1. Jacob- I loved that! The line of huggers should have been men. Ryno and Nigel couldn't let that happen tho

2. Scotty-he did ok w/ Motown I liked the bball shot too

3. Paul-WGWG WGWG WGWG VFTW and cougars...he's in the finals!!!

4. Lauren-this was her best performance. She did look very nice.

5. Naima-SYTYCD's auditions are probably starting...

6. Haley-much much better song choice...I just don't know where her voting bloc is gonna come from.

7. James-I liked the song choice for him he's overrated though

8. Casey-I did not like the song but the growling and faces were awesome!

9. Thia-not good I was waiting for Rachel Brittany and Santana to come out to save her

10. Pia-YAAAAAAWWWWN...she is so overrated

11. Stefano-get off the stage..he overemotes every note and he cannot sing imho

LAST EDITED ON 03-24-11 AT 11:53 AM (EST)

Motown Mojo

1. Jacob - Whoah, whoah, whoah. Man, what a voice, especially those high notes right in harmony with the ladies. Superbly smooth performance where he didn't let himself get carried away (except with those several mouth contortions!). Close your eyes, though, and get blown away. Not sure I agree with Randy it's the best all-time ever or whatever he said it was, but it was indeed a fine performance by Jacob, his best to date. Now, he? I can easily picture in an old Motown video. He'd fit right in.

2. Pia - Looks like we're all on the same page here. Phenomenal voice, beautiful on stage, fantastic to look at and listen to. But where's the entertainment? With a voice like that, she needs to show that she can do anything else but ballads, even just one other thing.

3. Naima - She was in her element with just the right arrangement and beat to showcase her stage presence. Vocally, not extraordinary, but performance-wise, quite entertaining (far more so than a couple of other ladies). That one dance might have been a little over the top, but hey, she's got that devil-may-care attitude that allows her to get away with it. Thumbs up, not disappointed. With that wild dance she did, I'd give her the Wind Up Award for the night.

Still InTown

4. Casey - Solid, energizing performance by Casey with a song that will expose any pretenders. I wondered at first if he was going to open up, and then he opens up and cruises the walks. Great control on the voice, too. I liked it, although I still like the CCR version best. He's safe this week, but he needs to up his game if he's going to win. I'd like to see more like what he did with the bass a few weeks ago.

5. James - Wow, this guy is so full of energy, I'm expecting the stage to blast apart in a nuke explosion. I'm not a huge fan of screaming lyrics, but this guy is one of the best we've seen on Idol. Give him a song, a rocking arrangement and let him go. Thumbs up, but he loses points to getting carried away with the around-the-audience finger pointing to almost no end while J-Lo was going, "James... James!" to get him to stop and let the crowd get quiet. It seemed like he was a little out of control there for about half a minute.

6. Scotty - I'll differ with the judges this time. Pretty good performance by Scotty, but it seemed pretty obvious he was out of his usual comfort zone and he was putting a little of his own pizzazz into it. Although I think he did ok, the performance itself was kind of weak and the rather average arrangement & simple, steady beat didn't really jive. Having said that, he's one of my fav guys this season and I think we'll hear even better from him in coming weeks. I think he was experimenting a little, given the theme.

7. Thia - Oooo, oooo, oooo! Well, about time Thia came up with something a little more upbeat and lively after some of the previous snooooze fests of weeks past. While not extraordinary, her voice was pleasing to listen to along with the fast beat. Thumbs up, and hope she mixes it up even more in coming weeks with her song choices and arrangements to shed that shy Minnie Mouse image she portrays.

NoTown

8. Lauren - A good performance by Lauren, I suppose, about what I expected and not really anything beyond that. Didn't really get the Motown feel out of her performance as it came across more as a pop song. Thumbs up, but a middle-of-the-road if not boring performance compared with her other songs.

9. Paul - Stock and trade beach party WGWG, acoustic with some beach girl vocal backups. And I've heard and seen much, much better. Not impressed. Ok, I guess, for Paul in his own element. But he still looks creepy to me -- maybe it's him, his guitar, and a cougar putting up with his singing until she can get him away from the guitar.

OutaTown

10. Stefano - Hmm, ahh, erm. (*picture a doctor or dentist saying that*) It seems like Stafano was singing to the audience and the viewer rather than with us. Looks like he's trying too hard, really. Ok vocally, but it took just as much energy to watch him as he did in singing it. Notown Motown soun', nuh uh.

11. Haley - Ack, her last note almost killed me. She looks and sounds like a pretender with this song, playing around showing off vocal gymnastics and not really getting into the spirit of the Motown sound of the song. She also would have been better off without the backup singers, as their tones didn't mix well with hers at all. Nah, I'll pass.

LAST EDITED ON 03-24-11 AT 12:41 PM (EST)

For those of us who were in the throws (throes??) of the Motown era, last night was a total, erroneous joke! Sorry, but I was SO incredibly dissapointed, I wanted to cry myself to sleep and say, 'but Dad, it's SMOKEY'!!

BTW, if anyone wants to know, my family came from the south (I did not, and I was not allowed to buy Motown records). Being a musician myself, it was torture not to have them on my own record player, but it didn't keep me from having that little transistor radio under my pillow every night listening to The Tracks of My Tears, and My Girl, etc...

ANYway, here goes my painful, childhood memory rankings:

Naima: came the closest to the 'real' sound of Motown. The way I remembered it, clear, sweet, straight up. Without that seizure towards the end, of course. Did anyone check her pulse afterwards?

