Cook Rocks with Debut CD

If you are like millions of American Idol fans, you eagerly anticipated November 18th as much as I did: the date of the release of the long-awaited debut CD from Season 7's winner, David Cook. Like others, I wondered: would his debut effort match his captivating run on Idol? I loved David Cook's ability to take a song I thought I knew and shake it up into something fresh and different, and for this he stood out among all the other contestants. I also thought he had a great voice, and it sure seemed like he was a nice guy, grounded in family and friends, and he was the picture of grace and humility throughout the season.

Well, his voice sounds great on the CD, and all the press I've seen since his Idol win has shown him to be a humble and caring guy, and he sure seems to be continuing to take his new found fame in stride.

As for the CD, while I like it, and it continues to grow on me the more I listen to it, it isn't as compelling to listen to as his Idol performances were for me. Your mileage may vary. In fact, as much as I disagreed with other's comparisons of David Cook to Chris Daughtry (two artists I think are absolutely nothing alike), musically they sound very much the same to me. The CD is overall a pretty generic-sounding rock-lite compilation, enjoyable I guess, but nothing that offers up evidence of that "wow" factor I saw on Idol...in fact, I find myself reaching for Archie's CD (gasp!) more often than Cookie's! There, I said it.

The fact that DC recorded this CD while jumping across the country on the Idols Live tour this summer is simply amazing (but David Archuleta did that, too). More amazing is that he wrote or co-wrote 10 of the 12 tracks on the disc, the only 2 NOT being "Time of My Life" (the winning song from the Season 7 finale) and the first single off the CD "Light On." For this reason, I think we'll see and hear more of DC after this winter.

Favorite tracks? I took a drive across a couple of states with my family for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and because I knew he wouldn't listen to the whole thing, selected 3 tracks for my husband to listen to. I chose "Heros", "Come Back to Me" and "Permanent".

"Heros" was apparently written for/about his brother struggling with brain cancer. It's a powerful song, and gives evidence to what I experience on a daily basis with both my own kids and myself, and that is the never ending bond we experience with siblings (if we're lucky). I love that he considers his brother a hero, and I feel privileged to be able to share that with them though this song.

"Come Back to Me" is a great song of commitment and of seeing and loving someone for who they are, even though they don't always see the best in themselves.

"Permanent" is a heartbreaking song, again, about his brother, with a haunting piano riff but a message of support and of, hopefully, the permanence of our presence in each other's lives, no matter the circumstances.

Overall, a pleasing freshman effort....but for me, nothing to complain about, but nothing to rave about, either. Perhaps my expectations were too high?