Now Lambert is back with his first studio album, “For Your Entertainment” (RCA). It at least looks promising, with an image of the androgynous singer peering out moodily from the album cover beneath thick eye liner.
At the very least, the image is enough to prompt flashbacks to his “Idol” coming-out party. Watching Lambert take more chances with his look and music as the season progressed gave the fading franchise a much-needed shot of vitality. He began to dress and act the part of a diva in spandex and fingerless cat gloves, yet his powerhouse voice proved suitable not just for “Idol”-approved power ballads, but for putting a glam-tastic twist on rock songs. Visions of Queen’s Freddie Mercury, if not “Thin White Duke”-era David Bowie, danced in our heads. You may not have liked the guy at all, but he wasn’t a cipher. It felt like he was drawing a line every time he strutted into view, as if to say, “Love or hate it, but there’s no in-between.”
For those reasons, there was hope that “For Your Entertainment” would be the first post-“Idol” debut to break the mold of industry-manicured pap. Instead, it’s a series of hedged bets. It stuffs Lambert into a box of formulas that keep his musical flamboyance in check.
Rob Cavallo, Dr. Luke, Ryan Tedder, Max Martin --- among the most successful songwriters and producers of the decade, experts at manipulating the industry machine --- keep him firmly in the middle of the road. The most exciting moments arrive when he veers off, little explosions of individuality that suggest Lambert has a lot more to give than this album and his small army of handlers will allow.
Things start off with a promising stomp in platform boots. “Music Again,” written by Justin Hawkins of the U.K. glam-rock band the Darkness, blends a big Gary Glitter-sized beat with the type of guitar solo that should be accompanied by a laser show. Lambert, instantly feeling at home, just about squeals in falsetto delight.
The title song promises to “get rough with you,” and “Strut” demands a “revolution.” If it were only so. Lambert throws his hands up in the whiny “Whataya Want From Me,” a trifle from the team of Pink and Britney Spears svengali Martin.
“Soaked,” from Muse’s Matthew Bellamy, has all the requisite Muse-style orchestral bombast, and gives Lambert plenty of room to broadcast his extravagant vocal range. But it has all the empty splendor of an Andrew Lloyd Webber pop aria. Linda Perry’s “A Loaded Smile” is its polar opposite, an inert glob of downcast synthesizers masquerading as a song.
A couple of highlights suggest what might have been. “Pick U Up,” cowritten by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, is one-dimensional, but exuberantly so. Higher and higher it goes, until resistance becomes futile. The approach suits Lambert. His voice loves mountain-climbing. At the end, he lets loose a cackle of delight. Where’s that attitude elsewhere?
“Broken Open,” one of only four songs Lambert had a hand in writing, echoes his most evocative “Idol” moment – a cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World.” The singer feels comfortable around emotional extremes, and the haunted Goth melancholy of “Broken Open” is a natural fit. Lambert’s usually stentorian voice sounds as fragile as the subject matter: a plea to a friend/lover to crack a façade of indifference.
Otherwise, this album feels anticlimactic after Lambert’s “Idol” run. Next time, the singer deserves a chance to fall flat on his face; I bet he’d find that fate far more appealing than the ho-hum reaction much of “For Your Entertainment” inspires.
