David Cook debuts new single
Listening the radio earlier this week, I caught one of the Oklahoma City pop stations playing “American Idol” winner David Cook’s ”Time of My Life,” the assigned theme song for the 2008 “Idol” champ, and remarked to friends and associates just how much I was anticipating his first real single.
Wish granted: Cook, who lived in Tulsa and played with local band the Midwest Kings before ascending to “Idol” fame, premiered this week the first single off his still-untitled fall album.
Titled “Light On,” the single is a grungy power-ballad that Cook co-wrote with Chris Cornell of Audioslave and Soundgarden and Brian Howes, who also has penned material for Daughtry, Puddle of Mudd and Oklahoma City rockers Hinder.
“Light On” is a bit of a disappointment for me, since I’ve never been a Cornell fan, and the song sounds just like something he would record and release.
The good news is that Cook’s voice still sounds great, really strong, masculine anc charismatic. But I was hoping for a song that would rock harder and give us a bit more insight into Cook’s personal sound rather than sounding like another cover. After all, we heard plenty of covers when Cook was performing on “Idol.”
But if it’s unclear whether “Light On” reflects Cook’s own sonic personality, it does seem typical of 19 Entertainment, which is known for playing it super-safe with its “Idol” winners’ releases, especially those that immediately follow their reality TV success.
Personally, I’m looking forward to see what Cook creates with Ed Roland, frontman and songwriter for one of my favorite bands, Collective Soul.
But “Light On” is certainly a welcome change of pace from the schmaltzy “Time of My Life,” which clearly wasn’t written with a rock star in mind, and Cook’s wonderfully gruff vocal stylings are much more suited to a grungy ballad than a inspirational bit of fluff about chasing magic rainbows.
I’m willing to give “Light On” another listen or two and see if it grows on me, whereas I fear I’ll pass out from sugar shock if I hear “Time of My Life” too many more times.
Check out “Light On” here, courtesy YouTube, and let me know what you think. The song will be available for purchase Tuesday on iTunes.
Cook’s album is set for Nov. 14 release.
-BAM
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I love the song – the feeling i get is a kind of throwback to bands with big rock anthem sounds like Def Leppard. His voice just soars. And when he dives down, it’s just beautiful (listen to the acoustic bit just after the bridge). I don’t know, maybe my tastes are simpler, but I thought this was melodic, anthemic (as in will play really well in arenas), and a solid likeable hit. I also think that David is an incredibly versatile singer and performer (the Tulsa concert was a-mazing!). He’s gonna have trouble satisfying his diverse fans who have all sorts of expectations on him, though. Some even think he’s gonna be rock’s saviour! I sure hope they ease up on the guy. He’s my age, and I can’t imagine carrying that kind of load with all the other stuff going on in our lives!