There are a few righteous moments on this album. The dudes that brought you "Stacy's Mom" actually know how to string together a pretty rad bunch of songs. Chris Collingwood's lyrics are frequently insightful, painting character pictures that hit without bludgeoning you with the imagery, as in "The Summer House" and "Richie & Ruben." And if there's any fault to the music by Collingwood & Adam Schlesinger, it's that it's too consistent, too catchy, so your head might get tired by the end of the 45 minute running time. And there are moments, therefore, that drag. There might be a ceiling to how much Fountains of Wayne I can take at a time, no matter what they do to switch it up on songs like "Action Hero," "Cold Comfort Flowers," or the alt-country tinged "Road Song." All good songs too. The need to admit stuff like that is part of my resolution for this site's revival.They play earnest, honest, good-natured power pop, and skillfully. And maybe it just works better in small bits than all at once. A couple of songs stay with me. One is the bass and piano driven "Acela." The other is the truly excellent "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart," which gets into a bit of a Tom Petty thing by the time it hits its closing moments.
My recommendation is that you check out a few tracks from this album. There's a strong chance you'll find something you like, and the beauty of this day and age is that you're not required to buy an entire album to get all the ones you like.
Buy this music now: iTunes Canada // iTunes USA // Amazon.ca
// Amazon.com
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