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Fountains of WayneAlbums ReviewedFountains of Wayne (1996)Utopia Parkway (1999) Fountains of Wayne(1996)Former schoolmates Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood formed Fountains of Wayne, christening themselves after a garden furniture and statuary store in Wayne, New Jersey. Although the pair recorded their debut largely independently, they were joined on tour and on subsequent albums by guitarist Jody Porter and ex-Posies drummer Brian Young, and the core of the band has remained stable since. If the quality of pop music could be measured by the quantity of memorable choruses and hooks, there's a case for Fountains Of Wayne being the greatest pop band since the sixties British invasion. But because this band's capacity for pop-craft is resolutely orthodox and traditional, their stylistic scope is limited, especially on this debut, and that they're yet to record anything with a smidgeon of originality. Even more distinctively, their lyrics lack any form of personal conviction or empathy, instead serving up irony-laced stories of office workers and suburbanites. It's hard to offer any of this up as a criticism; Schlesinger and Collingwood are intelligent pop operators who know exactly what they're doing, and their detached brand of pop is well-crafted, and plenty of other celebrated pop bands such as Steely Dan and Beck have pushed the detached element of their music way further. Their debut is their most stylistic homogenous record, which is generally a good thing as this band's often strongest at straight up power-pop. Accordingly, Fountains of Wayne often sounds like Big Star's Radio City stripped of its angst and looseness, marrying abrasive guitars to bright pop melodies. Only the slowed down, reverb-heavy closer 'Everything's Ruined' really deviates from the formula, although standout track 'Sick Day'("Lead us not into Penn Station") throws in jazzy keyboard breaks and acoustic guitars. And there's plenty of enjoyable riff rockers like the dorky 'Leave The Biker' ("I wonder if he ever has cried/Because his kitten got run over and died"), 'Sink To The Bottom', and 'Radiation Vibe'. Occasionally Fountains of Wayne verges on banality, like 'Please Don't Rock Me Tonight', but mostly this is fun, not earth shattering, pop; totally soulless and disposable, yet without compromising on intelligence or pop-craft. 
 Utopia Parkway(1999)For their sophomore effort, Fountains of Wayne trade the straight up power pop of their debut for a wider lens; while there are still plenty of guitar rockers like 'Denise' and 'Lost In Space', they also veer across the white pop map, from the string soaked balladry of 'Prom Theme' and the psychedelic 'Go, Hippie'. This confidence does result in a stronger album than their debut, as it has a core of excellent songs that are superior to the best songs from the preceding album. But countering this, there are a few too many songs that simply don't work to award this record the status that some have awarded it; the goofy 'Hat And Feet', the sappy 'Prom Theme' and irritating 'Laser Show' all exacerbate the group's inherent goofiness and play their part in bringing this record down a few notches. Take away the three missteps above though, and there's an excellent twelve song album here. 'Troubled Times' is a glorious piece of acoustic driven power pop, sounding more heartfelt than almost anything else in the band's catalogue ("Maybe one day soon it will all come out/How you dream about each other sometimes"), and incorporating a soaring chorus, a beautifully constructed middle eight, and a monster bass hit in the pre-chorus. While songs like 'Denise' and 'I Know You Well' are elegant in their simplicity, some of these tracks are much more intricate; the verse of 'Amity Gardens' is disarmingly melodically and rhythmically complex, while 'Go, Hippie' launches into a heavy guitar attack and impressive solo. Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith guests on backing vocals on 'Fine Day For A Parade'. Utopia Parkway badly needs pruning, but it still probably stands as the band's best album to date. After Utopia Parkway failed to break the band as a major commercial act, they took a break, with Schlesinger rejoining his previous band Ivy, and Collingwood forming country-rock band Gay Potatoes, before reconvening for 2003's Welcome Interstate Managers.
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Written 2001-2007, Graham Fyfe
