Season 8 Favorite Performances is a compilation album by Adam Lambert based on his American Idol performances. The album was released digitally through iTunes and consists of studio recordings made by Lambert during season 8 of American Idol. It does not include live performances at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. A similar album was also released through iTunes by season 8 winner Kris Allen. It sold 16,000 on its first week,^[1] and has sold 35,000 by July 23, 2009.^[2]

Background[link]

This digital-only album is a collection of studio recordings of songs performed on American Idol by Adam Lambert.^[3] Starting from Top 13 of the final rounds of the competition, each contestant recorded a studio version of the song that they had performed live on stage. These recordings were released immediately after the result show each week and made available for download exclusively via iTunes.^[4] No sales information however were released for the recordings so as not to prejudice the competition. At the end of the season, a collection of these recordings were made available as separate albums for both the winner and the runner-up, namely Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. These albums were made available immediately after the season finale on May 20, 2009.

This album contains studio versions of some live performances by Adam Lambert such as "Mad World", "Tracks of My Tears", and "Ring of Fire". Adam's version of "Mad World" is based on Gary Jules' interpretation of the Tears for Fears' song from the film Donnie Darko.^[5] Gary Jules himself praised Adam's performance of "Mad World", that he had delivered the song "in a unique and beautiful way".^[6] His "Ring of Fire" is a further elaboration of Dilana's version of the Johnny Cash song,^[7] while his "Feeling Good" was inspired by Muse's version of the song.^[8]

Track listing[link]

Charts[link]

Chart performance and sales of individual album tracks[link]

No chart position and sales information were released during the competition, therefore these figures are only for sales and chart positions attained after the finale.

References[link]

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Blues Saraceno (born October 17, 1971 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American rock guitarist, composer, and music producer who currently resides in Los Angeles California. Saraceno was discovered by Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine, at the age of 16, which assisted him in releasing instrumental recordings on an independent basis.^[1] Saraceno's high profile as a gifted guitar virtuoso and musician opened the doors to an early career as a first call guitar sideman and session musician. Saraceno is most often recognized from his time playing with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker (Cream) as well as his brief tenure with the band Poison. Saraceno's early success in the music industry would eventually blossom into a career in producing and composing for television and film.

Early life and career[link]

Blues Saraceno was born to musician parents, which exposed him from an early age to several musical instruments. He started to play guitar at the age of nine. When he was thirteen, he broke his elbow when he fell from a go-kart and asked the doctor to position the cast in a way that allowed him to remove it from his sling to practice guitar during his recovery. When he was nineteen, Saraceno moved to Los Angeles to seek a career in music.

Career[link]

When Saraceno was still a teenager, his then manager sent a demo tape to singer Michael Bolton, who decided to enlist him to play on a song for Cher's album, Heart of Stone. The album also featured musicians like Peter Cetera, Bonnie Tyler, Desmond Child, and others. After this, his demo tape reached the Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine. The magazine, which were about to launch a new record label, offered Saraceno a record deal. Saraceno released his first album titled Never Look Back in 1989.

After this, Saraceno won an audition with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, former members of Cream, and started touring with them. After two successful US tours Saraceno was quickly becoming referred to as the "kid that replaced Eric Clapton". After another year of overseas touring, Baker departed and was replaced by Simon Phillips (Who, Toto) and eventually Gary Husband (Level 42). Saraceno continued to release two other solo albums (Plaid and Hairpick) as well as furthering his reputation as a top call session guitarist and landing many high profile equipment endorsements. .

In 1994, Saraceno joined the band Poison as lead guitarist and songwriter after Richie Kotzen was fired. After a South American tour which included the famous Hollywood rock festival in Brazil, Saraceno recorded the album Crack a Smile with the band. However, Capitol Records decided to shelve the album releasing the 1996 compilation album, Poison's Greatest Hits: 1986-1996, instead. Still, the album featured two of the new songs recorded with Saraceno. After some time, Saraceno left the group amicably and was replaced by the band's original guitarist, C.C. DeVille. In 2000, Capitol finally decided to release the Crack a Smile album under the name Crack a Smile... and More!. The album features fifteen tracks recorded by Saraceno.

After his departure from Poison, Saraceno met Vice-President of Advertising of Fox Television, who was a fan of Saraceno's earlier instrumental work. This resulted in Saraceno working on soundtracks and songs for several television shows and films.

In 2000, Saraceno also founded the band Transmission OK. Saraceno also worked as record producer for the band, which was signed to Beyond Records, and was distributed by BMG. After a brief US tour, and lackluster support from the label, the group disbanded and Saraceno continued to work on television and film, as well as his session work.

Saraceno's session work has ranged from Ziggy Marley (Dragonfly) to Melissa Etheridge (Lucky) and he has earned a reputation for being a "go-to guy" for many of Los Angeles' top record producers and engineers.

Saraceno has also produced for artists such as, Scott Caan (Hawaii Five-0, Oceans 11), Eric Balfour (24, Chainsaw Massacre) of Fredalba, Lindsay Price (Beverly Hills 90210, Lipstick Jungle) and Anthony Michael Hall (Dead Zone).

Saraceno's greatest success has come in the field of television and film. Blues' television work credits include CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, Disney, Discovery, UPN, MTV, MTV 2, VH1, USA, TLC, Comedy Central, Telemundo, SCI FI, SPIKE, E! and BRAVO. A more detailed list can be found on his website (www.bluessaraceno.com). He has commented on how it is not uncommon to have multiple commercials running in multiple countries throughout the world, all at the same time and using the same piece of music.

Saraceno did three tracks for Megas XLR. These tracks were Blood Shot, Berzerker and Ro-Sham-Bo.

Equipment[link]

Blues Saraceno is endorsed by Mojave amps, Ernie Ball guitars and strings, Seymour Duncan pickups and Dirty Boy Pedals,^[2] which are pedals designed and handmade by his father, Alex Saraceno.

Discography[link]

Solo[link]

• Never Look Back (1989)
• Plaid (1992)
• Hairpick (1994)
• The Best of Blues Saraceno (2000)

With Cher[link]

• Heart of Stone (1989)

With Taylor Dayne[link]

• Can't Fight Fate (1989)

With Kingdom Come[link]

• Hands of Time (1991)

With Poison[link]

• Poison's Greatest Hits: 1986-1996 (1996)
• Crack a Smile... and More! (2000)

With Ziggy Marley[link]

• Dragonfly (2003)

With Megas XLR[link]

• Megas XLR OST (2004)

With Melissa Etheridge[link]

• Lucky (2004)

With Gorgeous George[link]

• Gorgeous George (1999)

With Transmission OK[link]

• The Sky, The Stars And The Great Beyond... (2000)

With The Infinite Staircase[link]

• The Road Less Taken (Plays on Opening Song "Happy Fields" and he Mixed the Album) (2009)

Other[link]

• The Sound Of Nascar by Various Artists (2005) *he contributes 3 songs to the "Nascar Racing" arcade game

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website