I agree, mcmaenza. It was a bit like trying to fit a soul singer into a more popish mold, but for what it was I thought it actually worked very well. The songs all had at least a tinge of soul to them even though they were extremely polished and he sang the heck out of all of them! I think the songs he wrote were actually among the best on the CD, which bodes well for a future release where he will have even more creative control. Probably the highlight of that CD for me is the last song, "The Right Place". If you didn't know, it was written by Bryan Adams for Ray Charles, but Ray died before he could record it and he then gave it to Taylor. That song more than any other sounds like the kind of stuff Taylor should be emphasizing in his repertoire. He really does sound like a white Ray Charles sometimes! I guess we'll have to wait until his stint in GREASE is over before he starts thinking about recording again, though.

It will be interesting to see how hard David Cook fights for creative control of his debut...I hope he fights at least as hard as Taylor did.