Clay Goes "A Thousand Different Ways"
I hope you’ll forgive me if I sneak a music review in my television blog…
Clay Aiken’s “A Thousand Different Ways” hit the stores yesterday. And the good news is, it’s not nearly as cheesy as I worried it would be.
When I heard that Clay was doing a cover album with songs that had been covered numerous times, I was concerned. And rightfully so since Clay has taken a beating from music critics for his choice.
But if his label’s idea of good new songs are the four new tracks on this one, we’re better off with the covers. With the exception of “A Thousand Ways,” they are the weakest songs on the CD—especially “These Open Arms” (I would’ve expected more from Jon Bon Jovi and Desmond Child.). I’m also a little concerned with Clay’s skill as a songwriter with the lyrics on “Lonely No More,” which he co-wrote.
And besides. Once I heard Clay wrap his voice around some of these songs, most of my worries went away.
The strongest track is without a doubt, “Because You Loved Me.” I have always hated that song, but with a new arrangement, Clay totally transforms it into something gorgeous. “Everytime You Go Away” is another good one, as Clay does Daryl Hall proud; and there’s just something reassuring about hearing Clay sing “When I See You Smile.”
The choice to make “I Want to Know What Love Is” a duet is a good one and Suzie McNeil of “Rock Star: INXS” works well with him; but they’re no Hal Sparks and Wynonna. And Clay struggles a bit on the chorus.
The CD is not without its cheese, however. The worst offense is “Everything I Do (I Do It For You). The Titanic-sounding flute doesn’t help matters. And I think it was a bad choice to start the CD off with the up-tempo version of “Right Here Waiting” (Yes, I said up-tempo), because it sets off the cheese meter immediately.
Clay’s choice of Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again” is also suspect and the spoken word on “Broken Wings” gives it a strange, eerie sound, which unfortunately fits right in with the slight overproduction of the entire CD. Every song has huge orchestration that at times manages to overshadow Clay’s voice (which is hard to do).
But the biggest problem with the CD is that no matter how good it is (and it is good), it’s still a disappointment in “a thousand different ways.” None of the up-tempo new songs we were promised during the Jukebox Tour are on the CD, which means that those of us who fell in love with “Back for More” are out of luck (I’m hoping it will show up on iTunes.). And though coming off his Jukebox Tour a cover CD makes some sense, it’s disappointing that Clive Davis decided to go with a themed love song CD instead of letting Clay mix it up. It would have been nice to hear some more of the songs that Clay did on the tour (like “Unchained Melody”), or even the songs he did on Idol (like “Love Somebody”).
I’m also disappointed with the decision to make “Without You” the first single. That song has been recorded by a ton of other artists and with the Mariah Carey version still fresh in everyone’s minds, it could be a problem for him. I don’t think Clay needs to concern himself with radio airplay, though, because none of the songs have that potential anyway (which is a shame since “Back for More” did).
But if you can get all of those disappointments out of your head, you’ll enjoy this one. Clay’s voice is still there, after all. And I for one would listen to him sing the phone book.
If you’d like to hear it for yourself, you can listen to the entire CD at http://music.aol.com/songs/new_releases_full_cds. Be sure to post a comment about what you think.
