The Beat Surrender

I first got into the Fountains Of Wayne way back in 1997 when they released their debut self titled album, I can’t take the credit for picking up on them so early though, the praise for that must fall with a friend and work colleague himself called Wayne who was a fanof theirs.

He recommended them to me and with me not being shy when it comes to buying music, i’d quickly snapped up the album and was giving it repeated listens. The album had countless great songs on it, all mixing 60’s style pop with a slightly American grunge edge, it was hard to listen to Sink To The Bottom, Radiation Vibe etc without tapping your foot along and singing the words.

Utopia Parkway followed that album and again it was a good album, possibly not as immediate as the first one but it still had something. Unfortunately after that things went a little bit quiet for the band and I lost a degree of interest in them. The next time tha they crossed my path was when a few of us ventured over to Manchester to go see them a few years back, we came away a little bit disappointed by their ‘preppy’ sound and that was that.

It was around that time though that things started to get a little bit silly for them, they brought out Stacey’s Mom, which yes it did give them a hit in this country, but it smacked of desperation and over marketing (Rachel Hunter in the video!!), Fountains Of Wayne of old seemed to be over for me.

2007 though see’s the band return with another new album, Traffic And Weather, a title that should at least have relevance to their British fans as we are rubbish at both things, especially when you combine the two!

The album has thankfully got a much more mature sound to it, yes opening track and new single Someone To Love is a very poppy sounding track with it’s siong a long chrous but you can’t hold that against them, it’s a good track. After that track though things take a dip over the next three songs, it’s only the gentle Americana on Fire In The Canyon that drags the album back up, This Better Be Good continues that trend with Beach Boys style harmonies.

The second half of the album is again a little patchy, Michael And Heather At The Baggage Claim is a tender sweet love song that works really well, Strapped For Cash is the most upbeat song you’ll ever hear about being in debt and I-95 is beautifully melancholy. On the flip side Hotel Majestic isn’t majestic, it’s distinctly average as are New Routine and Planet Of Weed.

Continue