A DISCLAIMER: from here on out, every other person is a disappointing, far-fetched cry from even GOOD let alone 'amazing' as the judges seem to cry week after week, IMHO:

James: about as good as it's going to get, if you can stand
the ego.

Casey: close enough. Good thing Marvin is not among the living, but makes me miss him even more....

Scotty: OK to put your own spin on it; better than butchering it the way some of the others did. At least you were where you needed to be, and gave the song some honor.

Thia: Good try.

Lauren: Country goes Supremes? Almost a good try. Who knew.

Pia: I don't recall this song at all by Stevie, but that's ok. Wouldn't make a lot of difference. The melody was nice, vocals good, as usual, but I think I fell asleep for a while...

Paul: He will always be PAUL, no matter who or what you give him. Tears of a Clown was quite fitting, when you think of it, because the dude never stops smiling, no matter what he's singing! He could be singing for AIDS relief, or at a funeral for the Queen, and he'd still be smiling..

Lauren: FF'd through her because I cannot stand listening to her, but I do like her better than....

Stephano, who I made the mistake of listening/watching, and LAST and LEAST on my list:

Jacob: Palllllllease, you are so pimped and overrated, I can't stand it any more! Watching you makes me want to crawl under something, and would I ever buy a CD of yours? Well, uh...NO. I'm sorry, dude, I'm sure you're very nice and all that, but I don't get it. I DON'T GET IT.

Top 11:

1. Jacob. This was awesome, although possibly not in a good way, but certainly in an entertaining way. He reined it in. It was physically difficult for him to rein it in, but he did, at least, as much as he is able to do. I was almost waiting for him to explode. The arm gestures and the part where he nearly put his hands on his hips and head shaking and the little shimmies. . . yeah, that was great.

2. Scotty - Another performance that was on the verge of going off the deep end but it was actually pretty good. His dancing looks awkward but I can more or less give him a pass on that.

3. Naima - I like this girl because she really, truly takes risks on this show. What does she have to lose? I think she knows that every moment she's out there is HER moment, and shes going to make it memorable. The dancing was, like Jacob's, delightfully spazzy.

4. James - The ego is getting to me but I can't deny that he sounded good.

5. Paul - The best he's done so far. I like him. I didn't like the arrangement and someone needs to teach him how to end a song because he always does that little bow-doe face into the camera and then bobs his head. Like he's spooning peas into a toddler's mouth and saying, "mmmm, yummy" unconvincingly.

6. Pia - Again, good. Again, boring. She really is pretty.

7. Casey - Is falling into a Pia-like pattern of being interesting in a predictable way. It was good, but I'm not sure how to do "different" differently, but he's going to have to figure it out.

8. Haley - She tried, I really think she did. She thinks that the problem is that people don't think she's trying, but the problem is that she's trying too hard. She needs to tone it down and just. sing. She may not get the chance to do that.

9. Lauren - She's got a voice, certainly, but there's something awkward about her. She does everything kind of. . . pissily.

10 - Thia - Fine until she flubbed the words. She's not so good with words, is she. I think she flubbed Smile, too. She seemed to think that no one noticed her flub, but the panicked look that she tossed over to the backup singers gave it away. Simon wouldn't have let her get away with that.

11 - Stefano - Oh, no, Stefano. WTF was that? Bleah. I realize that all of Jacob's usual overwraught machinations were just sitting there, unused, but you REALLY should have left that stuff alone. It doesn't work for you.

893,583 - Ryan and Gordon Ramsay - do NOT knock mamma's food. Sheesh.

Disagree to some degree. Here is my ranking:

1. Jacob -- this is probably your style and you killed it! Great job!

2. Lauren -- loved the way you moved about the stage and sang to the audience.

3. Pia -- great vocals but you really need to sing an up-tempo song now.

4. Thia -- you moved about the stage and that's a step in the right direction. Just become more of a performer.

5. James -- you had a fine performance. It was a really good way to end a great night.

6. Scotty -- you countrified the song, but that's the problem -- you're a country singer, and this isn't Nashville Star.

7. Naima -- I loved the way you incorporated African dancing, although this isn't So You Think You Can Dance.

8. Haley -- good vocals and good bluesy vibe, but you need to improve your performance skills.

9. Stefano -- I love the song "Hello", but this was your worst peformance so far. Fine vocals, not-so-fine performance.

10. Casey -- you were better than last week, but you still screamed a bit.

11. Paul -- still the worst of the lot. Sorry.

Was on a business trip so I had limited access to the board and didn't get a chance to weigh in before now.

1. James - It's hard putting him number one because the ego is now starting to get to me. Last week, I let it go but this week, ignoring Jennifer to soak in the applause... Hrm. I hope he ends up in the bottom three soon and gets a shock.

2. Jacob - still can't stand him, but have to give credit where credit is due. He sang it.

3. Scotty - He made it work. And if he shows even more of that passion when he performs, he'll keep striding on.

4. Naima - Just love watching her perform. Dancing makes her unique and I like that.

5. Thia - Showing more of that potential this week. And in the group sing on Thursday, too.

6. Pia - I am really starting to get bored. But she's a great singer. Reminding me of Kat McPhee.

7. Casey - Decent performance.

8. Paul - So much better than last week. But still not breaking out.

9. Lauren - Doesn't excite me.

10. Haley - Ditto Lauren.

11. Stefano - Completely ignored the advice he was given and butchered the song.