The Trades - Music Review: Clay Aiken, "Merry Christmas With Love"

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ARTICLE

Music Review: Clay Aiken, "Merry Christmas With Love"
by Scott Juba
Published: November 23, 2004

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When it comes to Christmas albums, simple and standard is usually best. There is nothing worse than when artists change a traditional Christmas song in an attempt to make it their own, thereby destroying the fundamental foundation of a timeless classic. Clay Aiken clearly understands this, delivering a fine Christmas album that highlights his powerful voice without compromising the integrity of the music he’s performing.

The first two-thirds of the album are an especially strong effort, containing excellent renditions of many holiday favorites. “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” is the high point of the disc, with Aiken’s towering vocals bringing an uplifting and inspirational tone to the song.

He also impresses with “O, Holy Night”. Although it’s probably the most difficult Christmas song to perform because of its highly varied vocal range, Aiken belts it out with ease.

The album unfortunately loses traction with the non-traditional Christmas tunes, “Don’t Save It For Christmas Day” and “Merry Christmas With Love”. These songs simply have no spark, and Aiken’s delivery of the lyrics seems more manufactured than inspired. He rebounds nicely, however, in the closing song, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”, returning to a less generic style of vocal performance.

Even with its flaws, the “Claymates” of America are sure to fall in love with this album; and even non-Aiken fans will admire the sincerity and skill with which he performs most of the songs. “Merry Christmas With Love” is likely to be a welcome gift under the Christmas tree this holiday season.

Overall Grade: B

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