've been watching it on repeat.

I'd been looking for his confessional throughout the evening and unfortunately ended up seeing loads of spoilers revealing that he was going to be singing Muse's version of 'Feeling Good'. I was slightly disappointed that Adam himself had given us a sneak preview of it already in his phonecall to Upright.

I did wonder whether Adam was going to rock it out but managed to refrain from exploring every single possibility in my head beforehand. When he emerged onto the stage, I saw that he was wearing a 1000-watt shiny, sharp white suit, bright enough to rival his smile, a black shirt, white tie with tie clip and white shoes - the negative version of Ryan's ensemble. He just has the innate ability wear big fashion statements with flair. I didn't like the cut of the jacket. I found it quite ill-fitting, with the front of it being too long making his chest and stomach look like it was bulging outwards, and the single button was too low and didn't bring it together well. I think it looked a bit uncomfortable, but compared to Kris, who I thought wore his suit like he'd just been sacked from his accountancy job, Danny, who looked like someone's best man at a wedding trying to steal the limelight, Matt, who looked like a drab science teacher, and Allison, who looked awkwardly precocious, Adam looked the business. I was glad to see his hair was back to its natural emo style. The suit hinted to me that he was probably going to play it fairly straight, but the emo hair placed a smidgen of doubt in that it might just be the most suavely dressed rocker ever. As always, he excelled in his accessorising, with diamond studs and plenty of rings to make it signature Adam.

In the intro clip when Adam was rehearsing in front of Jamie Foxx, Jamie seemed to be very intently watching Adam in awe. We know where you're coming from, Jamie! We were to expect a rock edge to the version of the song. Adam's voice as usual sounded top-notch. Slightly husky, passionate and seasoned with both punch and attitude. He seemed very much in character, giving a smiling sneer at the end. Jamie joked that Adam was completely unfazed by him, to which Adam cracked up into a fit of laughter because in reality, he felt the opposite, which was sweet. Jamie was visibly impressed and had no advice for Adam, which is not surprising, seeing as the student is already way ahead of the master.

The performance started with some synthesised chords and gave a wide-angle view of Adam atop the central staircase that was lit neon-pink with the spotlight from behind. Oh my word, how's this for dramatic? The camera swept forward and met him high up on the staircase, angling up so that he looked statuesque. He started the song off quite low, the first high note startling but not picked up very loudly on the mic. The lyrics were carefully enunciated for dramatic effect but I think with slight detriment to timing and tone, until the tingling, resonant for. The way he ended the intro with a powerful pause before good and a sultry stare was gripping and I knew we were in for a feast. His character was oozing charisma and he descended the rest of the stairs with a confident and teasing swagger. The second verse was sung in full swing like a rocking Shirley Bassey, but some of the lower notes sounded a tad shaky. The high notes of his wailing bridge were delivered pitch perfectly. His feeLING! glory note was WOW, fucking hell, heartstopping, astonishing, goosebumps-galore, OTT and simply incredible, but went on for a tiny bit too long though only because my heart couldn't take it! The effect was enhanced by the circling camera and the white shafts of light made him look very much otherworldly and ethereal, god-like, even. His pose at that moment was an iconic image that will stick. The descending run after that note was beautiful and vulnerable and in brilliant contrast to the high note. Awesome. The final note was given with a glare and a haunting echo which sealed and reverberated the performance into our consciousness. I did NOT expect that!

He smiled after the performance but didn't look relaxed and again looked apprehensive. It looked like he was scanning the crowd, unsure of their reaction. It was definitely risky and I'm guessing he was bracing himself for criticism from the judges. Randy's comments were pretty useless perhaps because it wasn't to his taste, Kara was confused but positively so and I really didn't understand the sleazy comment. It might have been appropriate for Ring of Fire, but there was nothing sleazy about that. Paula gushed as usual, receiving a cute 'Aw', and Simon knocked back Randy's theatrical critcism, U-turning from his previous comments and making Adam slap his thigh in agreement. It was a good move on Simon's part to mention that Adam was there to win and the camera showed a steely determination in his expression. I think it will help to quash those in the camp who think it's better for Adam to lose. Simon tried to restrain himself from gushing and gave many (thinly) veiled compliments about 'the competition this year', clearly meaning Adam and I hope he understands this. His compliments managed to get as open as stating that Adam had the entrance of the season. I was glad to see Adam to relax a lot more after the comments, reassuring us that he really enjoyed it but I wasn't wholly convinced by his smile. I think he's feeling the pressure.

