#31: The Very Handsome Sir Clay of Aiken

[cha cha trusty]

woooo hooo! Thanks cindi! It says it'll take about 4 minutes! Ooops - up to 9 now!!

I forgot to mention that my WalMart CDs came yesterday...

Getting ready to open one of them and give it a serious listen!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[Couch Tomato]

This weekend I guess I'll need to have a clackapalooza since I haven't seen much of anything. Love all the caps. He looks great.

Yay I got my stimulus check. Boooo I just spent 8% of it to fill up my gas tank. Why aren't we taking to the streets again? $50? OUCH.

[Ansamcw]

The MSNBC are up in the various vaults...and CU

[KAndre]

Oh yeah, if you talk to my audiophile friends, they tend to sneer at any digital downloads anyhoo.

If I recall, the ranking go something like this:

Analog (vinyl - greatest dynamic range - not particularly convenient)

Digital

.wavs - uncompressed files - CD quality. Will make freakishly big files, but sound great. (.aiff for Mac heads). You're looking at 1411 kbs.

Then you get into compression - and you start losing sound quality with mp3s or wmas because they "delete" what they think you can't hear. The standard for mp3s is 128 kbs (1:10 compression). And of course, once the data's gone, you can't really bump the quality back up without a lot of artifacts. But you can store a LOT of songs! Which is what iTunes seems to be going for. So pulling your mp3s from a CD at say, the 320 kbs rate will give you much better sound quality - but much bigger files too. But with 30GB mp3 players, who cares?

[cindilu2]

To paraphrase Clay's buddy Ruben .... man, I love that dude. Not only do I wanna do Ambassador Aiken, too.

[muskifest]

So I open my work email and see this:

Clayton...Reservation Confirmed

He FOUND me!

[bottlecap]

Ken Barnes of USA Today's Idol Chatter Blog does a brief track by track review of OMWH:

I got a copy of Clay's On My Way Here earlier this week and thought I'd revive the old track-by-track semi-review method I've used on some past Idol albums.

Most of you won't be jolted to learn that Clay's favored style of music is not mine. Musically, he has a preference for the big soaring, orchestrated pop ballad; lyrically he seems to like songs about overcoming struggles or general inspiration, or songs about the difficulties of finding a perfect relationship, or celebrating it when you do, or resolving trust issues once you're in a relationship. You have to be careful about reading too much into the song choices (they could well be songs he just likes singing), but I can imagine his fans becoming a little concerned about his happiness.

Much of this sort of thing in general can veer into the mawkish or overly sentimental or cliched, and the songs Clay chose to do here are not exempt from those problems.

Yet it's good to see him being able to fulfill his vision through songs tailored for him, as opposed to the cover format dictated on his last album. And there are definitely aspects of the album I liked, including the singing -- Clay has a fine instrument in his voice and deploys it skillfully throughout, so that even when I'm thinking a song is pretty mushy, I also realize it's well-sung mush.

OK, before I dig myself any deeper, the track-by-track look follows.

On My Way Here: Co-written by songwriter-for-hire of the moment Ryan Tedder, of OneRepublic fame. This is the song that set the tone for the album, according to Clay, and its overcoming-obstacles theme clearly resonates with him. Musically, though, it's not the kind of song that will convert non-fans, sounding ballad-generic and on the soppy side.

Ashes: Co-written by prominent Christian singer/songwriter Nichole Nordeman, but not overtly Christian-themed (more one of those ambiguous interpret-as-you-like songs that contemporary Christian pop artists frequently come up with). It's somewhat upbeat, with a polite brand of rock texture infusing it, and I liked it pretty well.

Everything I Don't Need: Co-written by producer Kipper and UK artist Judie Tzuke, whose For You I fondly remember from a while back. A very disillusioned love song, swathed in polite funk. Clay manages to smolder a bit, raising the game of a fairly ordinary song.

Something About Us: Co-written by artist/songwriter Regie Hamm, who's up for the 2008 Idol coronation song finals. Super-romantic, celebrating the kind of relationship everyone wishes he or she could have (and sometimes wishes everyone who has one would shut up about). Musically very slushy, not a favorite.

