 | Five
for Fighting
The Battle for Everything
label: Sony
released: 02.03.04
our score: 2.0 out of 5.0
| When
I first put Five for Fighting’s latest, The Battle for
Everything in the CD player, I didn’t really expect
to like it. Their sophomore release, America Town (they
had an album before this, Message for Albert, that went
fairly unnoticed), really only had one veritable “hit”
– the omnipresent supermarket ballad “Superman (It’s
Not Easy).” And frankly, it wasn’t that shabby of
a song. The rest of America Town, however, was palpable
proof of the theory that the ala carte buying capabilities of
services like iTunes and Napster really do serve a purpose. America
Town, as a whole, was a rather disposable record, and an
example of a band trying desperately to break out of one-hit-wonderdom
(but failing quite miserably).
As
for The Battle for Everything… well, it’s
a pretty similar case. The difference, however, is that the first
single “100 Years” is missing that special something
that made “Superman” the smash it was. Not that it’s
a bad song, but it really seems to try quite hard to repeat the
success of its predecessor. There’s the cute little piano,
but above that its once again an exploration of self and being
small in a big world and all that other schlock-ey stuff that
can either make a band sound intelligent or just plain desperate.
“100 Years” doesn’t go quite that far, but it
sure does sound like a planned Oscar clip.
That being said, “100 Years”
(like “Superman”) is the absolute high point of the
album. Elsewhere John Ondrasik and his crew continue their exploration
of the less-enthralling side of singer/songwriter culture. Rather
than a full embrace of the culture, Five for Fighting (like genre
compatriots Train) tend to stick much closer to the pop/adult
contemporary sound – ultimately leaving their music as a
perfect CD for the listener who really doesn’t get into
music, but likes to look cool by having something that sounds
like Americana to someone who hasn’t every really heard
any Americana before. It’s unbelievably safe music –
music that’s hard to hate, but even harder to truly like.
Like
“Superman,” which found its ultimate home on adult
contemporary radio and the music tracks played throughout Home
Depots nationwide, The Battle for Everything is music
that doesn’t offend, nor inspire. Rather it just exists,
which isn’t a bad thing. It’s just…
Oh
hell, it’s just not very good.
11-Mar-2004
9:00 AM
If you
liked The Battle for Everything... |
Tracklist:
1.
NYC Weather Report
2. The Devil in the Wishing Well
3. If God Made You
4. 100 Years
5. Angels & Girlfriends
6. Dying
7. Infidel
8. Disneyland
9. Maybe I
10. The Taste
11. One More For Love
12. Nobody |
|
