On My Way Here

After pre-ordering this CD and playing it through three times straight, I find myself sticking it back in the changer, hoping to like it more. There are some bright moments. "Ashes" is a decent track Keith Carlock's drums sounding fresh, "Maybe love requires walking through the fire." "Weight of the World" co-written by Franne Gold has a distinctive melody which releases Clay to hit the soaring notes he does so well and has good guitar interplay. "As Long As We're Here" spiced with a Celtic flavor is another great piece of Aiken tracks, "Alive on this earth, I'm gonna love you, For all that it's worth & one of these days, we're gonna understand why." For me, one of the problems seems to be the production team packaging Clay's music. "Something About Us" is actually a good song co-written by Regie Hamm whose American Dreams album had its moments. However, the producers wash the track in a string arrangement that makes Clay's sound antiquated and schmaltzy. "Falling" pumps up the pep, but its melody sounds like 75 other songs. On "The Real Me" Clay sings with strength and vulnerability while the arranger again drenches the track in schmaltzy strings. Tracks like "Sacrificial Love" and "The Real Me" don't connect with me. Unlike Clay's A Thousand Different Ways which was creative and gripping, "On My Way Here" sounds like product. It has enough bright moments to make the CD worth playing a few times. Enjoy!

I've gotten this album like more than a week ago from Amazon. I would say I like this album. I am a fan of Clay's voice, and have bought all his cd's so far, but I didn't really know what to expect of him from this new album.

Clay stated that he liked to try a new thing for this new album, and you can see that he did that. Except that I think I'm not quite a fan of this "new thing" he experimented with. I think I preferred his more catchy/uptempo ballads like "Ashes", "Falling", and "Where I Draw The Line", as what most of his songs on the first album all about, than the melodramatic slow ballads like "Sacrificial Love", "Lover All Alone", and "Something About Us" which put me to sleep.

The country-pop sound on "Everything I Don't Need" didn't charm me at first, but began to like it after a while.

But having said that, I think overall the album is a good easy listening when put together. Clay did try a bit of a different thing on this album compared to his first album (since the second album is a cover album, it doesn't really count), but he didn't go too far from his original sound, so it's a smart move, rather than going with TOTALLY different sound all of a sudden.

This cd is wonderful. Clay's voice is so beautiful and the lyrics and music to these songs are very profound. The title cut "On My Way Here" is just beautiful. Clay's voice is a gift.

I am a Clay Aiken Fan...I Know I Am Gonna Get A Lot of Unhelpful remarks on this one. I believe Clay loses some or even all of his charm on this album...its a little too quiet for my taste. All I have is one question for Clay...WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT POWERFUL VOICE WE ALL FELL IN LOVE WITH ON AI????? Its ok to sing soft, but come on, these songs are boring. No surprise to me that it didnt sell too many copies...sorry Clay-Mates, I know none of you will admit it, but this album is below average. There are no standouts like his last two albums...Perfect Day, A Thousand Days, Run To Me, all great songs. Cant say that for ANY of these...

Clay's latest album, "On My Way Here,' is spectacular!! I loved every single song and I also own all of Clay's music. I buy everything he records. This is the best album to date. The song, "Ashes," is my favorite on the album. Clay's voice just gets better and more fine tuned every day. His voice is one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard and I thank Clay for sharing his talent with me and the whole world! It gives me so much peace and joy to hear him sing! Keep up the great work, Clay!!!