2006年Two Lights以来の待ちに待った新作でした。前作は、家族の愛を描いた詩・曲に感動しましたが、今回の作品では落ち込んだ時に聴いて詩に触れると勇気づけられる曲が並んでいました。アメリカにてシングルカットされているSliceと、Chancesの2曲は誰もが好きになれる曲だと思います。ただ、メロディーはいつも通り美しいのですが、個人的に好きなピアノ中心の曲がいつもより少ないのが少々残念でした。11月末には、AWARE MUSICより日本盤がThe Battle For Everything以来久しぶりに発売となるらしいので、ボーナストラックも含めてそちらも気になるところです。全部英語ではありますが、five for fightingで検索しますとジョンのブログがヒットします。そちらでChancesの試聴もできますので、是非とも聴いてみることをお勧めいたします。
I got the album two weeks before his show at the City Winery in NYC so I'd know the tunes. As usual (for me), the first listen didn't grab me. "Chances" is clearly a great song, so that was an immediate hit with me. "Slice" seemed a little too poppy (this coming from a guy who likes "Johnny America"), blah blah blah. Well, I saw the show and was just blown away by the guy. It was the first time I had seen him live and it was just him and his piano and guitar (and occasional accompaniment by another guitarist). What a voice, what a songwriter, what a cool guy.
That show included some explanations of the new songs he played. I won't attempt to paraphrase. The songs speak for themselves to a large degree. I will say that I continue to be touched by his attention to our soldiers and the events we all need to remember and actually think about.
In no time this album grabbed me as his past work has done. His words are just so well-crafted, his voice is so expressive and impressive, his music is so consistently "right" for the emotion being expressed.
What can I say? The guy knows what he's doing and has done it again. If you liked his last three albums, you will like this one too. There have been some "edgier" moments on his earlier albums that are absent here (e.g. The Taste from TBFE), but I don't miss them.
De belles balades sur cet opus de john ondrasik qui avec des titres comme "Note to the unknow soldier","Cances"ou"Hope" nous transporte une nouvelle fois dans son monde.
Like other reviewers, I was ready for this album to appear. John Ondrasik is a gifted softwriter and has a great voice for the music and lyrics he writes. This album has two terrific tunes: Slice and Chances and a haunting love song in This Dance. The rest of the album is great and it's easy to just pop this CD in and listen to the entire set.
If this is your first FFF album, you'll want The Battle for Everything and America Town but it's likely you already have those two. In that case, rest assured that this album lives up to those two and might well be the best of the bunch. But it's crowded at the top, this is just another terrific album.