The VOX is a Drug

Official album cover, *swoon*:


As much as I enjoy looking at the pretty, my addiction of the day is to Clay Aiken's voice. I downloaded all 14 of the clips that were available earlier today at Sony Music Store and have been playing them nonstop all day. The clips are now hidden on the site but you can listen to them at Marhaven's Musings. I've never heard his voice so delicate and nuanced, particularly on the new song "Everything I Have," which is absolutely gorgeous.

Here's a quick synopsis of the 30 second snippets from A Thousand Different Ways:
Songs I had never heard before and am absolutely loving:

Lonely No More--Very pretty, memorable melody and lovely acoustic guitar work. Future single material.

Here You Come Again--gentle and conveys a certain resignation

Everything I Have--gorgeous melody and woodwind work. Voice is so nuanced and natural on this.

Broken Wings--really cool ethereal arrangement with haunting background singer

Song I've never heard before and is very good:

Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word--mmm breathy, raspy Clay

Song I've heard before and am shocked that I like:

Everything I Do (I Do It For You)--light touch (hardly sounds like Clay in fact), cool flute sound in the background. I was so sick of the original that I thought I'd be happy to never hear the song again, but I like Clay's version a lot.

Songs I've heard before and are very good

Without You--mmmm, lower register Clay

Because You Loved Me--I always liked this song and this arrangment is nice

I Want to Know What Love Is--cool rock instrumentation

Songs I've never heard of and are okay

These Open Arms--Typical belting song, nothing too special

When I See You Smile--ETYGA and WISYM seem so redudant in sound and not especially creative in arrangment

Songs I've heard before and are okay

Everytime You Go Away--ETYGA and WISYM seem so redudant in sound and not especially creative in arrangment

Right Here Waiting--I still prefer Richard Marx's more yearning version

A Thousand Days--I haven't liked this song since Clay debuted it last summer, but it's probably the most rock of all the songs

Overall I love the quality of his voice on these clips, they still lean towards the boybandy sound on Measure of a Man but show more of the dynamic range Clay's vocal capabilities and his unique phrasing. Sooo pretty. *Sigh* I can't wait for the album!

Tags: Clay Aiken, song clips, A Thousand Different Ways

Customers who bought this item also bought...

So I've been looking at what Amazon.com classifies as music similar to A Thousand Different Ways and am mildly amused at the stuff people who buy ATDW also buy. Of course, due to the relatively large number of internet Clay fans, the total items list is really skewed to all things directly related to Clay Aiken, but looking at just the music section of things that ATDW purchasers also buy yields in addition to stuff related to Clay (including William Joseph here) and American Idol (and related shows) contestants, in order of relevance:

5. Christina Aguilera--Back to Basics*
10. Barry Manilow--The Greatest Songs of the Sixties**
11. Jesse McCartney--Right Here Where You Want Me**
13. Evanescence--The Open Door
15. Lionel Richie--Coming Home**
18. Justin Timberlake--FutureSex/LoveSounds*
20. Tony Bennett--Duets: An American Classic*
21. Stacy Orrico--Beautiful Awakening*
22. Jessica Simpson--A Public Affair*
23. Janet Jackson--20 Y.O.
24. Paris Hilton--Paris*
25. John Mayer--Continuum
27. Beyonce--B'Day
28. Nick Lachey--What's Left of Me
** indicates ATDW is directly linked on the first page of similar albums on the other artist's album page
* indicates ATDW is among the relevant searches of "customers also bought" linked from the other artist's album page

Just in case you were wondering who Clay shares internet album-purchasing fans with. :) A lot are simply top selling new releases from people who probably like to buy a bunch of new CDs at once, but it's still an interesting slice of Clay's fan demographics. *Wonders if any of the ATDW buyers who also bought Tony Bennett bought the Paris Hilton CD as well*

Tags: Clay Aiken, Amazon purchases, A Thousand Different Ways

Album Review -- Christina Aguilera: Back to Basics

Streaming link here: MTV.com --The Leak
I'm not much of a reviewer so much as an capturer of impressions, so I'll just give some general thoughts here, since I tend to degenerate to listmaking when going track by track.

Before I get into the album, I will preface with the fact that I am not a huge fan of Aguilera's voice. I think she is a tremendous talent, maybe the most vocally talented of her generation of pop divas, but her quality of voice does not intrinsically appeal to me. Her belting register tends to be more growly, while I tend to prefer clear, bell-like tones. Plus, when Christina gets loud, she gets really loud, and occasionally she tends to get overly ornate with trilling, which is not a characteristic in singers I am particularly enamoured with. I have a video of Christina singing the "Star Spangled Banner" from when she was a tiny girl and I prefer it to any of her renditions since she's become a melismatic pop star who adds all kind of (unnecessary) flourishes. On the other hand, she's created some music I've really liked, songs that are catchy, well-constructed, with a self-empowering message, powerhouse vocals, which overall are just a bit different from the generic claptrap they usually play on the radio. I absolutely loved "Fighter" and "Walk Away" from the Stripped album. So that's the viewpoint I'm coming from.

