Clay Aiken Thousand Different Ways CD

On his mature third album, American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken mostly sticks to the pop-rock songbook: over two-thirds of the 14 songs are covers of familiar pop tunes like Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word" and Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting." It's a power ballad-heavy set that plays to Aiken's emotive strengths, and the smooth arrangements effectively recast the occasionally cheesy originals. (For example, his version of Daryl Hall's "Everytime You Go Away" has a much less gimmicky setting than Paul Young's mid-'80s hit.) A THOUSAND DIFFERENT WAYS hints that Aiken's powerful pipes may result in more staying power than his Idol status would have previously indicated.

Recording information: A Side Sutdios; Ameraycan Studios, North Hollywood, CA; Avatar Studios, New York, NY; Big Brown Sound, Los Angeles, CA; Chalice Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Chartmaker Studio, Los Angeles, CA; Conway Sounds, Los Angeles, CA; Flowers Studio, Minneapolis, MN; Head Rush Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Ocean Way Studio, Los Angeles, CA; Osceola Studios, Raleigh, NC; Paramount Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Poppy Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Pulse Music Studios, New York, NY; Pulse Studios, New York, NY; Shabby Road, Los Angeles, CA; SMM Studios, Stockholm, Sweden; Svergies Radio Studios, Stockholm Sweden; The Village Studios, Nashville, TN.

Editors: Adam Anders; David Channing; Cliff Lin.

Photographer: Miranda Penn Turin.

Arrangers: Adam Anders; Andreas Carlsson; David Krueger; Supaflyas; Samuel Waermo; Per Magnusson.

Personnel: John Fields (guitar, guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, background vocals); Owsley, Greg Suran (guitar, guitars); Russ Irwin (guitar, keyboards, programming); Adam Anders (guitar, keyboards); Charlton Pettus (guitar, programming); Dean Parks, Owsley Suran (guitar); Emanuel Kiriakou (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, keyboards, programming); Sebastian Nylund (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Andreas Carlsson (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Mats Berntoft (acoustic guitar); Cliff Lin (electric guitar, drum programming); Esbjörn Öhrwall (electric guitar); Johannes Nyberg (electric sitar); Rob Shaw, Brian Krinke, Marshall P. Coid, Carol Pool, Cornelius Dufallo, Yuri Vodovoz, Jonathan Dinklage (violin); Lara Lynne Hickes, Ralph Farris, David Gold (viola); Mairi Dorman Phaneuf, Erik Friedlander, Dorothy Lawson (cello); Stephen Lu (piano, keyboards); Frederik Larsson, Peter Ijung, William Joseph (piano); Per Magnusson (keyboards); Jimi Englund, Henrik Nordenback (drums, percussion); Gregg Bissonette, Michael Bland , Ryan Brown, Shawn Pelton (drums); Samuel Waermo (percussion, programming); Brent Paschke, David Krueger, Jochem van der Saag (programming); Rasmus Billie Bähncke (keyboard programming); René Tromberg (drum programming); Rebecca Walker, Quiana Parler, Jason Scheff, Nikki Hassman, Phil Solem, Tom Leonard, Emil Heiling, Morgan Grace (background vocals); Michele Richards, Charlie Bisharat (violin); Matt Funes (viola); Larry Corbett (cello); Tommy Barbarella (keyboards); Dorian Crozier (drums); Ken Chastain (percussion).

Audio Mixers: Andreas Carlsson; Samuel Waermo; Humberto Gatica; Mike Shipley; Fredrik Andersson .