Wow.... I can't even think of where to start... let me just throw a few things out there...

* I am obsessed with the song "O Holy Night" and have a habit of buying Christmas music just to hear an artist's rendition of it. Clay did a SPECTACULAR job on that song and truly knows how to hit the right notes on cue.

* I had never heard Clay before until buying this cd and after listening to the entire thing, I went ahead and purchased his first one as well - his voice really is outstanding, has a fantastic melodic range... is easy to listen to, he carries himself well. He has the looks of a teenager, but a voice I'd put in the same category with classic greats Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Nat King Cole.... and NEVER have I put ANY person in the same category as them... so that really says something.

* "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" - amazing vocal range, shows his true talent

The cd is very mellow, if you're looking for pop, you may be disappointed. But if you like classic christmas music sung by someone that can REALLY sing, then you'll love this.

Clay Aiken is my favorite American Idol, so I had to go out and get this CD. He has such a great voice, and he sings all of these Christmas standards well. My favorite track is Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Clay really shows the power and range of his voice. I like the song Joy To the World a lot here too. Clay sounds like he's having so much fun singing this song. He has an easy listening pleasant voice especially on songs like Sleigh Ride and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

Another standout track is O Holy Night. Clay sings this song just beautifully in an appropriate solemm tone that I love.
Clay sings two new Christmas songs on this CD that are excellent. Mary, Did you Know is a spiritual song about all the miracles Jesus Christ did. You don't have to be a Christian to enjoy this track though. This song is very moving and definitely one of my favorites on this CD. This is simply an awesome CD of Christmas music.

Clay Aikens new Christmas Cd is one of the best I have ever heard. For the first time in years a Christmas CD has been made how it's suppose to be made. There's no oversinging, no hip hop beats, etc etc. It's the classic Christmas songs we all love sung how they should be sung. Clay Aikens voice is stunning on this cd, even better than on his debut Measure of a Man. The absolute highlight is Don't Save it All for Christmas Day. He gives a very powerful vocal performance and he hits a high note at the end that gave me chills. Merry Christmas With Love is another favorite. He also sings some favorite classic songs such as Silent Night, Winter Wonderland, O Holy Night, Joy to the World, and the breahtaking Hark the Herald Angels Sing combined with the just as stunning O Come All Ye Faithful. This is a wonderful Christmas cd that will be loved by many for years to come. If you have to buy one Christmas cd this year, then this should be it.

Well I think I have finally been caught. I don't generally follow too many singers, so while I have heard of Clay and stumbled across him on several occasions on TV, I never really gave him a tremendous amount of thought. My granddaughter started this by being enamored with American Idol during season 2. I had never watched, but she got my daughter and son-in-law to watch with her, so it became a nice little family show they could watch. She was very upset that Clay didn't win, as they all really liked him a lot. Well the request was for Grandpa to buy her Clay's record when it came out after the show, and the compilation record. So that's what Grandma and I got her. Well, we took my mother to the birthday party as well. When Sam had to play her new records, she caught my mother and I both with Bridge Over Troubled Water. I grew up on Simon and Garfunkel, as well as others of that era. Well, Mom fell for it and on the way home, we had to stop and get it for her as well---but I didn't get one. Yes, it was great, but I don't listen to a lot of music any more, so it didn't matter to me.

I forgot about him that summer cause I didn't really see or hear him much. I stumbled on him next on Miss America (which the wife loves). He was pretty darn good. Then I stumbled across him again at the opening of the World Series. He is one of the few I have ever heard be able to truly sing that song, and live to boot. Then he popped up several more places that I watch, like the Tonight show, the Macy Parade, Disney Christmas. It seemed like everywhere I turned there he was. I even found him on my TV for New Years. We had to watch the Christmas American Idol show, for same granddaughter. Don't Save It All For Christmas Day was new to me. I really liked that--good song. He did a really good job. Each time I heard him,I thought he had a really good voice--pretty distinctive from what I heard now days--which is part of why I don't really listen to radio any more. I grew up with music all around me. My mom had all the big band records, loved Bing Crosby, Frank, and people who could "really sing" as she says. I also played piano for years, with a teacher who made you learn classical before you could ever dream of wanting popular. I also was involved with a band throughout high school and college. So music had been a really big part of my life for years. But I got turned off several years back.

I heard him again on the Tonight show--again. This time it was Solitaire. Well, beginning of summer he shows up, of all places, on a NASCAR show I was going to watch. Then, on July 4, he's on my TV again. I can't seem to watch a family tradition (of this family) without seeing him. Once again, his singing of the Star Spangled Banner amazed me. That song is just butchered by almost everyone who tries to sing it. And he does it great.

