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Mini-reviews of a couple of Idol Christmas albums

Through nefarious means available to me as a music journalist of sorts, I was able to acquire copies of the Christmas albums by Elliott and Kimberley. Despite an aversion to most holiday albums (the new one by The Smithereens being...

NGAB -- Hope there's something to work with

I provide this weekly thread for the lonely, huddled few who are still watching Next Great American Band. I hope to catch up to it myself when I come back Sunday evening, and I'll try to jot down some notes...

I'm back and I'm plowed (under)

Just a note to say I'm back, but please indulge me a bit longer as I try to do some rather extensive newspaper catch-up. But look for a Jordin Sparks album review tonight, a track-by-track look at the album probably...

NGAB Week 5: Is that all there is?

Sorry this is up late -- still scrambling, and I haven't seen what (if anything) you've posted about Friday's Next Great American Band episode. But the big news (if anything connected to NGAB can fairly be called "big" (or "news,"...

Jordin: The official review

Here's my official review of Jordin's self-titled album, which I was pleased to find was not being held back in fear of bad reviews, as several other Idol albums (including Carrie's latest) have been. Track-by-track look Tuesday, I hope. Jordin...

Jordin: The story

Accompanying my review of Jordin's album, the website has also posted a story from the Arizona Republic about her prospects. It's got a couple of quotes from Jordin, but it's basically what's known as a "thumbsucker," which is the kind...

Jordin: Track by track

Better late than never, here's a more detailed look at Jordin's album than on the official review I posted Monday night. (It's all Jordin all the time so far this week, but we'll broaden out starting tomorrow.) Basically, the album...

Carrie, Chris & Kellie wave the Idol flag on album chart

Snatching an idol moment in the crazed pre-Thanksgiving work environment, I'm ready to run down the Idols' sales results for the week, courtesy Nielsen SoundScan as always. Next week Jordin will join them, but this week the Idol complement on...

Jordin gets close to top 10 on download chart; Blake debuts

Jordin's Tattoo continues to leave its mark on the digital songs chart, moving up from No. 14 to No. 12, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It sold 50,000 downloads, a 6% increase over the previous week, to bring its total to...

Unraveling the threads

I'm writing this on Thanksgiving (I'm working; long story), but I figure you all have better things to do today (not that there could be anything better per se than reading/posting on Idol Chatter, of course, but there's a time...