MusicVideoPress.com

Current Video Reviews

Five For Fighting - "The Riddle"

Mary J. Blige (feat U2) - "One"

Robyn Harris - "One Step Ahead "

Brian Littrell - "Welcome Home (You) "

Jamie Kennedy & Stu Stone - "Rollin' W/Saget "

View Review Archive

Five For Fighting’s only permanent band member is singer/songwriter/pianist/guitarist John Ondrasik. He rose to prominence out of the ashes of tragedy, when his song “Superman (It Ain’t Easy)” emerged as one of the anthems for the nation’s  resilient recovery after the September 11th attacks in 2001. Circumstances aside, Ondrasik’s sweet tenor voice and keen melodic sensibilities have earned him his continued success. 

In this video, Director Vem puts Ondrasik in a desolate desert setting, lyrically musing about the meaning of life. (this sort of musing is, in fact, one of his recurring themes) Finding a bit a twig near his broken down car, he sketches himself a piano and then sits doen to play, introducing the delightful combination of live action and animation that makes up the rest of the clip. In a rare example of seamless integration, music, lyrics and video are all mellow, introspective, achingly clean and ultimately uplifting. – Rick Brown

Watch it at: http://music.yahoo.com/ar-314399---Five-For-Fighting

Back to Top

     From frame one, this video absolutely exudes quality. The jangly quitar intro is the the immediate tip off that this is not your typical Mary J. Blige tune, but it quickly becomes obvious that teaming up veteran R&B heavyweight Blige with pop titans U2 was an inspired  notion. Blige slides her spectacular voice into the U2 style of songwriting as if she were born to it, and her voice and Bono’s are as smoothly blended as perfectly aged whiskey, and about as potent.

Veteran director Paul Hunter (Mariah Carey, Will Smith, Stevie Wonder) is also in top form. Working with two acts at the very top of their respective fields, he wisely stresses craft and leaves the art to those in front of the camera. This isn’t to say he phoned it in – far from it. His lighting choices are stunning, and his pacing and shot selection flow perfectly. Sometimes a director is like a weatherman or a referee – it they do their job properly, you hardly notice. This is one of those cases, and Hunter, as always, has found a way to adopt his own well developed and sought after style to the music at hand. – Rick Brown

Watch it at: http://www.mjblige.com/video/

Back to Top

California native and current Philadelphia resident Robyn Harris plays a pleasant combination of folk, blues, and pop that’s not an easy style to get a handle on.  She’s one of those songwriters I can start to compile “influences” for, but eventually throw up my hands in despair of breaking it down to three or four that might convey just what she actually sounds like. She’s currently (criminally) unsigned, so you can only get her debut CD Pocket My Pride online, but it’s worth tracking down and giving a listen to the various samples here and there on the Web. You’ll be tempted to whip out your credit card at once.    

Markus Kleinen’s video for “One Step Ahead” is artfully done, and is a splendid example of how it’s possible to achieve quality in a music video without a lavish budget. Harris performs, but there’s a framing tale about her being taken in by dubious “psychics” in her attempts to get “One Step Ahead”. Kleinen makes great use of animated tarot cards and the “psychic’s” sinister, long, black-painted fingernails as thematic images. This is a very auspicious debut video from a very promising artist. – Rick Brown

Back to Top

I would not normally review a video by a “boy band” alumnus. My feelings about that whole phenomenon are quite well known. Even with the phenomenon behind us now (it is to be fervently hoped), this is the first one I’ve seen that’s worth even a first look. It merits more than one.  Littrell demonstrates a genuine gift and a sincere sensitivity in his songwriting and his musicianship; which, I must admit, was a pleasant surprise. Structurally, the song is a moving ballad with very southern overtones, as befits his Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia roots.    

Littrell is up front but not pushy about his recent embrace of Christianity, and while this is in some sense a “Christian” song and video, if I hadn’t told you and you didn’t know, you’d likely never pick up on it. Lyrically and visually, it’s a celebration of family – specifically a father sending his young son out into the world and then welcoming him back home. There are images of the soldier returning from conflict (very timely), but also flashbacks to the first day of school. It’s probably no coincidence that Littrell is a recent  father himself. This video is well crafted, heartwarming, and several orders of magnitude better in quality and substance than anything he did with his former “band”  I was prepared to dismiss this, but I’m very glad I didn’t. – Rick Brown

Watch it at: http://music.yahoo.com/ar-15723868-videos--Brian-Littrell

Originally, I planned to slam Paris Hilton, here, but that’s just entirely too easy. Instead I’m going to tell you about a video that if you haven’t seen, you really should. Comedians Jamie Kennedy and Bob Saget have conspired to create a nearly perfect send-up of a number of current trends in music video in this clip. It’s notionally “rap”, but, let’s face it, Jamie Kennedy and Bob Saget are about as well cast as rappers as Ozzy Osborne would be (and Ozzie HAS been, but that's another story for another time). It’s a wild night on the town for the boys, and they capture nearly every cliché of the genre.

Admittedly, this is at least as much a comedy sketch as a music video, but the Blues Brothers started out that way as well. Not that I expect Jamie and Stu to go on to that kind of career, but the juxtaposition of lyrical content with carefully structured image is flat out hilarious. Not to be taken seriously, but highly recommended for the sheer giggle quotient. Watch the uncensored version at the link below, not the "clean" one on Yahoo or AOL Music. You'll be glad you did. – Rick Brown

Watch it at: http://myspace.com/jamiekennedy

Back to Top