Well, wife informs me that I will just never guess who has this new record out and this time it is Christmas music. Well, as I said, I grew up with all those traditions, the yearly shows on TV of Como, Crosby, Martin, Williams and more. And I must say, that is the one time I really can get back into enjoying music. And by now I know which singer around today keeps popping into my family traditions--so let me guess---Clay has it. Yup. Well why fight it, so we go to the store to get it. She played it as soon as we got home. Well, it is still playing a lot, and it is three days later. Oh, yeah and I had to make another trip back to the store because guess who else has to have a copy? My 82 year old mother. This is her kind of music and the first singer in years to let her hear music as she loves it, very sensitive, emotional, and a quality voice. Of course granddaughter is getting it for Christmas (if she doesn't con me out of it before---you know how little girls can just smile and make the biggest dad or granddad melt--and she so knows how to do it.)

This is the best Christmas record I think I have ever heard. Some of the songs are the best I have heard in years, even if they weren't Christmas. Merry Christmas With Love is great. Silent Night is beautiful. Sleigh Ride is fun and happy, just as it should be. Old traditions are there with Winter Wonderland and The Christmas Song. Both are done exceptionally well. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve almost reminds me of childhood, listening to Mom's generation's music. Mary Did You Know was a new one for me, but Mom is familiar with it from church----it was actually one of the ones she really wanted the record for. Well, this song makes a big guy feel emotional just listening to it. O Holy Night, which has always been a personal favorite, is another song that too many people butcher or change so drastically for their "stamp" that they ruin it. It is one of the most beautiful songs ever written in my opinion and it's very hard to please meon it. I must say I was truly blown away. This version is amazing. And the final one that grabs me is the one I heard last year on the TV show. Don't Save It All For Christmas Day is the most astonishing thing I have heard in years, let alone to come out of the mouth of a "pop" star. Now again, I grew up on pop or rock and roll or whatever you want to call it. And those types of singers just can't sing like this. The quality, the tone, the control, the range, the strength, and the emotion is just beyond words.

This has truly brought a grown man, who almost felt like abandoning music, back to appreciating it again. And better than that, I can have Christmas dinner and open presents with my 82 year old mother, my daughter and son-in-law and my grandchildren, and we can all agree on a CD we want to listen to. Who else could 4 generations of people from 82 to 1, and numerous ages in between, agree on and love?

I give up Clay. I am a fan, and you can show up on my TV anytime. You can even appear on my stereo, that hasn't had much use the last few years. And I will even purposely tune my TV to catch your Christmas special, for the chance to see you perform some of these songs.

Is there a more divisive force in pop music today than Clay Aiken? For some unfathomable reason, Clay is a singer who inspires as much loathing as love, although it is beyond me why a clean-cut, God-fearing, apple pie-eating, momma-loving All-American Southern kid like him would be so despised by so many. But I digress. The subject at hand is Clay's new Christmas album, "Merry Christmas with Love," and the verdict is in: it's a wonderful collection of holiday standards that, unlike Clay's admittedly overproduced debut "Measure of a Man," should have widespread appeal that will bring Aiken new fans, please the diehards and silence the critics who hope (in vain, IMHO) that he disappears from the musical landscape faster than he appeared two years ago on "American Idol."

Even Clay's diehard fans who loved "Measure" will admit that the album didn't do his considerable talents justice. With too many producers helming too many sound-alike ballads, all overseen by executive producer Clive Davis in much the same way a blind cop would direct traffic, "Measure" was pleasant and had many fine moments (the title track, the lone hit "Invisible" and the incredible power ballad "I Survived You" among them) but failed to expand his fan base much beyond the "Idol" crowd. "Merry Christmas with Love" should change that as it is an album even non-fans will enjoy. With Davis no longer at the helm and only two producers (Phil Ramone and Walter Afanasieff) working separately on approximately half the album apiece, the result is a much more cohesive and balanced package that showcases Clay's incredible vocal power and range while lowering the volume of the accompanying orchestration so that it is his voice, and not the instrumentation, that drives the songs. The result is several beautifully understated readings and a resisting of the temptation of having Clay attempt to blow the listener away with one "glory note" after another, so that when he finally does let loose with all his vocal power it is extremely effective.

The album highlights include wonderful, understated readings of "O, Holy Night," "Silent Night," and "Mary Did You Know?" and bouncy, uplifting renditions of "Sleigh Ride" and "Winter
Wonderland." The title track is very effective, and the album ends on a touching note with "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" But the absolute highlight is Clay's goosebump-inducing, incredibly moving version of Celine Dion's "Don't Save it All for Christmas Day," in which he starts off in understated mode and slowly builds toward a last-minute crescendo that is beautifully complimented by an effective gospel choir and orchestration. Clay actually manages to out-Dion Celine with the tune, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if she herself was impressed and called with her congratulations.

In all, Clay and his producers have delivered an outstanding Christmas package that should quiet (for the time being) the tiresome rantings of his critics, satisfy his legions of fans while they (impatiently) await his sophomore pop effort, and bring new fans aboard while at least offering those on the fence with ample proof why he inspires the kind of devotion that hasn't been seen since the days of the Beatles and Elvis.

"Merry Christmas with Love" should sell well through Christmas and become a new perennial holiday classic. Clay, Ramone and Afanasieff have done themselves proud, and the result bodes well for Clay's future projects. Take a bow, gentlemen.