encores

That will be the title of the latest American Idol CD, due to be released on May 23rd -- in time for the season finale . Heh. Talk about classy marketing. I wonder if I can manage to find online versions of these tracks soon? Hehe. That way I won't have to buy the CD itself (last year's Season 4 Showstoppers CDs cost P495 cos they were supposed to be imported)... I'll ask Meh if she can download the tracks for me. ^_^

No official tracklistings on the official Idol site and Amazon.com. Rumors from the message boards, however, say that the songs are as follows:

1. Kevin Covais - When I Fall in Love
   
2. Melissa McGhee - What About Love
   
3. Lisa Tucker - Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)
   
4. Mandisa Hundley - I'm Every Woman
   
5. Bucky Covington - Superstition
   
6. Paris Bennett - Midnight Train to Georgia
   
7. Ace Young - Father Figure
   
8. Katharine McPhee - Think
   
9. Kellie Pickler - Walkin' After Midnight
   
10. Chris Daughtry - Wanted Dead or Alive
    
11. Taylor Hicks - Takin' It to the Streets
    
12. Elliott Yamin - Moody's Mood for Love
    

Hm. I guess the reason the album's called Encores is that most of these songs were performed before the finals (eight out of twelve songs were from the semis). Either the producers could not find anything better than these songs for the finalists -- though one may argue that these are the best, or they're going for the "middle ground", having done the greatest finals perfs last season (the other extreme would be recording all new tracks, which they did on Seasons 2 and 3).

Anyway, general comments: good choice for Chris, Ace, and Mandisa. As for Kat's... isn't this the song she sang on her audition? Owelz... at least I'll get to listen to the full version of Elliott's "Moody's Mood for Love" if ever. *sigh* Love his hat on the CD cover, BTW.

I also wonder if there will be the usual group song, especially since they haven't done any on the show (save one during the semis and another during Queen week) -- many thanks to the guest performers. *rolls eyes*

* * *
Update (2006.05.04): Barnes and Noble also listed the same tracks. I guess these are most likely to be true then.)

Update (2006.05.05): The official Idol Web site has confirmed the abovementioned tracks. Not the order it is listed though. Anyway, you can read their article here.