Brandon's Buzz

The Clay Aiken brouhaha which erupted around last week’s record store report led to this blog’s most-viewed week in its nearly one-year history, and I certainly hope all you vehement Claymates liked what you saw and will stick around a spell. And to the handful of posters (jmh123, in particular) at the Finding Clay Aiken fan forum (from which the majority of my site’s hits emanated last week) who questioned why I called Mr. Aiken’s 2006 covers album, A Thousand Different Ways, baffling, and who wondered whether or not I have actually even listened to same, I very much wanted to respond on your site and even signed up for a username and account, but wasn’t approved by your administrators, so I’ll respond here: I called the album “baffling” because a covers record is not exactly the most savvy career move for a young artist who is getting ready to make only his second career album — it’s bad enough when legacy artists like Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow get pigeonholed into it — and, furthermore, the world doesn’t really need remakes of Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do” or Paul Young’s “Everytime You Go Away” (which offended Sherry Ann — world’s biggest Paul Young fan, that one — all the way down to the marrow of her bones) or Elton John’s “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word,” as those songs were indelibly performed the first time around, and Clay’s arrangements of those tunes weren’t markedly different from the originals. (And yes, I’m absolutely aware that the album wasn’t Clay’s idea or concept, so please don’t attack me with that news flash, but why even bother if you’re not going to bring something new to the song you’re covering?!) Nonetheless, I assure you, I have listened to Ways, multiple times, and I found a handful of its tracks — most notably his Pure Moods-esque take on Mr. Mister’s “Broken Wings” (done as a fascinating collaboration with poet Erin Taylor); his sped-up reworking of Richard Marx’s all-time classic “Right Here Waiting” (although I continue to wish that either Clay or his producer would have had the balls to insist on going for that full-throated high note at the song’s climax instead of playing it safe, since it’s clear that Clay is more than capable of pulling off those vocal acrobatics); or his blistering cover of Foreigner’s landmark “I Want to Know What Love Is” (which I mentioned loving in last week’s post) — to be breathtaking in their sheer audacity and joie, and ultimately, I believe Clay did the very best he could with what was, at its core, a phenomenally bad idea.

But enough of that: with bigger and better fish to fry, I now present to you this week’s records:

Another best-of set of sorts, and this one from one of the most quirky and unique performers in the business, the lovely Miss Cassandra Wilson, who has cherry-picked a handful of older pop favorites that she has “interpreted” on her seven studio albums and has assembled them on Closer to You: The Pop Side. Among the gorgeous chestnuts included here: a cover of The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville” that you gotta hear to believe, as well as a ferocious take on The Band’s classic “The Weight,” a plainly tender reading of Sting’s “Fragile,” and what is perhaps the most deliriously engrossing and emotionally raw take on Cyndi Lauper’s legendary “Time After Time” that I’ve ever heard. (I know, I know, once you’ve heard the incomparable Patti LaBelle sing those extraordinary lyrics, it’s real hard for any other version to hold a candle, but if Wilson’s sultry vibe doesn’t give you a shiver or two, do move your ears a soupcon closer to the speakers.)

Fresh off the success of his smash last fall with the simply-titled Covers (which, thanks to blowout sales on QVC and a huge promotional push from Starbucks and Hear Music, spent several weeks in the Billboard 200’s top ten), the legendary James Taylor returns with a supplementary EP entitled, just as plainly, Other Covers, which contains a handful of tracks — including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” Eddie Floyd’s “Knock On Wood” and a gorgeous, gloriously earthy take on Tom Waits’ “Shiver Me Timbers” — that were recorded during the original album’s sessions but didn’t make the cut the first time around.

Because it’s now the en vogue thing to do (and because the record companies figured out a while ago that there do indeed exist dense morons such as myself who will shell out their hard-earned cash for the same album more than once), one of last year’s heroes, that electrifying young’un Jesse McCartney, hits us with Departure Recharged, an expanded reissue of his hit 2008 album, which contains four bonus tracks as well as the new smash version of “How Do You Sleep?,” on which Ludacris has added his vocals. Sadly, no one saw fit to include Jesse’s own take on “Bleeding Love,” the international megahit he co-wrote for Leona Lewis last year, on this re-release, as it would’ve been a sure attention-grabber. (McCartney’s original demo can be found online at any number of portals, and while he’s nowhere near Lewis’ untouchable vocal reach, his reading of the song is far more compelling than you would ever expect.)

This week’s marquee release: Total Pop!, a riveting four-disc box set (three CDs, one DVD) tracing the musical journey traveled by legendary British duo Erasure, who boldly set about making intoxicating dance tunes at a time — the post-disco era, natch — when that genre of music was hideously gauche. Suffice it to say, with landmark songs like “Oh L’amour,” “Chains of Love,” “Always,” their brilliantly cheeky cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill,” and my eternal favorite “Fingers and Thumbs (Cold Summer’s Day),” Andy Bell and Vince Clarke were absolutely instrumental in bringing that style all the way back, honey, and to celebrate that remarkable achievement, the geniuses at Rhino Records have compiled all of their classics — forty-one tracks spread across two gorgeous compact discs — alongside a handful of rare live recordings to fill out the set. I have but one word for this ridiculously beautiful collection of terrific music: Bravo, gentlemen. (Sorry. That was two words.)

Also noteworthy this week:

• A Positive Rage, a new live disc from acclaimed indie band
  The Hold Steady.

 

• Unstoppable, the sixth studio album from the biggest band in
  country music, Rascal Flatts.

 

• Fork in the Road, a new album from legendary troubadour Neil Young.

 

• The eagerly-awaited self-titled debut album from Nickel Creek
  founding member Sara Watkins.

 

• Back to Tennessee, the latest from Miley’s daddy Billy Ray Cyrus.

 

• A true legend’s career receives a worthy chronicle with
  Genius! – The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection

 

• Nearly a decade after “I Can Only Imagine” became a crossover smash arrives 10, a best-of set from contemporary Christian mainstays MercyMe.

names dropped with reckless abandon: Andy Bell, Barry Manilow, Billy Ray Cyrus, Bryan Adams, Cassandra Wilson, Clay Aiken, Cyndi Lauper, Eddie Floyd, Elton John, Erasure, Erin Taylor, Foreigner, James Taylor, Jesse McCartney, Leona Lewis, Ludacris, MercyMe, Miley Cyrus, Mr. Mister, Neil Young, Nickel Creek, Patti LaBelle, Paul Young, Peter Gabriel, Rascal Flatts, Ray Charles, Richard Marx, Rod Stewart, Sara Watkins, Sherry Ann, Sting, The Band, The Hold Steady, The Monkees, Tom Waits, Vince Clarke