PROVIDENCE -- Compared with last year's crop, the group of American Idol singers who came to the Dunkin' Donuts Center last night on the whole represented a huge improvement. But seeing the Idols live made some of the results of the competition even more perplexing than it was at the time.

Several of the Idols still fell prey to the lure of the high, hard one: the top-of-your-range, top-of-your-lungs note that you need to hit to make an impression on the judges and TV viewers who make the decisions.

Mandisa opened the show singing with warmth and depth. She easily handled "I'm Every Woman" with more than a little Chaka Khan style to spare. She threw a few too many high hard ones into Gladys Knight's "If I Were Your Woman," but still managed to convey the tune nicely.

Ace Young followed by dueting with Mandisa on "I Am Your Angel" before taking over for "Father Figure" and a version of Maroon5's "Harder To Breathe" with more guitar punch than the original. His voice was high and somewhat thin, but powerful, and he did the best job of the night of avoiding the high hard one syndrome.

Lisa Tucker, on the other hand, fell right into it, particularly marring what were shaping up to be nice at-the-piano renditions of Elton John's "Your Song" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight."

Paris Bennett's opening duet with Tucker on TLC's "Waterfalls" was her high point; she was competent if somewhat generic. Bucky Covington was inoffensive, but his handling of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" was indicative more of one-size-fits-all facility than true versatility.

Kellie Pickler was the low point of the evening: Her paper-thin voice grated, and her attempts to cover it with by-the-numbers rock attitude and golly-gosh between-song humility made matters worse.

Chris Daughtry showed himself to be a thoroughly competent alt-rock shouter. Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" was an ill-advised cover choice, but his version of Nickelback's "Last One Standing" (in a duet with the subsequent Elliott Yamin) was a good indicator.

Yamin did OK with Luther Vandross' "Never Too Much," with a youthful, almost teenpop delivery, but his attempt at the blues with "I'm Evil" missed by a mile.

Runner-up Katharine McPhee said she was suffering from a cold, so she gets a pass for her non-glistening version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Her version of Aretha Franklin's "Think," however, was awkward and wrong.

Taylor Hicks won this season's competition, and after last night, it's even harder to see why. Starting his set up in the cheap seats and taking a lap around the Dunk doing "Jailhouse Rock," the dad-rocker spent more time dancing and running than singing, and when he did sing he was a leather-lunged blue-collar rocker without the leather lungs.

Weak and thin, he sounded like a cross between the most easily imitable trademarks of Bob Seger and Michael McDonald (not for nothing did he do a song by each in his set). And he was easily outdistanced by several of his stagemates during the group finale.

rmassimo@projo.com / (401) 277-7206