Back to Basics Album Review:

Disc One is primarily R&B with some jazz influence, it’s a fairly consistent body of work, consisting mostly of midtempo songs, but she manages to infuse each track with its own flavor, some more Latin, some more Big Band, and some more gospel, or a mixture of the styles. Disc Two is a bit of a dichotomy, half 40’s styles songs with a modern raunchy twist on the lyrics, and half pure adult contemporary pop. There are some cool sound effects on both discs of record scratching, horns blaring, funky keyboards, song samples, rapping intros, and even muffled vocals (“I Got Trouble”) on songs of similar tempo that keep the double disc from being too repetitive in style. There isn’t a lot of uptempo music, lead single “Ain’t No Other Man” is the fastest on disc one, while “Candy Man” on the second disc is the other notable uptempo track.

Despite the change in style from Stripped, there are a few nuggets for fans of the hits off Aguilera’s sophomore album: “Here to Stay” is the “Fighter” of this album, same kind of pop sound (now infused with horns here) and “be strong for yourself” message. “Hurt” is the “Beautiful” analog on this disc, the big, poignant Linda Perry power ballad. “Still Dirrty” conveys that the message of the original “Dirrty” still holds, but the song style is quite different, not as fast and not as fun, but with funkier instruments. There are also shoutouts to her earlier hits, “Thank You,” a track dedicated to her fans, samples “Genie in a Bottle,” while “Nasty Naughty Boy” borrows some lyrics from “Lady Marmalade.”

Christina shows a wide range of vocal styling, her usual powerhouse wailing is on full display in most of the tracks, but she can rein it in as well. “Save Me From Myself” is a dark, acoustic ballad, where Aguilera’s quiet, whispery phrasing and tone actually reminds me a bit of the Icelandic songstress Bjork. In the verses of “Nasty, Naughty Boy,” she evokes the sultriness of Peggy Lee in “Fever.” She also has some sweet, soft harmonies on “Without You.”

Aguilera’s songwriting is a bit uneven; she ranges from the poignant narration of the breakdown of her mother’s marriage in the lilting ballad, “Oh Mother” to a rather stark, literal description of her own wedding in “The Right Man,” which is brilliantly orchestrated with wedding-march organs. She again tells a compelling personal story in “Understand,” a tale of her finding love and accepting it, but seems just to be dredging up old stereotypes in “Still Dirrty.” The lyrics push a little further than your typical album of love songs—there’s religious influence in her songs “Makes Me Wanna Pray” and “Mercy on Me,” a direction she hasn’t previously gone, and Aguilera and co-writers push the limits of good taste when describing raunchy acts in double entendre in her 40s throwback songs like “Candy Man” and “Nasty Naughty Boy”

The interludes are a little silly and unnecessary—“Back to Basics” seems to be all about doing shoutouts to musical greats, and just oddly literal, and is it really necessary to dedicate an entire interlude to complain about her falling out with producer Scott Storch (F.U.S.S.)? Also an odd choice is “Enter the Circus” to start disc two, as it does not feature a vocal by Aguilera, and is follow immediately by the redundant “Welcome.” The fan voice mails in “Thank You” are also kind of weird. The music would be just as strong and cohesive minus the interludes, but I’m sure her fans aren’t complaining about the extra music. I’m not sure having a double album was a really great idea, it might have been better to break up the similar tempo R&B songs on the first disc with the poppier sound on the second disc for continuous listening, but I can understand the artistic division.

Overall I think this is the third pop album of the year that would win a recommendation from me, following Pink’s I’m Not Dead and Nelly Furtado’s Loose. Each album is distinct in style but manages to be both consistent and eclectic in its own genre and is supported by a strong, unique vocalist.

Because blogs are always more fun with a/v, here's a video of Christina performing "Understand" from B2B:


Tags: Christina Aguilera, album review, Back to Basics

Found on YouTube...

Nick Lachey and Richard Marx dueting on "Right Here Waiting:"


I'm not sure when this was filmed, but I wonder if it was during Nick L.'s promotional run for "What's Left Of Me," which would have been awfully recent. I actually really love this song and can't wait to hear Clay Aiken take it on, but not as a single, because Richard Marx's original is still played like crazy on the radio.

Another song I loved when I was a grade-schooler that was earlier today rumored to have been on one of the previous iterations of "A Thousand Different Ways" but ultimately didn't make the cut is "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Simply Red, and you can watch their music video here:


Ah, the 80s, I miss them.

Tags: Clay Aiken, Richard Marx, Nick Lachey, Right Here Waiting, Simply Red, If You Don't Know Me By Now, A Thousand Different Ways

Different Hair, Same Clay

Clickable:

He hasn't really changed that much. :)

Tags: Clay Aiken, new look, A Thousand Different Ways

Still incoherent

Okay, maybe someday I'll be able to gather my brain and talk about music again, but in the meantime I'm still trying to figure out how these two photos could possibly be of the same man, taken less than five months apart:



O_O

Kudos to Clay Aiken's team for keeping this hawt new look under wraps. It's been more than 24 hours since I first saw the new PR photo and I still can't stop thinking, "He's sooooo pretty."

So, uh, he sings too?

Tags: Clay Aiken, new look, A Thousand Different Ways

Remember when this blog used to have content?

Gah. Clay Aiken is soooo gorgeous.


Tags: Clay Aiken, photoshoot, A Thousand Different Ways

Forget logic and expectations

I just want to sit here and stare at this:
And this:

Tags: Clay Aiken