Artist - Fountains of Wayne
Album - Traffic and Weather
Label - Virgin
Fountains of Wayne are the masters of the sarky three minute pop song, a smiling sideswipe slice of sugar that hides edgy observational humour (or bemusement), who will be remembered for a long time for Stacey's Mom from Welcome Interstate Managers.
That song itself, while one of the best songs in the charts for ages, wasn't where you'd normally find FoW - it showed them drifting closer to the sarcastic rock of Weezer.
Traffic and Weather finds them back on more familiar ground - more sweet pop, and short story snapshots (Michael and Heather at the Baggage Claim) perfectly told via unusual observation, or the lies people tell themselves (Strapped for Cash).
This is a wry, literate, pop-culture literate album, but the cleverness never becomes overweaning - this isn't Michael Stipe patronising, Bono preaching or Sting being a better person than you.
Fountains of Wayne include you in the stories. There's no Stacey's Mom here, but it is classic power pop album.
Rating 8/10
Mike Rea
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article