Published on May 24, 2004
One of my more mercurial colleagues at my day job is fond of
declaring “I feel strongly both ways” (he actually had a t-shirt
made…). After giving this album room in my CD changer for a
few weeks, I have a much keener understanding of where he’s coming
from.
Five For Fighting more or less is John Ondrasik, singer,
songwriter, piano and guitar player and all-around wunderkind. And
The Battle For Everything is Five For Fighting’s
long-awaited follow-up to 2000’s
America Town, the disc that catapulted Ondrasik into the
spotlight courtesy of “Superman (It’s Not Easy),” an
out-of-the-blue hit whose wistful/vulnerable tone seemed to touch a
nerve in post-9/11 America.
There is much to love about this album. Ondrasik has a great
feel for arrangements, stacking harmonies and filling out his
rolling piano and rhythmic acoustic guitar playing with big, bold
soundscapes of strings and echo and electric guitar and his own
swerving-in-and-out-of-falsetto vocals. Tracks like “NYC Weather
Report,” “The Devil In The Wishing Well” and “One More For Love”
shake and shimmer with an energy and innate sense of drama that
takes you back to the best work of ’70s piano men like Billy Joel
and Elton John.
As “Superman” showed, Ondrasik has a gift for crafting memorable
melodies. And indeed, last time I looked, this album’s first single
“100 Years” was still perched at the top of the adult contemporary
charts. It’s a standout cut that waxes philosophical about how fast
time goes by and how we struggle — or should struggle — to grasp
every moment. I still get a wave of nostalgia every time after
dozens of listens to this track.
To his credit, Ondrasik and his FFF colleagues Curt Schneider
(bass) and Andrew Williams (guitars) mix things up in the middle
section of the disc, trying out a little roots-funk with “Angels
& Girlfriends” and “Infidel,” and going heavier on “The Taste.”
The production — by Bill Bottrell on all but two tracks helmed by
Gregg Wattenberg — is clean and spacious throughout, lending the
songs the panoramic scope Ondrasik’s approach demands.
Still, something bothered me about this album listen after
listen. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until I was listening
to something else entirely — “The Luckiest,” an amazing piano
ballad off Ben Folds’
Rockin’ The Suburbs disc. “The Luckiest” is simple, raw and
utterly beautiful in a way that Five For Fighting seems incapable
of duplicating.
Here’s the problem: from all appearances, Ondrasik is a
wunderkind who knows he’s a wunderkind. No matter how much deadly
earnest sincerity he pours into these tracks, he’s so
self-consciously determined to WRITE GREAT BIG MEANINGFUL SONGS
that much of his material comes out sounding not grand, but
grandiose.
The pinnacle of Ondrasik’s self-admiration is “If God Made You,”
where he somehow thinks the poetic license of an airy love song
will allow the line “If God made you, he’s in love with me” not to
make the listener gag. Uh, wrong. And then there’s “Maybe I,” a
song in which — according to the lyric sheet — he sings the word
“I” at least 41 times in four-plus minutes, without a hint of
embarrassment.
He also manages to get through a song all about Disneyland with
a straight face, even the part where he’s dreaming that he’s Peter
Pan flying over Neverland, where “the crocs sing ‘Superman’ till we
can’t take it.” Yeah, um, nice song and all, John, but I think it’s
a touch early to be treating it like an ageless standard.
So there you have it. There’s a lot to love here, and more than
a little to raise the eyebrows. It’s true: I feel strongly both
ways. Maybe you will, too.