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“Light On” should Shine Gold upon David Cook
By Erika Blake
The Entertainment Hotline Reporter
Link:
http://theentertainmenthotline.net/2008 ... avid-cook/
David Cook’s first single “Light On” from his yet untitled up and coming solo album has smashed onto the internet with a bold declaration that this season’s champion isn’t your typical Idol winner; in fact he’s far from it. Cook already has the mass fan appeal to rank him up with Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood for being profitable as a singer. Cook however has something that even they did not; he has a complete and full sense of self and yet is humble enough to trust those around him to make crucial decisions for him that will launch him from being a good singer to a great one.
For anyone who was fortunate enough to catch this year’s Idols on tour, the power and passion that Cook pours into his new single shouldn’t come to any surprise. The song “Light On” is 100% David Cook and is a natural progression of transforming a talented bar singer into a mega-star.
Fans that got their hands on David Cook’s independent album “Analog Heart” are already well aware of his style of rock music. Cook won’t be headlining with Megadeth or any other hard rock bands any time soon; anyone who thought that hard rock would be his genre of choice from his Idols days will be in for disappointment. His sound falls more in line with many great middle of the road rock bands who appeal to the masses such as U2, Aerosmith, Nickleback, and Bon Jovi. There’s a reason that he was able to take on singing songs from 2 of those bands and do them justice while on Idol, it’s because they were his own inspiration for inventing his own sound. His own songs always contain complicated guitar work, vast vocal range, intriguing lyrics, and soul soaring rock/pop blended music.
If you look over the songs from his career “Light On” is the perfect next step progression, and instead of going backward by lingering on the raw sound from his “Analog Heart” days, Cook has taken full advantage of having Grammy winning producer Rob Cavalo (Green Day and Kid Rock) at his side to tweak his natural ability and give his sound rich and full depth. If you tried to compare “Light On” to his pre-Idol work you wouldn’t be able to do so. Having full on professional recording studios and backup musicians at his disposal has taken David’s unrefined sound and elevated his vocals & guitar work into a polished professional.
The lyrics themselves for “Light On” could be interpreted as the male breaking up w/ a woman and then asking her to pine for him while he’s gone, but knowing Cook’s story and knowing that he’s one of the good guys, I’m more inclined to believe that this is a song that’s dedicated to his family and all of the people who supported him over the past year. This song is his goodbye note to them as he’s embarking on a new stage in his life.
Doesn’t matter anyway
Words could never make me stay
Words will never take my place
When you know I’m leaving
Cook seems to be saying that he knows that maybe his songs will never take the place of his being there with those who he loves back home, but that he has to leave and explore this next step in his life.
Try to leave a light on when I’m gone
Something I rely on to get home
One I can feel at night
A naked light, a fire to keep me warm
Try to leave a light on when I’m gone
Even in the daylight, shine on
The larger chorus that he belts acknowledges that there’s a sense of normalcy and warmth back home with his family and friends; by knowing that things will stay the same back home will help to give him the strength he needs as he heads off on his own.
For a man who openly shared his personal joy to the packed crowd at the Jobing.com arena in Phoenix on the opening night of the AI tour back in July that he had received word that day that his brother Adam’s tumor had stopped growing, it’s not a stretch to believe that his family and friends would be the people who he’d dedicate his first solo single to.
Unlike most of his independent solo songs, “Light On” offers new layers of depth in its music by adding piano accompaniment to go along with guitars and percussion. When I first listened to the song I couldn’t help but think back to when I saw David perform in Phoenix on the IDOL tour, his covers of all of the songs that he performed on tour along with “Time of my Life” would’ve perfectly acted as warm up songs for “Light On.” Cooks re-interpretations of “Hello” and Chris Cornell’s cover of “Billy Jean” were performed with the same power and passion that pours into his new single. And all of the songs performed together offer the same spine tingling energy that makes David’s music such a pleasure to listen to.
The new single takes his signature sound that he worked so hard on “American Idol” to present to the world and lifts it up to a new heightened level. His vocals have never sounded more pitch perfect, professional, and filled with jubilation. Requiring zero noticeable backup singer accompaniments for the single, Cook sings with pure joy and mixes up his vocals throughout the song to prevent it from ever getting boring. Like any of his covers from Idol you only need to hear a single snippet of the song and immediately recognize his voice. Another Cook trademark you can understand every word that he sings as he enunciates each word in the song, even when he’s wailing.
Cook promised this summer while on tour that his album will cause the hairs on people’s arms to stand up; mission accomplished, every nerve in my body lit up with excitement when I first heard the single and the many times afterwards. If this first single from his album that’s scheduled for release on November 18th is any indication of what we can expect from the entire album, I’m thinking Cook’s music might possibly be the perfect conduit for solving the nation’s energy crisis from the huge amounts of electricity that his songs will generate from his fans when they finally get to hear the completed product.
“Light On” is available for online at PopEater previewing and is hitting radio stations this week. The single goes on sale on iTunes on September 30th. “Light On” David, I’m sure it will lead your new song to gold.
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Pour ma part, j'adoreeeee ce premier "single"!!! Sa voix est extrèmement puissante, démontrant son grand "range vocal"!!! Les arrangements sont parfaits, mettant en valeur toute l'émotion et la puissance de sa voix!!! C'est le «Cook» que j'ai aimé avec son album "Analog Heart" et son band «Axium», mais en version améliorée!!! Il y a une évidente progression et surtout un son beaucoup plus pur, plus léché pour plaire aux radios et à un plus large public!!! Ça paraît qu'il est maintenant entouré des meilleurs musiciens et professionnels dans le milieu!!! Ce n'est plus un simple artiste de bar..., c'est maintenant une grande rock star!!! C'est un "hit" assuré, à mon avis, et je prédis même une nomination aux "Grammys"!!! Je ne serais d'ailleurs nullement surprise qu'il en gagne un!!!
Ma seule petite déception c'est d'avoir appris qu'il n'a pas écrit ou co-écrit ce premier "single", ce que j'aurais apprécié davantage pour le lancement de son premier album, surtout quand l'on connaît son immense talent d'auteur-compositeur, et ce, même si cette chanson lui ressemble vraiment et qu'il la rend exactement comme si elle était la sienne!!! Mais bon, en même temps, je peux très bien comprendre pourquoi!!! Effectivement, cette chanson a été co-écrite par «Chris Cornell & Brian Howes» dont ce dernier a déjà écrit, entre autres, pour «Daughtry, Puddle of Mudd & Hinder»!!!