American Idol Season 8 Recap of the Top 10: Lil Rounds Falters; Adam Lambert Shines

Tonight's American Idol, a two-hour show, aired on Wednesday, as it was bumped from its regular slot by President Obama's prime-time press conference. The contestants sang the songs made famous by Motown Records. The mentor for the week was Motown legend Smokey Robinson, and Motown founder Berry Gordy was in attendance for the performances.

In the interest of getting this article out in a timely fashion, I am going to post my usual snarky recap later-it's very time-consuming being snarky, I tell ya. As a nutshell overview, however, I will quickly share my opinions of tonight's performances: Matt Giraud's take on Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" was absolutely great; his voice strained on precisely one note, and it was the very same note that Marvin strained on, so I don't wanna hear it. The guy brought it. Kris Allen did pretty well singing a fairly unchallenging song, and I don't even remember what it was right off the top of my head, so clearly that performance wasn't a showstopper, but it will keep him in another week.

Scott MacIntyre stayed behind his piano tonight, sounding as well as he normally does, which is generally-okay-with-some-wack-areas. The judges came down a little harder tonight than they usually do on him, but it's time to start getting real. Anoop Desai chose "Ooh Baby Baby" and rendered it with as much sweetness and control as he did last week's "You Were Always on My Mind". Smooth R&B really is this guy's forte, and he was splendid tonight.

Megan Corkrey sang a hellaciously bad "For Once in My Life" for which the judges rightly excoriated her. I like her unique sound, but if she can't carry a damn tune, she can unique herself right out the door, and she likely will tomorrow. Joining her in the bottom three will definitely be Michael Sarver, who was another load of crap tonight, and the judges let him have it with both barrels.

Surprisingly bad was Lil Rounds. She should have been right in her element, and she even sang a Martha Reeves song, "Heat Wave", which is exactly what I was hoping for. I was not hoping she'd ruin it, but she did just that. The judges criticized her, but blamed it on song choice. I do not agree. I personally think that was a good song for her, except it wasn't if she sucked, so I guess they had a point, albeit a retroactive one.

Adam Lambert, whose banshee wail freaked everyone the hell out last week, kept it completely toned down tonight with "Tracks of My Tears". A very sensitive performance, and an excellent move, very reminiscent of David Cook's decision not to Cookify "The Music of the Night" that one week. If Adam is tracking Cookie, obviously he'll do well, even if he did look exactly like Kurt Russell playing Elvis Presley in that one movie.

Danny Gokey brought his usual joy and energy to "Get Ready", which worked out well for him despite his decision not to follow Smokey's advice of singing the ends of each line (he let the backup singers do it), but the real star of the show tonight was Allison Iraheta, who completely burned up the pimp spot with her smokin' rendition of The Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." Ab fab, my friends. What bottom three, says Allison? Not this week, my dear!

Bat Rankings (tonight's performance)

1. Allison Iraheta

2. Matt Giraud

3. Adam Lambert

4. Anoop Desai

5. Danny Gokey

6. Kris Allen

7. Lil Rounds

8. Scott MacIntyre

9. Michael Sarver

10. Megan Corkrey