Adam Lambert left his former record label when he realized that RCA only wanted him to wax an ’80s covers album as a follow-up to his chart-topping sophomore effort, 2012’s “Trespassing.”
Borne out of that creative fracas, “The Original High,” his latest disc (from Warner Bros.), disproves the notion that pop retreads are the only tunes guaranteed to generate hit-making traction and instant recall.
With producers Max Martin and Shellback helping him concoct an appealing blend of pop, house, funk and electronic dance music (EDM), the 33-year-old former “American Idol” runner-up demonstrates what a performer with prodigious skills like his can do to “sell” a song—not the other way around.
The collection’s carrier single, “Ghost Town,” owes its charm to a deliciously noirish vibe and unshakable groove, as Adam searches for “trust in a city of vampires and rust.”
Those enviable octaves and complex placement shifts remain potent sonic attractions (the pounding “Evil in the Night” and “Lucy,” his edgy collaboration with Queen’s Brian May)—but, if all you want is to shake your bonbon, “Another Lonely Night” and the irresistible title track will satisfy without puncturing your eardrums.
The esoteric quality of Lambert’s lyrics (“The Light,” “Heavy Fire”) is intentional, because he wants the album’s themes open to interpretation and debate—like when he sings about romantic miscalculations (“Things I Didn’t Say,” “There I Said It”), infidelity (“Rumors,” with the sublime Tove Lo) and, in “Underground,” his inability to move on after a failed relationship.
Daniel Padilla
Daniel’s pleasant surprise
After the career-boosting thespic surprise he pulled in Mae Cruz-Alviar’s “Crazy Beautiful You,” Daniel Padilla has come up with another winner—this time, in his covers album, “I Feel Good.”
True, some of DJ’s live performances are made less appealing by his gratingly nasal singing style and off-kilter notes—but, his sleekly arranged recordings pass muster, thanks to vibrant arrangements that suit Daniel’s youthful swagger and capture his infectious energy. His off-note moments are still there, but they’re not as bothersome as when they’re sung live.
Even more impressive are Padilla’s song choices—after all, how many young singers do you know who are partial to the hits of Andy Williams (“Moon River”), Stevie Wonder (“Knocks Me Off My Feet,” “Isn’t She Lovely?”), Marvin Gaye (“How Sweet It Is”), The Temptations (“My Girl”) and James Brown (“I Feel Good”)?
We were only in grade school the first time we heard Shaun Cassidy sing “Morning Girl,” during the matinee-idol heyday of Andy Gibb, Leif Garrett and Cassidy himself. Now, DJ is reintroducing their classics to a new generation of music lovers!