First Review Of Kris Allen's CD

Kris Allen's CD has been sent off to critics, and if this first review is any indication, Kris getting critical acclaim for this album does not look far off by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm not gonna lie - I was a bit nervous when I saw Thursday night on Twitter that Howard Cohen of the Miami Herald was listening to it for review. He brought out the haterade for Kris towards the end of Idol (did not like Falling Slowly OR She Works Hard For The Money. WTF?!) and was not a happy camper when he beat Adam Lambert for the Idol title.

And as I started to read his review, I started to rage, because he starts it off by bitching about the Idol voting system and then continues by saying that Kris' Tour performances "were the equivalent of invisible ink. Instantly forgettable."

(BTW - talk about talking out of your ass. I looked back at his tour review, and this is what he wrote: "Naturally, it was anticlimactic compared to what had transpired moments before, but in his warm fuzzy and still ambitious way, Kris was likable and helped make this a night of slick musical entertainment you could leave feeling good about.")

But once Cohen established his preference, he let it be known that the album is overall "better than expected. He transcends this critic's expectations and fans should be most satisfied." After taking some swipes at Live Like We're Dying and, to a lesser degree, Can't Stay Away From You and Written All Over My Face, he finally gets to the real praise:

"But Kris finds a workable pop/rock style of his own on the upbeat Kris Allen and its pleasures all come from his songwriting hand. He cowrote most of the album and all of its highlights, like the truly pretty Let It Rain with his skilled piano bed framing the memorable melody and the McCartneyesque-pop buoyancy of Alright With Me, are his. Fine tunes."

(Holycrapidoodles! One of Kris's songs got called McCartney-esque! He got compared to his Idol!)

Cohen also adds this at the end: "Kris Allen starts off with a major hurdle (that opening single) but ultimately winds up as one of the more likable, artistically valid albums from an Idol winner. In fact, song-for-song, Kris easily trumps the weakest Idol champ debuts (David Cook, Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard.) He even comes out ahead of Kelly Clarkson at this stage of his career. Remember, Kelly exploded on her second album, not her overproduced and generic debut."

Wow. This is amazing, especially considering the source. Although I am offended at putting David Cook in the same "weakest Idol champ debuts" sentence as Taylor and Ruben. HDU, Howard Cohen!