Five For Fighting
Album : Two Lights
Released : August,1,2006
Label : Sony
Reviewer : James Christopher Monger (From http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?aid=784127&pid=174174 )
Five for Fighting's John Ondrasik is a straight, clean, post-9/11 version of "Daniel"-era Elton John. He's got exquisite pipes, a knack for the big key changes, and a true star's sense of emotional entitlement that masks itself as introspection. If 2004's Battle for Everything saw a more assured and concise Five for Fighting reacting to its surprise success of 2001's "Superman" single, then 2006's Two Lights represents Ondrasik's complete transformation from somber troubadour into adult alternative mother-ship. With the now branded Five for Fighting, there is no hint of danger, no chance for controversy, and no way that at least half the record won't end up supplying brow-creasing melodramatic film moments and high school year-end slide shows with forced poignancy for years to come. It only takes a few minutes into the elegiac opening cut "Freedom Never Cries" to revisit the 9-11 angst/patriotism that won Ondrasik the majority of his initial public favor ("I only talk to God when somebody's about to die/I never cherished freedom/freedom never cries), a song he deftly follows with the super earnest and wistfully upbeat "World," and later "Riddle." From there it's a real hodgepodge, with detours into murderous Springsteen-esque road trips like "California Justice" and "65 Mustang." For the most part, Two Lights is a serious record about hard-working people in hard times -- only the jaunty "Johnny America" and the dumb but infectious "Policeman's Xmas Party" echo early press comparisons to the more whimsical sides of Ben Folds and Billy Joel -- but it's not saying anything that hasn't already been beaten into the masses since the confessional that used to house self-absorbed singer/songwriters became open to the public.
Reviewer : Tammy La Gorce
(From http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G6BLFG/sr=1-1/qid=1156568908/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5553805-8175328?ie=UTF8&s=musicl)
On his third disc, the one-man musical marvel known as
Five for Fighting proves yet again that all that's standing between him and peace of mind--not the fleeting kind, but full-on, to-the-bone, heart-and soul-cleansing peace of mind--is a song. Two Lights picks up where America Town left off, diving smack-dab into the national consciousness and hitting, predictably, a sorrowful spot. First track "Freedom Never Cries" is a self-skewering lament that calls out to complacent countrymen by way of confession and an artful, piano-enhanced weighing of consequence. It's followed by "World," which reminds unpreachily, and not unpleasantly, that "history starts now." Where Two Lights better resembles 2004's hugely successful The Battle for Everything is in its more inward-looking tracks, the tender first single "The Riddle" among them. There, and on the near criminally pretty "I Just Love You," the mush-hearted may find themselves fighting the urge to hug the closest stranger. But despite his now-dependable dips into mopiness, John Ondrasik--Five for Fighting to you and the rest of the world--doesn't deny himself the opportunity to rock when he wants to. If anything makes this guy happy, it's the state of California: on "California Justice," he kicks off his shoes and works on his tan like a latter-day Beach Boy from the dark side, and "'65 Mustang" rambles down the coast with the kind of carefree vibe that, outside of a song, only a convertible can deliver.
The Battle For Everything (2004)
Track Listing :
1.Freedom Never Cries
2.World
3.California Justice
4.The Riddle
5.Two Lights
6.65 Mustang
7.I Just Love You
8.Policeman's Xmas Party
9.Road To Heaven
10.Johnny America
Message For Albert (1997)
American Town (2000)
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