Rating:  -
Definatly worth it! All of the songs are great, but several in particular are very catchy. My favorite is Michael Jordan. If you like the sounds of groups like the Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, Moby, etc. you'll love this CD.
Rating:  -
Maybe I have a change of heart or something, I have no f***in' idea. I'll be honest with you people, I don't still understand how this music became popular, was it because he played at the Sept 11 concert, I don't know, I can tell you it's truly a publicity step up to the plate, for sure. Every time I here the song 'Superman', I feel like I've been hit with kryptonite, or even like I just wuss out on a fight with a kid still in diapers, or even just feel real weak, maybe that's the whole point, hell I don't know, because he just sings it too damn high, almost like the way Coldplay sings 'Fix You', don't like it, not normal, grow some cohoanies for crying out loud. But since I have this album (even though I inherited it from an ex-friend, as you notice I said ex-friend), and don't want to butt-hurt the rest of the crowd here I gave it 3 stars, probally too late, oh well.
Rating: -
I like his voice and was inspired to buy the album. I was let down when I found the album not what I expected. The more popular song Superman was great, but the rest lacked that emotion I expected. The rest of the songs didn't do it for me. Overall very talented, but needs some improvement.
Rating:  -
The music of Five for Fighting is a blend of rich, vibrant guitar and piano rythms, well-written lyrics, and quirky, sometimes interestingly weird imagery: "Mr. Merry cries in his coffin, for the days he says he can remember". In other words, a considerable amount of talent. I first came across "America Town" four years ago. The only reason I bought it, to be honest, was "Superman", which was quite a hit at the time. For a very long while, it was the only song on the whole album that I listened to. I don't know why I didn't bother to discover the other tracks. It was my sister who one day dug up some of my old CDs to find some new music (music she hadn't heard, anyway), listened to it, and told me to give it a try. I started listening to it very gradually, the opening tracks at first, then slowly the whole album, and the more I did, the more I was amazed how good it was, the occasionally idiosyncratic words notwithstanding.
America Town is one of those rare gems that gets better with each listen. There seems to be a sort of dichotomy of meaning that permeates the themes of all the songs. Themes of love and hate, hope and despair and life and death all come interwined in the stories told by John Ondrasik's multi-layered, versatile voice. In "Easy Tonight", you have the story of a man tyring to come to terms with his girlfriend's suicide, which is pretty morbid stuff, yet it manages to end on a hopeful note: "Don't know where I'm going yet, but I sure am getting there". And of course, there is the now all-time classic, "Superman", written about the struggle to find the delicate balance between the heroic and the merely human. The Last Great American", a sleepy ballad towards the end of the album, is nostalgic, dreamy and superbly ironic. The tenth track, "Love Song", is not a love song at all but a very bitter one, written about divorce from a child's point of view: The mother and father throwing dirt at each other and each trying to besmirch the other's image in the child's eyes - "Put away your mommy, you don't need her", and nobody bothering to listen to the child crying 'don't go away from me!'. Its relatively fast beat compliments the inner sadness of the theme much better than the original piano accompaniment in Message for Albert. There's also "Boat Parade", an angry, in-your-face satire on war, and the last track, "Alright", is a heart-felt and remarkably honest rendition of life's trials: Bashing your head on chamber doors while yelling all the while that you're "Alright", about the times we smile a big toothy grin at the world while grappling with monsters inside our heads. I won't say more, otherwise this review will go on forever. Experience it for yourself. Also, I definitely reccommend their latest record, The Battle for Everything, and their debut album, Message for Albert.
Rating: -
i don't know who this "Jaan Uhelszki" is, or what she is thinking, but she clearly doesn't realize that the lead man for Five for Fighting John Ondrasik is not singing about the "real" Superman. this song is clearly not a literal representation of our favorite superhero. it is intended to target those who take upon themselves the burdens of the world. and so he poses the question "who's going to carry me?" or "who's going to catch me when I fall?". maybe if you're going to write a review about a melody, you should read into the lyrics, instead of taking it at face value. yeah, we realize that kryptonite is the one thing that will destroy Superman so, then, why would he literally be digging it up? i'm sorry Jaan, stick to Megadeath and other 80's stylistic headbangers and let people who read between the lines do the reviews.
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