Idol pleasures
Ritchie Yorke
November 26, 2006



AS THE latest Australian Idol series comes to an end tonight, two graduates from the series are releasing albums into the competitive Christmas market.

Original Idol winner Guy Sebastian has his third album in the shops, while Anthony Callea – arguably the series' biggest success story – is issuing his second album today.

Sebastian's Closer to the Sun has already sold more than 50,000 copies in less than a month, compared with a total of 82,000 for its predecessor, Beautiful Life, and 430,000 for his first effort, Just As I Am.

Closer to the Sun is Sebastian's second attempt at creating a third album. He dropped a series of tracks he'd recorded while on an international song-hunting trip.

"I don't think you should travel around the world to get songs, I think they should come from jamming," he said.

"The stuff I'd recorded overseas wasn't necessarily bad – it was just the 'same-old, same-old' sort of stuff.

"I'd been boxed in to being an urban-type artist, but that was it. But the fact is that a lot of the stuff I listen to is The Beatles and guitar-based stuff. I wanted that to be reflected in this album."

On his new album, a song called Elevator Love demonstrates Sebastian's love for gutsy rock 'n' roll.

The singer co-wrote 11 of the 13 tracks, including the inspirational ballad Taller Stronger Better.

Callea, with his second album, A New Chapter, released today, also had a hand in writing 14 of its 15 tracks.

"My intention is to get the best songs," Callea said, "and I am totally stoked with these results".

The single Love, which went into the national Top 10, sets the pace.

"It's a nice power ballad with a great message, I think. It's not your typical lovey-dovey song. It's about enhancing the good things in life – your family and friends – and not letting the negativity in the world get in."

While he doesn't deny that his original smash hit My Prayer, which became the fastest and biggest-selling single in Australian music history, "trademarked" him, Callea feels that A New Chapter is "quite diverse and shows what I'm capable of doing".

Callea said he was still intrigued by the Idol series. "It's a great launching pad for artists."


http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/story/0,...5003421,00.html