Song Of The Album: "This Is The Night". Alternate Title: "Pale Rock Imitations, Vol. 1". Genre: Pop/Rock
Although he didn't actually win American Idol: Season 2, in many ways, Raleigh, North Carolina's Clay Aiken was the de facto winner. He was obviously the better singer talent-wise, being able to belt notes that Ruben Studdard couldn't dream of hitting, he was arguably more "marketable" and his arguably much better tune "This Is The Night" stayed on the charts a lot longer than Studdard's awful "Flying Without Wings". Plus, impressive debuts from Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini- the Season 1 finalists- suggested that the American Idol people are actually serious about making music, so in many ways, Aiken's full length debut, "Measure Of A Man", promised to be another stellar release.
Not so. Instead of having instantly catchy and vibrant material, Aiken gets to sing tunes that are flatter than seven week old pop, none of which being very infectious at all and being more stale rehashes of what worked before. Single No. 1, "Invisible", for example, sounds a lot like BBMak's "Out Of My Heart (Into Your Head)", while "The Way" and "No More Sad Songs" also carry airs of familiarity though I can't put my fingers on what songs they rip off. Worse still, though, are the structures: Aiken's songs are all supposed to be light power ballads, timeless "classics" that evoke the memory of U2 (presumably). However, the songs all rise to an ever predictable crescendo, while the lyrics- such as "I crossed the t's and dotted the i's" in "No More Sad Songs"- are so bad these songs come off as pale imitations of the real thing, not worthy successors to the classics. In fact, these songs remind me of someone strumming along with his guitar by a campfire to a small audience, because the rest of the campers couldn't be bothered to hear some crappy singer try to invent some more "classics".
It's not like this album is a total loss- Aiken's debut single, "This Is The Night", actually does manage to hit the mark, being a song that's actually powerful and heartfelt, even if the lyrics are a little cheesy. Still, "Measure Of A Man" is as plain and forgettable an album as there could be, being nothing more than a set of overwrought power ballads that make artists like Creed and Saliva look like classic rockers. Do yourself a favour: get a U2 album or a Michelle Branch album or a Bryan Adams album instead of this crap, because there, they don't pretend.
-DG