Unbroken

Poor Katharine McPhee has never received the critical accolades she is so worthy of. She definitely deserved to win American Idol against Taylor Hicks. There was no comparison but Ms. McPhee is one of those women who is so beautiful on the outside that many people ignore the inside. She is lovely and beautiful indeed but many critics just think she has a simple pleasant voice and she possesses so much more. I love her new look and hairdo as she asks to have her vocals heard. I was one of those who did not love her debut cd. It was too poppish for me and didn't show off her great vocals and versatility.

A couple of years have passed and Katharine McPhee has grown up a lot. When I first heard this cd I didn't know what I thought and honestly would have given it 3 stars at that point. But after hearing it over and over I love it. There are no tracks here that are standout hits so you must listen to each track as its own. Most of the songs are ballads and only with the intense listening will you find the quality and versatility that is actually here.

It would have helped to have some uptempo tracks to break up the ballads so that they could have been appreciated more. Standouts of the ballads are SURRENDER, LAST LETTER, SAY GOODBYE and FAULTLINE. Interestingly my least favorite track is the title UNBROKEN. ANYBODY'S HEART has Katharine's vocals velvety like silk and DRIVIN and TERRIFIED are excellent displays of her vocals. The most uptempo here are poppish ballads LIFETIME, HAD IT ALL and the fun BRAND NEW KEY.

I still feel like Katharine McPhee has not been matched with the ultimate music to show her true artistry and versatitlity. Listen to her sing SOMEWHERE on the David Foster and Friends cd/dvd and you will see what she is capable of. But she does well here and I am very grateful for SAY GOODBYE and LAST LETTER. I am a huge fan and just wish that this cd had some strong tracks for singles to draw more listeners in. Katharine McPhee is still a rising star yet to meet her highest mark but UNBROKEN is a strong positive step. There is great talent here and I can't wait to see what comes next.

Up until this past summer, when 2008 fifth-place finisher Brooke White released HIGH HOPES AND HEARTBREAK, I had overwhelmingly ignored practically every artist that was ever on "American Idol" that ever released an album. I just felt, and still largely do, that even as it tries to promote new talent, it also seems to promote the continued corporate approach to pop music of today. Brooke's album was the sole exception up to that point, a breezy bit of 1970s California-inspired pop.

In her wake, then, there is Katharine McPhee, who finished second to Taylor Hicks on "Idol" in 2006. I wasn't exactly high on her self-titled post-"Idol" 2007 album, thinking it sounded like everything else on today's adult contemporary and R&B radio. However, her second album, UNBROKEN, is a different sort of album from its predecessor. For while it still contains the AC and R&B elements of its predecessor, there is a noticeable emphasis, as there was on Brooke's album, on acoustic-influenced 1970s pop elements, like on "Lifetime", and the up-tempo "Had It All". Katharine also does a fairly good vocal workout on "Faultline" without resorting to the irritating melisma that seems to be part-and-parcel of far too many divas that will remain nameless. She gets able assistance, both in the writing and performing aspects of the songs, from people like Rachel Yamagata and veteran guitarist Mark Goldenberg, who worked with rock icon Linda Ronstadt thirty years before on her somewhat controversial but hugely successful 1980 new-wave rock album MAD LOVE. The big surprise in this collection, however, is Katharine's reggae-influenced cover of "Brand New Key", which had been a #1 hit for three weeks in the winter of 1971-72 for folk-pop songstress Melanie. Katharine claimed that she had not heard Melanie's original before she was about ready to record it, but she sounds quite comfortable doing it.

It's this kind of largely uncluttered production on UNBROKEN that, like Brooke's album from '09, sets it apart from the more hyped-up "Idol" divas Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood: nothing extreme, everything done just right and tasteful, but with a good deal of originality. This may likely end up being one of my personal favorites in 2010.

The DVD is an outstanding, entertaining disc and the CD has some of the best of Katharine's work to date. She continues to improve all the time. Looking forward to her future works. We prefer DVD so we can enjoy the visual along with the sound.