The Clay Aiken Christmas Special

no he sucks - his voice is nothing new to music... nothing unique about him - he'll be lucky to be singing in jewish weddings in 2 years...

 

Sandman = Claymate

 

That can be said about 1/2 of todays singers.

 

That show gave me a hairball. And I actually like Clay Aiken. Worst thing I've ever seen associated with Christmas on television.

 

You gotta consider the venue he's in. The general audiences seem to like singers and music for reasons other than actual musical performance. Like, e.g. the late Johnny Cash, a lousy singer but I like what he did, the same with Bob Dylan. And, Aiken can and does sing, albeit not great but not bad.

 

jazz... my man don't make me laugh - you more than likely know more about music than I... but - to even place Aiken in the same quadrant with Cash who I hated and Dylan who was a classic is like saying a 76 Ford Pinto runs like a 2004 Lexus 300. The guy has not and will never earn half the stripes and longevity that Cash and Dylan had/have... IMO.

 

I hope this is flamebait, and not an actual opinion of a musician.


First of all, Dylan and Cash are underrated in their time for their singing and unfairly maglingned. Great classical voices, no. Unique voices, with a lot of emotion and charachter, yes. I mean, I get the pounding Dylan gets, smoking and touring have left his voice for shit compared to his "Nashville Skyline" days, but to overlook the deep vibrato and pain that's in Cash's voice. C'mon.


And of course, the main attraction of both Cash and Dylan is not their singing but the great songs they wrote. I don't know, and other than 5 seconds of that "Invisible" song I heard on VH1 I haven't heard any of his music, but I doubt Clay Aiken has attempted to write a song in his life.

 

I'm not in Cash's generation of usual fans and still think he's a good singer. His voice and music is unique.

Aiken blows ass and will be forgotten before American Idol 5 comes out.

 

All I was saying is as far as carrying a tune/melody AikenPain in ass doesn't do that badly. Now, the melodies might not be all that great and the lyrics bite, but that ain't what I talking about.

Cash's and Dylan's story telling and delivery are what made them titans, IMHO. Their musical accompaniment wasn't exactly "rocket science."...not that there's anything wrong with that.

I wasn't comparing Aiken with Cash and/or Dylan, per se, just saying that we like different aspects of artists performances. The music portion is not that sophisticated, doen't have to be, and only supports/enhances what they're saying/their act, much the same way that music supports movies, tv shows, etc.

Hell, I don't know. Whatever rocks your boat. I've got two or three ways of listening to music, e.g. "nuts & bolts" & behind the scenes perspective, and on a visceral level. Personally what I consider "good" music is a combination of the two. That's why I'm passionate about jazz.