Falling: This song, another upbeat number, is one of the album's highlights, though lyrically it is far from cheerful, and you hope it's just a song and doesn't reflect Clay's mindset.

Where I Draw the Line: Semi-ballad with a more uptempo chorus, kind of a love-hate relationship theme, enjoyable.

The Real Me: Written by Christian singer/songwriter Natalie Grant, again ambiguously religious (could be about a signficant other, could be about God or Jesus -- certainly significant others in their way). Lots of key words like "charade" (referring to the singer's life) and "frailty." Musically an unremarkable ballad -- but the string arrangement in the bridge is rather exquisite.

Weight of the World: Co-written by Franne Golde, who wrote the hit From a Distance. Another tormented song about desperation and a frantic world "spinning much too fast." Has a bit of tempo and is quite catchy.

As Long as We're Here: Co-written by country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard. A generally happy love ballad but not without a bit of conflict and torment. Musically one of the lesser tracks.

Sacrificial Love: Whew, this one's tormented in a big way. Again, an ordinary ballad is raised up by tastefully arranged strings.

Grace of God: A vaguely faith-based song in which the singer expresses gratitude for not experiencing the disasters that are the lot of much of the world's population. A useful perspective after all the inward-looking anguish of much of the preceding songs.

Lover All Alone: Co-written by prominent producer David Foster and ... Clay. It's an older song, a bonus track from the covers album, and it may well be the best song here, a pretty tune, nicely sung. I remember when it emerged that fans were expressing regret that he couldn't have done a whole album of this sort of thing, and I can understand that sentiment now.

All in all, as I said, the songs are generally not to my taste, but it's carried off well enough that I'd probably give it 2 1/2 stars (out of four). It's the kind of album I don't like but I can respect.

[Ansamcw]

I can totally respect that review...just as I am not really a fan of the kind of music Mary J Blige would put up...but I can see that its is pretty good and I can respect that.I also like the fact that he recognizes the voice...

[00lsee]

Ken Barnes...another listener interpreting each song by what he thinks they might mean ABOUT CLAY. At least he acknowledges the voice.

[Iseeme]

I swear, Clay is a chameleon. Just watched the vid about Myanmar and put that up against the Drunken Guard in Spamalot and you have a multi-faceted individual. I realize one is acting and the other is serious but there are just so many layers to this man. And speaking of layers, I don't think we see the ubiquitous white t-shirt very much any more! He is SO articulate and so politically correct when he's representing UNICEF. I bet anything - and I said this a few days ago in here - that his next trip is to Myanmar.

I'm so glad I logged on because I would not have known The Early Show has another hour. I actually never watch it unless Clay is on.

I can't pick a favorite word.....I like any word with an L in it because of the way he wraps his tongue around it. But I've also always liked the way he sings the word LOVE. It's kind of like luuuuuve.

Ken Barnes - eh! But, I guess I'm also in the camp that knock the songs if you want because there are always more songs to sing in this career but DO NOT fail to mention that beautiful voice. Even in some of the worst reviews with this CD they have made mention of his voice. That generally makes me feel better when I read the crap.

OOlsee....I think people are going to read an interpretation of Clay's life into these songs because he kind of sets it up that way. If you listen carefullly he qualifies that they aren't necessarily about him but should be interpretive but he just personalizes the song choices so much it's a natural progression to think they're about him........IMO

[jmh123]

So pulling your mp3s from a CD at say, the 320 kbs rate will give you much better sound quality - but much bigger files too. But with 30GB mp3 players, who cares?

Pull them as .wavs and they're even bigger--around 4 times more than 320 kbs??

[muskifest]

it's well-sung mush.

And in Clay's case, you can just write this with a fill-in-the-blank..

It's well-sung _________!

(And do a little consonant substitution there and you've got another truth... )

[Iseeme]

Doing some math here - which is a struggle - but....didn't Jaymes say Clay sold 18,000 CDs the first day? And then there's an article on Neil Diamond selling 30,000 the first 2 days and therefore HDD is predicting he'll sell 125K and that Clay will come in at 90-95K. Isn't it possible that Clay sold 30K the first 2 days as well? I'm confuzzled.

[keepingfaith]

Not to belabor the "age" thing, but does that have anything to do with it? Does Real Music skew older or younger than iTunes? Or does it really make a difference.

