Album Reviews: Weak Week in Music Stores As Aiken, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Bnl Hit Shelves

Summary

---

Clay Aiken -- "A Thousand Different Ways" (RCA): On his second solo album that doesn't exclusively feature Christmas tracks, the most successful "American Idol" runner-up to date, Clay Aiken, makes us wonder what took so long. Fans waited three years for "A Thousand Different Ways"? Why did Aiken need more than 36 months to follow up his very successful debut, "Measure of a Man," with a 14-track disc mostly filled with cover songs? While the first album may not have been great, or even above-average, at least Aiken had a singular voice. Here we find the singer revisiting old material without exerting the tiniest bit of effort to make the songs his own. Those proverbial 15 minutes may finally be over for this crooner.

Aiken sounds his best on the four tunes written exclusively for "A Thousand Different Ways," but even those lack the schmaltzy, guilty-pleasure moments of "Measure." The singer sports his new hairdo on the cover, but inside is the same old, ballad-heavy schlock common in all former "American Idol" contestants, Kelly Clarkson notwithstanding. If you thought Aiken was any different than those generic schmoes, you'd be wrong.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Album Reviews: Weak Week in Music Stores As Aiken, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Bnl Hit Shelves

Barenaked Ladies -- "Barenaked Ladies Are Me," (Desperation): As Canada's Barenaked Ladies moves further and further along in a career t...

See the full content of this document

---