Adam's vocal control wasn't at its best, but it's an intimidatingly difficult song to sing and the performance was fun, dramatic, flamboyant and unlike any of the versions of 'Feeling Good' I've heard. It was still too short for my liking but such an extraordinary spectacle with powerful impact, and I could easily hear it being a monumental soundtrack with all its pizazz. I think he played it right this week, managing to finely balance popular appeal with artistic creativity. He threw a juicy bone to all the Ring Of Fire fans who'd been thinking he'd been playing it safe, and successfully managed not to alienate all the ballad-lovers by shimmying and strutting along, even stretching but not crossing the 'What the fuck?' line. It was a master stroke to play at precisely the right time in the game, and I can only commend his strategy for teasing us with another peek of his extensive arsenal, just when there were concerns about him having peaked too early. He's left me feeling that there's still so much more to see and I'm excited. I'm gobsmacked at how gifted and versatile Adam Lambert is, and how he can continue to leave me in awe, time and time again.

Welcome back Glambert! I've missed you!

Cold Turkey? Give Me Hot Lamb!

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Contrary to what I posted last week, starvation is unnatural and definitely not for me.  Starving myself of my Adam fix just didn't work.  If there's something tasty lying around, I'll eat it.  Although it truly disturbs me how much of my waking hours are occupied by Adam Lambert, I can't break free from his captivation.  Rather than stay away from all the forums and and fansites, I actually ended up joining and participating.

A few things in the news this week are a reported feud with Kris Allen which is pretty ridiculous, Adam kicking ass on iTunes downloads, Upright Cabaret's Adam night, where he sang a bit of 'Feeling Good' on speakerphone, and his eagerly awaited Upright Cabaret performances of 'Kiss From a Rose' and 'How Come You Don't Call Me?' on YouTube.  They've given me plenty of viewing pleasure, a welcome bonus after a long week but have still left me wanting for more.  I love all the Upright performances for many reasons.  It's not a huge venue and so the atmosphere is relatively personal and Adam seems relaxed in himself, chatting away.  The performances are more heartfelt because he's much more expressive, but if he were to repeat these to the big audience on American Idol, it would probably be labelled 'dramatic' or 'cabaret'.  Another thing I love about the performances are the improvisations and ad-libbing.  You feel that Adam and the pianist Gerald Sternbach are two phenomenally talented individuals just jamming together and making things up as they go along, but they manage to come up with something brilliant and flawless each time.  I also love the simplicity of the arrangements where there's nothing to detract from the emotion of Adam's breathtaking voice.  When Adam does his riffs and runs, they are always spot-on.  For that reason, I'd like to hear Adam sing some soul/jazz/blues with just a piano accompaniment some time.  We got a taste during 'Some Kind of Wonderful' where his riffs were outstanding but I really want to hear more.

Luckily aided by the theme of Rat Pack songs this week, I've done quite well in terms of avoiding over-analysing and trying to second-guess what Adam's going to do next.  The songs that fall into that category are quite plentiful and they've been re-recorded and re-interpreted so many times that the choice of song and style are pretty broad.  I've tried hard to not go through all the different scenarios, so that I'm still able to be surprised and feel the impact of Adam's performance.  I'll be going in with as open a mind as possible, not weighted down with too many expectations.  I was even going to try to see if I could maximise the impact of Adam's performance by waiting until Thursday (Thursday!) when it's aired on UK TV rather than on a slightly dodgy streamed version tonight, but the temptation is overpowering.  I'd prefer sizzling Lamb to hot Lamb, but give me hot Lamb over cold turkey any day!