I really don't know if there's a demographic difference, but Clay's outselling Neil Diamond at the Real download store:

Album Artist Price

1 E=MC2 (Mariah Carey) $9.99

2 Hard Candy (Madonna) $9.99

3 Spirit (Leona Lewis) $11.99

4 Rock N Roll Jesus (Kid Rock) $9.99

5 Hard Candy (Madonna) $9.99

6 Pocketful Of Sunshine (Natasha Bedingfield) $11.99

7 Coco (Colbie Caillat) $9.99

8 Jordin Sparks (Jordin Sparks) $11.99

9 Hannah Montana 2 / Meet Miley Cyrus (Various Artists) $11.99

10 Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis) tracks only

11 Gavin DeGraw (Gavin DeGraw) $11.88

12 The Very Best Of The Eagles (The Eagles) $18.99

13 Good Girl Gone Bad (Rihanna) $9.99

14 Sleep Through The Static (Jack Johnson) $9.99

15 Minutes To Midnight (Linkin Park) $9.99

16 On My Way Here (Clay Aiken) $11.88

17 One-X (Three Days Grace) $9.99

18 Home Before Dark (Neil Diamond) $11.88

19 All The Right Reasons (Nickelback) $9.99

20 Blackout (Britney Spears) $11.88

If there's something I want the highest quality for, I typically just play the CD, and use the iPod for a convenient way to access a variety of music when I'm driving. This is why I still prefer to buy a physical CD rather than download an album from iTunes. I can rip it into iTunes and have the best of both worlds.

That's exactly what I do -- buy the CD and save it to iTunes and Real and Yahoo, etc. The download quality at Real is 192 kbps and iTunes is 162 - so I prefer Real over iTunes. Amazon downloads in the 200+ kbps range. But a CD is up the 300's and the difference is striking on a good system. Most of the P2P's download at 128 kbps -- a really inferior product.

Ken Barnes of USA Today's Idol Chatter Blog does a brief track by track review of OMWH:

The Real Me: .... Musically an unremarkable ballad -- but the string arrangement in the bridge is rather exquisite.

I respect Ken's opinions based on his musical tastes -- and that said .... I could not agree more with him about the bridge in TRM. It hit me early and hard and now I listen to that song FOR the bridge. It's incredible. The string arrangement is ALMOST as exquisite as Clay's voice in that section.

I was back in Walmart today (twice in one week is the most I've been there since All Is Well.) I had to buy another Walmart bonus copy. The initial stock was 24. I counted 7 on the rack.

[keepingfaith]

Doing some math here - which is a struggle - but....didn't Jaymes say Clay sold 18,000 CDs the first day? And then there's an article on Neil Diamond selling 30,000 the first 2 days and therefore HDD is predicting he'll sell 125K and that Clay will come in at 90-95K. Isn't it possible that Clay sold 30K the first 2 days as well? I'm confuzzled.

HDD has been wrong before. Very wrong. They yapped for days that Britney Spears was going to have the No. 1 record, and all the media outlets went on and on about Britney debuting at No. 1 --- yet when the following Tuesday rolled around she was No. 2 and The Eagles "Long Road Out Of Eden" slapped the crap out of Britney's debut CD. And The Eagles sold exclusively at Walmart.

[Ansamcw]

Doing some math here - which is a struggle - but....didn't Jaymes say Clay sold 18,000 CDs the first day? And then there's an article on Neil Diamond selling 30,000 the first 2 days and therefore HDD is predicting he'll sell 125K and that Clay will come in at 90-95K. Isn't it possible that Clay sold 30K the first 2 days as well? I'm confuzzled.

First off...I think what Jaymes reported was partial info cos there were a few outlets that were not in her report. I think what she was trying to illustrate was the huge difference between the ATDW and OMWH first day sales.

Its also very hard to do the math for these because we really cannot extrapolate just by doubling the one day sales. I believe HDD uses a very complicated formula that looks past trends for stores and for the day and sales history of the artist. At this point Clay will naturally have high first day sales because of the core fanbase that likes to go out first day...then there is the different promo that happens day to day. That is why I am happy to see that compared to the other people in the HDD prediction last Tuesday...Clays prediction went up...that means that he continued to sell well or even better the subsequent days. I believe that is what the promo does for Clay.

