CD of the week:
Five for Fighting: The Battle for Everything
John Ondrasik, basically, is Five for Fighting. He writes the music, sings it, lends a hand with the production, and plays piano and guitar (and there’s a lot of that). His fellow two musicians, Curt Schneider and Andrew Williams, simply fill in the gaps.
This, perhaps, is why Five for Fighting’s music is so personal and emotional, as the world noticed when Superman from the Grammy-nominated American Town hit the charts.
The new album, The Battle for Everything (Sony), again shows Ondrasik is a master at crafting a solid melody that flows easier than champagne at a wedding.
And he impresses further by adding inventive, insightful lyrics that wistfully attack life and love, and ”people who need people” (on NYC Weather Report — a dig at Barbra, maybe?). Some might balk and call him a self-pitying fool, but life isn’t, after all, sunshine and roses.
Dying (”I’m dying to live without you again”) and 100 Years sail smoothly on a stirring piano melody, bringing to mind Counting Crows in a reflective mood, mostly without falling too deep in melancholy; on Angels and Girlfriends (”angels never come for free”) and Infidel he adopts a more raunchy folk-rock approach; One More for Love is as near perfect as a ballad can be.
”It’s a nice day if you wake up in Disneyland,” Ondrasik sings on Disneyland — but sadly life is much more than make-believe; it’s a battle for love and acceptance, and this is Five for Fighting’s emphatic message.
ATB: The DJ in the Mix (Gallo)
DJ/producer ATB mixes two CDs of rather commercial trance house, with lots of vocals especially on the first CD (including Paul van Dyk’s Time of Our Lives). Some fun new tracks are offset by older dross — he just couldn’t resist dropping in his 9pm (Till I Come) yet again. Not a bad effort, but it’s really just another mix album. — Riaan Wolmarans
Blondie: The Curse of Blondie (Sony)
Blondie aren’t Madonna. Hell, Madonna isn’t even good at this reinvention thing anymore. With the current popularity of Eighties-inspired electro Deborah and the boys could have jumped on the bandwagon and made a blazing comeback. But instead of sounding retro, they just sound old. The one single that might see them getting chart action is Good Boys (although Giorgio Moroder could have done more with his remix of it. Guess he’s getting old too). — Michelle Matthews
Delta Goodrem: Innocent Eyes (Sony)
Hey, it’s Australia’s own teen Shania Twain! With good lashings of Celine Dionesque high-pitched hysteria! And two CD sleeve pages of thank yous! Goodrem may be young and naive, but she belts them out like a fully-fledged diva. If you love Shania and Celine, you’ll be thrilled to discover Delta. — MM
Various: Legends of Hip-Hop (David Gresham)
It’s an old-skool reunion! To some degree this is aimed at educating the kids, with a glossary explaining just who early MC and DJ heavyweights Flava Flav, Bambaata, Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC and others are. But tunes like Freak to This may just put too much emphasis on the ”old” part of old-skool. This album is for people who remember (or admire) the hip-hop of the Eighties, particularly as the raps can get nostalgic. — MM