Skip to content
Reviews

James Durbin, ‘Memories of a Beautiful Disaster’ (Wind-Up)

Rockers freshly graduated from American Idol could do worse than hooking up with producer Howard Benson, as Chris Daughtry proved five years ago. Now comes the debut from Season 10’s fourth-place finisher James Durbin, and like the quadruple-platinum Daughtry, Memories of a Beautiful Disaster positions its headliner’s voice amid a perfect swarm of polished mall-metal guitars built to flatter the finest hooks post-Idol money can buy. And though Durbin’s singing lacks the strange sensuality of his predecessor, he might have slightly more interesting tastes: The glam-trashy “Love in Ruins” (co-written by Anna Waronker of That Dog) would’ve fit comfortably on the latest from My Chemical Romance.