Soul Patrol sputters

Taylor Hicks, "Taylor Hicks" 2 stars

Taylor Hicks, the fifth "American Idol" champion, was the most unusual winner yet.

Not because he was a prematurely graying 30-year-old with frantic dance moves and an odd habit of punctuating his sentences with "Soul Patrol!" but because he was a fully formed singer with a style developed from years of performing on the road. If any "Idol" champ could hold his own against that daunting task of building a post-"Idol" debut album, it would be Hicks, right?

Well, apparently not.

"Taylor Hicks" (RCA) doesn't give him much of a chance to show off his strong voice or his soul-patrol personality. It's choked with bland leftovers and ill-fitting covers that make it the latest in a line of disappointing debuts from "American Idol" alumni.

The first single, "The Runaround," sounds as though it was written for someone much younger, with its bridge of "I'm getting an A in Broken Hearts, I got my degree in Crying." The Taylor-ed up touches -- horn flourishes and soulful back-up singers -- aren't really worth the bother.

On "Dream Myself Awake," Hicks follows what must have been songwriter Rob Thomas' guide vocals so closely that it sounds as if he's doing an impersonation. His cover of Marvin Gaye's "Wherever I Lay My Hat" sounds as if it was recorded the first time he ever heard the song, with sloppy, uncomfortable phrasing and unsure vocals.

The best songs on the album are the ones Hicks wrote -- the retro, bar-band soul of "Soul Thing" and the Bonnie Raitt-ish blues of "The Deal" -- from his pre-"Idol" albums, along with "The Right Place," a soul ballad Bryan Adams co-wrote for the late Ray Charles.

Part of the problem with "Taylor Hicks" is clearly the time crunch of finishing an album in less than six months while touring and maintaining an extremely busy public schedule. But the other part of the problem is that Hicks' keepers seem to have been trying to mold him into something he's not.