blackleatherbookshelf | My Amazon Reviews: Five For Fighting "Slice"

Shifting Slices of American Pie
4 Out of 5 Stars

When Five For Fighting (aka John Ondrasik's) album "America Town" broke out in 2001, John seemed to be stuck somewhere between sensitive singer-songwriter and John Mellencamp blue-collar scribe. A decade later for "Slice," he has fully divested himself of the blue-collar tough-guy act and has fully embraced his inner-soft rocker. "Slice" starts off with a nostalgic look at the days social networking meant taking your Don McLean album to a friend's house, and then continues in a richly arranged Elton John/Billy Joel fashion.

Ondrasik still has not lost his penchant for heavier topics, though. "Note To The Unknown Soldier" is as serious and melancholy as its title suggests, and "Augie Nieto" was written for a man suffering from Lou Gherig's disease, assists a foundation to look for the cure, and wrote a book with his toes (his lone remaining movable body part). No light reading, despite the easy listening trappings. The remainder of the songs deal primarily with love and other struggles, easily denoted by titles like "Hope," "This Dance" and "Love Can't Change The Weather."

It's a maturation that suits Ondrasik well. By puffing up the arrangements, he helps to draw attention away from the despair in most of his writing to the fact that he can create some great melodies. The intermingling of these elements makes "Slice" the most consistent and enjoyable of Five For Fighting's albums.