power-pop anyone? new album WELCOME INTERSTATE MANAGERS is out today. its their 3rd and its good. its been 4 years since UTOPIA PARKWAY and way too long. for those of you interested, who have never heard them, here is the EW review...
It's been four years since Fountains of Wayne's sublime sophomore disc, ''Utopia Parkway,'' failed to score the big sales it deserved. Now the band has cannily front-loaded its 16-song return, Welcome Interstate Managers, with a triple punch of joyously clever power pop. The opener, ''Mexican Wine,'' is filled with ''Strawberry Fields Forever'' horns and brass-ring fumbles (''I used to fly for United Airlines/Then I got fired for reading High Times''). The rollicking ''Bright Future in Sales'' is a wry rocker about a self-sabotaging but ever-optimistic salesman. And first single ''Stacy's Mom'' -- a teen's hormonally addled mash note about his girlfriend's hot mama (''I know you think it's just a fantasy/But since your dad walked out, your mom could use a guy like me!'') -- is crank-it-up, warble-along perfection, driven by stuttery Cars-style guitar licks.
But ''Welcome'' is not all about juicy power chords. ''Fire Island'' is a soft, shimmering ballad that pays homage to those halcyon days of naked pool parties when the 'rents left town. (Yes, the thirtysomething members of FOW have a sweet spot for their formative years.) And in the melancholy ''Hackensack,'' a Jersey dude views L.A. as a distant mirage where his high school dream girl and ''everybody else'' goes.
''Parkway'' didn't take Fountains of Wayne to the charts, but let's hope the ''Interstate'' will. Grade: A-
does anyone else listen to them? i had to walk all over town to find a fucking copy of this cd. i went to get it at tower records at midnite last night and when i said "fountains of wayne" they looked at me like i was speaking martian. they said "uhh i dont know what that is. everything thats coming out is on that board". i was like, "uhh, i KNOW it comes out today". and then today i had to walk to some OTHER tower records where it wasnt under NEW RELEASES or on any endcap, but they did manage to have ONE COPY on the shelf under F. i am gloriously pissed off about this.
I like the idea of the theme. I might have to give it a try.
Didn't this band, or someone from it, do that insanely catchy title track for That Thing You Do!?
yes. they wrote the songs that The Wonders performed in THAT THING YOU DO, just to give you an idea of how catchy these guys are. it seems like every song could be a single, but somehow they just havent caught on. they're so accesible, they make weezer look like they should turn it down some. but their lyrics are really funny and clever. its not for everybody, and i guess everybody is jizzing their pants today over the new radiohead (and since this is about as far away from that as you can get), nobody will care. this is for fans of ELO, the Cars and other shimmering power pop. everyone else can wallow in their radiohead.
Quote from: themodernage02yes. they wrote the songs that The Wonders performed in THAT THING YOU DO, just to give you an idea of how catchy these guys are. it seems like every song could be a single, but somehow they just havent caught on. they're so accesible, they make weezer look like they should turn it down some. but their lyrics are really funny and clever. its not for everybody, and i guess everybody is jizzing their pants today over the new radiohead (and since this is about as far away from that as you can get), nobody will care. this is for fans of ELO, the Cars and other shimmering power pop. everyone else can wallow in their radiohead.
Since you pose it as the Radiohead antidote, I'll have to go out and pick it up, though I'm half-convinced to try the Radiohead and see if I'm willing to forgive them their "soundscape" indulgences...
I love Fountains of Wayne! So much irony, and yet I find a lot of their songs really moving too. For me, 'Prom Theme' from Utopia Parkway is one of the best songs I own, bar none. So so sad. They get no respect whatsoever, and I can see why in a way - they're very easy to dismiss after one listen as just an annoyingly "quirky" Bare Naked Ladies type band, but there's more to them than that. I didn't know they had a new album out - I gotta get that shit.
And, although a big Radiohead fan, I've heard Hail To the Thief now, and - quite frankly - I'd prefer to listen to some new Fountains.
I have one of their albums!....The one with 'Denise'. It's crappy!
I too thought them crappy for a while before I became enlightened...
Seriously, man - give it another listen. You're talking about Utopia Parkway, which I thought was shit the first time I heard it, but now I love it. Just bear in mind that they're predominantly taking the piss out of the style of music that they play: you've got the ultimate cheese pop punk track (Denise), the ultimate cheese soft rock song (Troubled Times), the ultimate cheese 70's dirty guitar sound rock song (Go, Hippie) - it's all just so perfectly observed and executed. Plus you've got Prom Theme which, as I said, is an absolutely beauty of a song: just imagine a roomful of high school kids ending their prom evening to it, the jocks scoring and the geeks crying in the corner, with the words "Soon we'll say goodbye/ Then we'll work until we die" floating over them. Superb.
FOW is great. I knew about them back in 97 or 98 when I saw them on the Jenny Mccarthy Show on MTV which they performed Sink to the Bottom. They have a lot of song writing talent.
their self-titled album is the best bargin bin album you'll ever buy! also that dog's RETREAT FROM THE SUN.
Quote from: rudieobtheir self-titled album is the best bargin bin album you'll ever buy! also that dog's RETREAT FROM THE SUN.
I looooooooove that dog. All their albums. Really good stuff, mostly.
I also really like
Welcome Interstate Managers, and I have modernage02 to thank for pushing me over the edge into trying it out.
Quote from: Weirdo1769movieMikeFOW is great. I knew about them back in 97 or 98 when I saw them on the Jenny Mccarthy Show on MTV which they performed Sink to the Bottom. They have a lot of song writing talent.
me too. i think i've seen them live something like 8 or 9 times since then. the first time i saw them was opening for smashing pumpkins on the last leg of their mellon collie tour. FOW are a fantastic pop band. although with the breakout success of their somewhat gimmicky single i can understand anyone who would dismiss them as something 'not cool'. but, i think if more people were exposed to their albums they would really dig them. glad godardian liked them, wasnt sure if he would. i tried to explain they're about as far away from being 'cool' as you can get, but at the same time really kind of clever and good. also, if you have played out your WIM disc, you should look into Utopia Parkway, its sort of a 'prequel' to the new one. sounds pretty similar in style. the first album is also good, but very simplistic and kind of low-fi, (as it was just hte two guys recording the album and not really a full whole live band sound yet).