Review: David Cook's debut CD

BY GLENN GAMBOA | glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

Like most "American Idol" champ debuts, " David Cook" (19/RCA) won't go down as the rocker's best album. It's uneven, sort of rushed and slightly schizophrenic, held together mainly by his charming growl and producer Rob Cavallo's rockish gloss. But that only speaks to David Cook's considerable promise, bolstered by the album's impressive middle. The power ballads "Life on the Moon" and "Mr.Sensitive" should prove even more durable than the smash "The Time of My Life." He stretches boundaries creatively with the metallic, grinding "Bar-Ba-Sol" - part Pearl Jam fist-pumper, part Alice in Chains slither. Somehow, "David Cook" matches its creator - a little unfocused but brimming with potential and so much likability that the faults get forgotten.

DAVID COOK "David Cook"

THE GRADE B(+)

BOTTOM LINE "Idol" keeps winning.

"American Idol" season seven champ David Cook already scored a solid hit with his first single, "The Time of My Life," the kind of sentimental ballad every winner is forced to churn out. Much like his predecessors' quick-turnaround debuts, Cook's is fairly generic, but its rock edge is dirtied up with crunching guitars and the artist's tuneful growl. There are a host of big, anthemic choruses that highlight the power of Cook's voice, namely the soaring "Declaration" and Chris Cornell/Brian Howes-penned "Light On." Elsewhere, Cook exercises his right to rawk with the swaggering, gritty "Bar-ba-sol" and bares his soul alongside a delicate piano and string arrangement on "Permanent." There are some lyrical missteps ("Life on the Moon," which marvels at the titular concept), but as the lone rocker winner of "Idol" to date, Cook stands apart from cookie-cutter pop.