Fans waiting for Fountains of Wayne to finally quit goofing around and release a sonically experimental, brooding collection of "serious music" are just going to have to keep waiting. Luckily, the number of their listeners hoping for anything besides another infectious batch of sunny singalong numbers from Adam Schlesinger, Chris Collingwood, and company is probably about the same as the number of people waiting for the White Stripes to record a smooth jazz record. On the mind-numbingly charming Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains of Wayne do what they do best. And while they reinforce their reputation as the reigning deities of uptempo, big-guitar pop/rock with feel-good anthems like "Mexican Wine," "Bright Future in Sales," "Stacy's Mom," and "Little Red Light," they also continue their proud tradition of mellow yet equally tongue-in-cheek tunes. While their debut album had "Sick Day" and "You Curse at Girls," and Utopia Parkway featured "Prom Theme" and "The Senator's Daughter," Welcome Interstate Managers introduces "Fire Island," a plea to be left home alone when the parents go on vacation, and "All Kinds of Time," perhaps the best (and first) musical interpretation of a slow-motion football replay ever recorded. But the bouncing acoustic guitars of "Hey Julie" are definitely the high point. This time, the one flaw may simply be that the group doesn't know when to say when. Their two previous releases closed with lazy allads, and this time they build to a perfect finale with "Fire Island." Unfortunately, they follow it with four more songs that add little to the quality of the album. Still, CD players were made with skip buttons for a reason, and too much material is usually preferable to too little. Even without the last four tracks, Welcome Interstate Managers had more than enough pitch-perfect melodies and smile-inducing lyrics to make it a defining album for the summer of 2003. And if that's not your thing, well, maybe some winter they'll finally put out that somber record you've been waiting for.
"Hey Julie" is an older tune from FoW, from the album that first introduced me to the group. Tons of other people also met Fountains listening to this album--mostly because of the song "Stacey's Mom" about a kid who likes his friend Stacey's mom more than he likes Stacey. The whole album is great, including similarly peppy tunes like "Peace and Love." But Fountains also lets us see the mellow s...
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Last Sunday, my trusty side-kick "Jaye-bird":http://mog.com/jaye visited "Neumos":http://neumos.com/ for one of our favorite local artists, Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger infamy.Now, Sean was the opening act. And he was terrific, as we expected. The headlining band, however, was Fountains of Wayne. I didn't know who they were, so a month or so ago, I asked one of our MOGGERs if he had any FOW....
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It's true. If you add an expletive into a hook it automatically makes the song ten times better. Now of course this doesn't work in all musical genres. I mean, look in any rap/hip-hop song and it is entirely possible that there is going to be a swear word in it. Especially in that new pop hip-hop that glamorizes the money spending "bling" having lifestyle they all seem to know so well and s...
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For those looking for employment there is always a bright future in sales :-)
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The $8 an hour shuttle driver behind a Nobel PrizeAren't you momentarily stunned when your cab driver or your shuttle driver at Hertz or your local car dealership says something that really makes you think? Don't you wonder how someone so smart ended up driving you around?Please, therefore, consider what it must be like to be Douglas Prasherhttp://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10069835-71.html?tag...
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When the first Fountains Of Wayne album came out in 96 I loved it! It was a nice digression from most of the dark, heavy music I mostly listened to around that time. The follow up 'Utopia Parkway' was pretty good too, no as good as the debut, but good. So i remember buying 'Welcome Interstate Managers' the day it came out and listening to it...and the second 'Stacys Mom' came on I knew it was o...
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One of my favorite tracks from one of my favorite albums - talking about the frequently meaningless world of work. If you don't know Fountains Of Wayne, this is a good introduction:And for those who are already fans, or prefer videos, here's a video of them performing the song LIVE on TV:Enjoy! And Happy Freakin' Monday!
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Last Sunday, my trusty side-kick "Jaye-bird":http://mog.com/jaye visited "Neumos":http://neumos.com/ for one of our favorite local artists, Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger infamy.Now, Sean was the opening act. And he was terrific, as we expected. The headlining band, however, was Fountains of Wayne. I didn't know who they were, so a month or so ago, I asked one of our MOGGERs if he had any FOW....
More >
.I've been figuring the "Strike" would go through the day today, Friday the 23rd, but have seen some comments suggesting others are thinking it's over as of today. .I don't know what the original intent was but; HEY, LET'S CALL IT OVER! Even if it's 24 hours early. The message has been sent, probably too late to effect the new deeper MOG version 2.75 (or was it 3.75?) the Mogfather has hin...
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A while ago, I was surfing the Internet, with iTunes set on "Party Shuffle," when this tune made me stop and listen. I looked up the artist and thought, "I sure didn't expect THAT from them." This may or may not be Country, but it sure is a dark and lonely place, where alcohol is a poor substitute for love.
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debi was asking about football songs. I recall the NFL used the Fountains of Wayne's "All Kinds of Time" as music for a promo commercial a few years ago. I think it stands up well.What about other football songs?
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Hey Julie is a great tune for a beautiful late summer day when one desperately wants to play hookie from work.A great video in the "Hot for Teacher" ala Van Halen video genre is Stacy's Mom also by Fountains of Wayne below.
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"Hey Julie" is an older tune from FoW, from the album that first introduced me to the group. Tons of other people also met Fountains listening to this album--mostly because of the song "Stacey's Mom" about a kid who likes his friend Stacey's mom more than he likes Stacey. The whole album is great, including similarly peppy tunes like "Peace and Love." But Fountains also lets us see the mellow s...
More >
It's true. If you add an expletive into a hook it automatically makes the song ten times better. Now of course this doesn't work in all musical genres. I mean, look in any rap/hip-hop song and it is entirely possible that there is going to be a swear word in it. Especially in that new pop hip-hop that glamorizes the money spending "bling" having lifestyle they all seem to know so well and s...
More >
For ramblings on how I came to compile this list go here. And for commentary on previous selections: [#50-46] [#45-41]40. Goodbye Doris - Fox Jaws (2007)Barrie's Fox Jaws are easily one of my favorite live bands, and I make a point of trying to catch their show every time that I can. For whatever reason, their debut album has really struck a chord with me personally, and whenever I put it on, ...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Mexican Wine |
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| 2 Bright Future in Sales |
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| 3 Stacy's Mom |
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| 4 Hackensack |
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| 5 No Better Place |
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| 6 Valley Winter Song |
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| 7 All Kinds of Time |
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| 8 Little Red Light |
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| 9 Hey Julie |
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| 10 Halley's Waitress |
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| 11 Hung Up on You |
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| 12 Fire Island |
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| 13 Peace and Love |
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| 14 Bought for a Song |
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| 15 Supercollider |
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| 16 Yours and Mine |
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 "Welcome Interstate Managers")
