Merry Christmas with Love

1	O Holy Night 3:38
2	Winter Wonderland 2:49
3	Silent Night 2:17
4	Medley: Hark the Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful 4:00
5	Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 3:27
6	Mary, Did You Know 3:20
7	Joy to the World 2:13
8	The Christmas Song 2:36
9	Don't Save It All for Christmas Day 4:33
10	Merry Christmas With Love 4:04
11	Sleigh Ride 3:00
12	What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? 3:01

Barnes & Noble

Wholesome American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken follows in the tradition of PC pop crooners Perry Como and Andy Williams with this album of traditional Christmas fare. For this family-friendly collection, produced by Phil Ramone (Tony Bennett, Barry Manilow) and Walter Afanasieff (Mariah Carey, Kenny G), the North Carolina native lends his dramatic vocals to a dozen Yuletide favorites that provide the perfect background music for tree trimming or nuzzling by the fire. Supported by lush string arrangements, Aiken easily switches gears from a snappy, Harry Connick–reminiscent reading of "Winter Wonderland" to a subdued version of "Sleigh Ride." The slight singer even sinks his vibrato-tinged chops into Celine Dion's "Don't Save It All for Christmas Day," which is given an R&B sheen, thanks to an arrangement of organ, gospel harmonies, and vocal phrasing that's more robust than anything else on the disc. Not surprisingly, this devout Christian really shines on the disc's more spiritual material -- whether it's the hand-in-glove fit of Aiken's pliable tenor with the children's accompaniment provided by Broadway Inspirational Voices on a delicate rendering of "Silent Night" or the robust phrasing reverberating throughout an uplifting version of "Joy to the World." Earnest and endearing, Aiken's Merry Christmas with Love is a winning holiday record. Dave Gil de Rubio

All Music Guide

Clay Aiken is a show-biz creature, so it's only appropriate that the sequel to his hit 2003 debut, Measure of a Man, is 2004's Merry Christmas With Love -- after all, there are few things quite as show biz as a holiday album. Aiken is a rarity in the new millennium: an old-fashioned, unironic middle-of-the-road singer. Those are the kinds of vocalists that always fare very well on Christmas records, so it should be no surprise that Aiken turns in a good holiday album. Actually, there are no surprises on the album -- the song selections are all standards, the arrangements are traditional and unobtrusive, always emphasizing Clay's voice, and the record is given a safe, high-gloss sheen ideal for adult contemporary radio. If there are any surprises with Merry Christmas With Love -- well, apart from Clay's impish, elfin look on the front cover -- it's that his singing is better, more assured here than it was on Measure of a Man. Then again, that debut was released a little over four months after he came in second on the second season of American Idol. He's had more time to work on Merry Christmas With Love, and it seems to benefit his performance, which bodes well for his second proper studio album. Stephen Thomas Erlewine