A Thousand Different Ways

A Thousand Different Ways is the third studio album by Clay Aiken. It was released by RCA Records on September 19, 2006. The album, which was executive produced by Jaymes Foster, consists of ten covers and four new songs. The first single was "Without You" and the second, "A Thousand Days."

Writers of the four new songs ("These Open Arms", "Lonely No More", "A Thousand Days" and "Everything I Have") include Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child, Andreas Carlsson, Jeremy Bose, Aldo Nova, Samuel Waermo, Mimmi Waermo, and Aiken himself. "These Open Arms" previously appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese issue Bon Jovi's 2005 album Have a Nice Day. "Broken Wings," the last cut on the album and an original poem written by Erin Taylor, was woven throughout the lyrics. The last line of this poem which is also the last line added to the song lyrics became the album title. Available only through iTunes as a bonus cut when the complete album is downloaded, is a fifth new song titled "Lover All Alone". Aiken wrote the lyrics and David Foster wrote the music. Kmart offered for a limited time (as a download) an exclusive bonus recording of "If You Don't Know Me by Now".

Bill Lamb from About.com found that "there are gems here, but this album is unlikely to hold the attention of the casual listener all the way through. Clay Aiken fans will find much to like here, but he needs to start thinking about how to reach toward a broader audience and catch their attention. A number of ingredients for long-term pop stardom are evident, but A Thousand Different Ways is merely a holding pattern on the pathway there."^[2] AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine concluded that on A Thousand Different Ways, Aiken "sounds exactly how you remember him from TV, which only means that he must have been scared that he'd lose those legions of fans he won way back then. And A Thousand Different Ways will satisfy those fans — but the truth is, they probably would have stuck with him anyway, even if he did something more interesting than this, which is as predictable and slick as a latter-day Barry Manilow album.^[1]

Entertainment Weekly editor Chris Willman wrote that a "great mentor might do something with Aiken's handsome, featureless voice, but A Thousand Different Ways' 11 sound-alike producers uniformly favor an aural morphine drip — suiting a singer who's always emotive but only aspires to actual emotion."^[3] Rolling Stone's Andy Greene felt that "making an album this soul-suckingly awful must have taken some hard work. Aiken and his handlers didn't just pick out any old Celine Dion or Bryan Adams song — they went straight to the bottom of the well and chose "Because You Loved Me" and "Everything I Do (I Do It for You)." Toss in some Richard Marx, a flute and a cheesy symphony and you've got the worst episode of American Idol ever."^[4]

A Thousand Different Ways made its debut at number two on the US Billboard 200, selling 211,000 units in its first week,^[5] The album spent 14 weeks on the chart and was eventually cerified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 2, 2006.^[6] A Thousand Different Ways also opened at six on the Canadian Albums Chart.^[7] It was awarded gold status by Music Canada on December 20, 2006.^[8]

On his 2005 Juke Box Tour, Aiken previewed 3 other songs that did not make the final album cut. "Back For More" was sung at every concert date after its introduction at GMA's Summer Concert Series in 2005.^[9] "Tears Run Dry" and "Just You" each got one third of the JBT performance dates.

Performers and musicians

Orchestra

• Jay Lifton – String orchestration
• Concertmaster – Marshall Coid, Principal: Dorothy Lawson, Leader: Ralph Farris
• Violins: Jonathan Dinklage, Cornelius Dufallo, Amy Kauffman, Brian Krinke, Carol Pool, Rob Shaw, Yuri Vodovoz, Marshall Coid
• Violas: Juna Chung, David Gold, Lara Lynne Hicks, Ralph Farris
• Cellos: Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf, Erik Friedlander, Dorothy Lawson