A Thousand Different Clays

Soon enough it will be holiday season and with it comes a slew of fall releases of new music to give to yourself or someone you love. One of these releases will be by Clay Aiken. "A Thousand Different Ways" is a long-time coming for fans. Clay not only has a new album, but a new look as well. Gone is the spikey, frosted-tipped hair and clean-shaven face. He is now sporting longer, darker locks with that three-day growth always present during interviews. This, unfortunately, is not an album of new songs, but of cover songs (the tiring trend in music these days), but Clay puts his own personal thumbprint on every track. Expect the release of the first single 'Without You' to be a huge, huge hit for him, no doubt putting him high atop the billboard charts. Who is is releasing a new CD this fall? Barry Manilow's 'Greatest Songs of the 60s' follows in the footsteps of his enormously popular 50's CD. If you are a fan of Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons, Burt Bacharach and The Association, then this album will surely make you smile. Hopefully, this too will be as big a hit as the first. Finally, there's my all-time favorite and ageless rocker, Rod Stewart, who is covering songs from the 70's, but this time they are those chart-topping rock songs (think soft rock though, probably to accommodate his present singing style). While there will be many other pop and some hip-hop CDs released, these three artists are adult-contemporary friendly and bring back some great memories of yesterday for all us post baby-boomers.