Ruminations 2 of 3: Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment

The first time I heard Adam Lambert scream his heart out (and his head off) on American Idol, I sat up. To my mind, this was Robert Plant reborn. All he needed was his Jimmy Page alter-ego and we would have our very own Led Zep of the new century.

Alas, the music industry machine has grasped Adam in its maw, swallowed him and spat him out again as a cookie-cutter nondescript papster (yes, a popster who proffers pap is a papster).

On For Your Entertainment he dabbles in electronica, techno-pop, strange popping arrangements and generally forgettable gimmickry. (Case in point: Sure Fire Winners. Blech.) Occasionally, he goes completely over the top with strings and orchestra as in Soaked. Aerosmith or Guns n’Roses could pull that off. Adam sounds uncomfortable. Even the hard-working guitar solo in the middle of Sleepwalker can’t quite wake me up.

Adam shares writing credits on no fewer than four songs of the fourteen, so he really must get a fair share of the blame for this pedestrian run-of-the-mill affair.

It’s not that these are bad songs. From an artist with lesser potential, I would probably have rated this album higher. From Adam Lambert, however, this is a disappointment. I doubt that this album merits too many re-listens.

About the only song worthy of a re-listen is the one from the mega-disaster movie 2012, Time For Miracles. Mega-disaster this album, may not quite be, but it is time for a miracle to pull this chestnut out of the fire.

On my personal, arbitrary scale, I’ve rated none of the songs of the fourteen as five stars, one as four stars, most as three stars, and one poor unfortunate as two stars and a half.

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