[bottlecap]

I think the thing about Ken Barnes is that he has come to respect the audience of American Idol fans that he has connected with in his blog and thus is a little more open-minded and open-eared about Idol CDs than he might have been in previously. Even if, as a Rawk Dewd, he has to make it perfectly clear that Clay's music is not exactly to his taste.

Ken, Dewd, you write for USA Today - how edgy and rockin' is that in the first place?

[playbiller]

Help!!!

I gotthe QVC bonus disk and the only thing I can get it to play is the TITN video - the songs do not seem to be on the disk or playable. They are listed on the disk, but nothing will allow me to play them.

[ldyjocelyn]

I just finished watching both clips from this morning. The Myanmar clip was fantastic, just because he wanted to focus on the tragedy there, rather than self-promote, and I find that admirable. (I can only guess, though, that UNICEF didn't make a quick call to him yesterday -- "hey, since you're in the neighborhood, want to do some work for us on MSNBC?") I think my favorite part of the Today show clip is when he laughed that adorable laugh of his...and both Kathy Lee and Hannah (isn't that her name?) picked up on it, and seemingly thought it adorable too. Love, love, love it.

I think the thing about Ken Barnes is that he has come to respect the audience of American Idol fans that he has connected with in his blog and thus is a little more open-minded and open-eared about Idol CDs than he might have been in previously. Even if, as a Rawk Dewd, he has to make it perfectly clear that Clay's music is not exactly to his taste.

Yeah, I can pretty much agree with that...although I do have to admit I was pretty pissed at him after his take on ATDW, 'cause it sure seemed to come out of the "Clive forced him to do this so it can't be ANY good" camp that was so prevalent in the fandom at the time. This one seemed a little fairer to me personally.

Ken, Dewd, you write for USA Today - how edgy and rockin' is that in the first place?

LOL!!!!

I think what is turning out very interesting is that Clay was totally right -- there's something on this damn album for everyone (who tend to like pop/rock music, that is). Just here at FCA -- is there a consensus on "favorite song?" Oh heck no. And that seems to be throughout the fandom as well. (That is, if you can pick a favorite song...hee). But even with the critics -- some, like Ken, are liking Falling; others picked up on SAU; still others really like OMWH. I think that's rather cool. (Of course, "cool" is a relative term...I'm finding myself rethinking my usage of that word so much any more, simply because of Clay. *g*)

[cindilu2]

Barnes' review goes in the same file as any other review for me. I do give him credit for actually listening to the songs, and stating his bias right up front for people who do care about reviews to take into consideration.

How awesome that Unicef knows it can call up Mr. Aiken on a moment's notice and that he can speak for them in such an articulate, passionate manner. There goes my heart again!

[luckiest1]

Yep, at least Ken Barnes obviously listened to the songs, although his opinions don't mean much to me. Most of the reviews I've seen, it seems fairly obvious that they might have listened to first and maybe last tracks, and that's about it.

My new phrase-of-the-day, after a nice lunchtime walk with the iPod, is "what a mess I've made of my existance" from TRM. GAH. The pronunciation on "what" is what gets me the most, and the little change in the melody line there.

Is it time to go home yet? My co-workers keep talking to me while I'm trying to listen. What's their problem?

[ldyjocelyn]

New AP Video via Yahoo!

Talking about the album, also has Virgin Megastore signing footage. Haven't watched it yet.

[Claygasm]

From the CH:

Seems they like SAU!!

http://news.lalate.com/2008/05/09/clay-aik...thing-about-us/

[muskifest]

From the CH:

Seems they like SAU!!

http://news.lalate.com/2008/05/09/clay-aik...thing-about-us/

"Still...it's one of the best songs in a long time."

sigh.

[cindilu2]

Just got to watch the Today show clip. Boyfriend was CUTE and charming as ever. What is up with these talk show women though?? they talk over each other all. the. time. Just those five minutes had me wanting to use Aiken move #1 on them. Jeezus!! Was the same deal with the View yesterday. OY! Though give me Kathy Lee over the Ripa crit any day of the week.