Clay Aiken Measure Of A Man CD

Personnel includes: Clay Aiken (vocals); Clif Magness (acoustic & electric guitars, piano, keyboards, bass, programming, background vocals); Marcus Englof (acoustic guitar, keyboards, programming); Esbjern Ehrwall (acoustic guitar); Andreas Carlsson (guitar, background vocals); Dan Warner, Eric Bazilian (guitar); Doug Emery (piano); Samuel Waermo (keyboards, percussion, programming); Thomas Blindberg (bass); Lee Levin, Tim Klassen, Vinnie Colaiuta (drums); Chris Willis, Chris Braide (background vocals).
Producers include: Clif Magness, Desmond Child, Rick Knowles, Steve Morales.
Personnel: Clay Aiken (background vocals); Dan Warner (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Andreas Carlsson (guitar, background vocals); Eric Bazilian, Borge Petersen-Overlier, Fridrik Karlsson, Tim Pierce, Eivind Aarset (guitar); Clif Magness (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, keyboards, programming, background vocals); Rick Nowels (acoustic guitar, bouzouki, keyboards); Marcus Englof (acoustic guitar, keyboards, programming); Esbjern Ehrwall (acoustic guitar); Chris Glansdorp (cello); Doug Emery (piano, keyboards, programming); Samuel Waermo (keyboards, percussion, programming); David Siegel, Martin Sjolie, Greg Kurstin, Steve Mac, Dave Arch, Charles Judge (keyboards); Wayne Rodrigues (drums, programming); Tim Klaussen, Josh Freese, Lee Levin, Vinnie Colaiuta (drums); Frank Ricotti, Rune Arnesen (percussion); David Eriksen (keyboard programming, drum programming); Chris Braide, Danielle Brisebois, Mark Nelson, Heath Burgett, Håkon Iversen, Marian Lisland, Maria Vidal, Chris Willis (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Manny Marroquin; Niklas Flyckt; Andy Zulla; Serban Ghenea; Bob Clearmountain.
Recording information: Blue Iron Gate Studio, Santa Monica, CA; Icon Sound Studios, Miami, FL; Master Mix, Minneapolis, MN; Metropolis Studio, London, England; NRG Recording Services; Red Door Recording Studios, St. David's, PA; Rokstone Studios, London, England; Stereo Studio 1, Oslo, Norway; Storm Studios, Stockholm, Sweden; The Chill Building, Santa Monica, CA; The Gallery, Miami, FL; The Gentlemen's Club, Miami Beach, FL; Westlake Audio, Hollywood, CA.
Editor: Cameron Webb.
Photographer: Kevin Scott Hees.
Arrangers: Clif Magness; David Eriksen; Rick Nowels; Steve Morales.
Justin Guarini, the runner-up on the first American Idol, released his album ten months after the competition ended and two months after Kelly Clarkson, the winner of the competition, released her debut. Clay Aiken, the runner-up on the second American Idol, released his first album, Measure of a Man, a mere five months after the close of competition and two and a half months before the winner, Ruben Studdard, released his record. Clearly, Clay was something more than a singer that came in second -- he was a bit of a pop phenomenon, capturing the hearts and minds of American Idol's core audience of preteens and housewives. To those not part of either demographic -- including those who faithfully watched AMIdol -- his appeal is a little puzzling, since he's hardly the cutest teen idol, looking a bit like Thom Yorke as a Southern-fried theater nerd, and his voice his better-suited for show tunes and his musical taste is thoroughly middle-of-the-road. Whenever he tried to tackle dancier material he seemed like he was singing a foreign language, and he never seemed at ease wearing or doing anything remotely hip; at least Kelly and Justin seemed somewhat comfortable doing teen-oriented material. Clive Davis, smart man that he is, decided to play up Clay's MOR bent on Measure of Man, never pushing Aiken toward club-ready dance cuts like "Miss Independent," or trying to approximate the sound of the Matrix or Neptunes on any cut. Instead, this is firmly pitched at adult contemporary radio, thanks to the cleanly professional production and the selection of self-consciously mature songs, written by such industry stalwarts as Desmond Child and Cathy Dennis (early-'