Customer Reviews

Welcome Interstate Managers

5 star:		(144)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Power pop has long taken a backseat to other genres and that's a real shame, especially when you consider that Fountains of Wayne is one of the best in the business. "Welcome Interstate Managers," the eastern coast quartet's third album, is easily one of the year's top albums.

The disc is full of sparkling, tuneful gems that just don't seem to stop. Stand-outs include the CD's impossibly catchy first three songs, "Mexican Wine," "Bright Future in Sales," and the first single, "Stacy's Mom," which deserves to be a #1 hit. The Fountains also shine on softer ballads like "Valley Winter Song," and "Hackensack." Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood might well be this decade's Difford and Tilbrook; Collingwood has some of the sweetest vocals this side of Chris Stamey.

Although the band is less successful on songs like "All Kinds of Time," and "Peace and Love," they don't distract from the disc's overall quality. I thought their last release, "Utopia Parkway," was one of the best cds of the last 10 years...what a shame it didn't get the attention it deserved. Here's hoping the band gets more notice on this one... buy it, you won't be sorry...and you'll probably end up buying their other two albums as well. They're really that good.

It's been four years since Fountains of Wayne graced us with Utopia Parkway, which is right behind the Replacements' Tim in the "Why The Hell Didn't This Album Make Them Huge?" line. Pop hooks that hit you like Mike Tyson in 1986, lyrics about .38 Special CD collections and Bactine to prevent infection, and it sold diddly. Further proof, if you needed any, that the world is a dull, dirty place.

Well, they're back with Welcome Interstate Managers, and it is good. The first three tracks would be the best 1-2-3 punch of any album this year if the White Stripes didn't exist. That the subject matter includes cell phone explosions, a booze-addled salesman and lust for someone's mom both proves their genius and shows a tin ear for commercial prospects. Thank God. A lesser band would have taken the Cars-y riff on "Bright Future in Sales" and attached it to a song about a girl who needs love in the worst way, a way that only the lead singer can provide. I'm not saying we don't need those songs, but we do need to right the balance between boy/girl songs and soul-deadening career options songs. I think we're at one trillion to seven right now.

After you've played this troika over and over and get to the rest of the album, you'll notice that they show equal facility with the down tempo numbers as well. "All Kinds of Time," "Hackensack" and "Fire Island" have a wistfulness that Paul Simon used to conjure, and you will hum them for days.

Please, buy this record. Your summer depends on it.

This CD has had me astonished for two months and I'm not sick of it at all yet. It has an overall feeling of catchy, absorbent and clever music so strong that makes you not want to listen to anything else. The band's sound is reminiscent of classic pop-rock, but no one else today makes this kind of music more cleverly and tastefully than they do.
A first listen is enough to realize that you are in front of a top quality album, highly catchy and smart, but it's after repeated tries that you finally lose all doubts that this is not less than a big pop masterpiece. Personally, perhaps I prefer the slower and more intimate songs (gems like 'Hackensack', 'Valley Winter Song', 'All Kinds of Time', 'Hey Julie' or 'Fire Island'). But on the other side, the more electric stuff is also brilliant: 'Mexican Wine', 'Stacy's Mom' and 'Bright Future in Sales' are perfect, unsurpassable catchy power pop songs. Then you have the sweet mid-tempo extravaganza ('Halley's Waitress'), the lovely country ballad ('Hung Up On You'), the tasteful, slightly psychedelic number ('No Better Place')... truly, it would be quicker to tell which kind of great pop song is not on this album than to go over all the gifts it contains. And this perfectly written tunes are also so smartly arranged that you can enjoy finding all the lot of musical layers that support and embellish the songs while they always remain fresh and true. I know someone may find all this praise exaggerated; but not someone who loves great pop music -basically, great melodies and great lyrics- and has listened to this CD (both conditions must hold). This latter one knows what I'm talking about (and so will you if you buy this glorious CD).

On their third release, Fountains of Wayne again reminds us what we love most about beautiful pop music. This is, in short, a truly stunning album. It's all here - immediately catchy hooks, smart lyrics, and an almost uncanny melodic sensibility. The 1-2-3 punch of the opening tracks, "Mexican Wine", "Bright Future in Sales", and "Stacy's Mom" alone is worth the price of admission. Pop in the CD, press play, and from the moment you hear that wistful first line about an exploding cell phone, you'll find yourself unable to stop smiling and singing along. Highly, highly recommended.

Fountains of Wayne has been one of the great power-pop bands of recent years, and while they have managed to attract a significant following, they still haven't achieved the kind of success that they deserve. WELCOME INTERSTATE MANAGERS definitely expanded their audience, and actually gave them a bit of a hit with the single "Stacey's Mom," not least because of the video featuring Rachel Hunter. This is hardly an album with a single stellar cut surrounded by filler. In fact, the disc contains a host of superb pop songs. The first several cuts, in fact, are an unrelenting delight.

Fountains of Wayne is a magnificently melodic quartet, and all of their songs are driven by great pop hooks. I love the band just as much for their clever and quirky lyrics. For instance, the first song on the album, "Mexican Wine," begins:

He was killed by a cellular phone explosion
They scattered his ashes across the ocean
The water was used to make baby lotion
The wheels of promotion, were set into motion

But the sun still shines in the summertime
I'll be yours if you'll be mine
I tried to change, but I changed my mind
Think I'll have another glass of Mexican Wine

Many of the songs more or less tell stories, if not out and out narratives, at least of the shape of individual human lives. Unlike other bands, in which the protagonists are romantic suffering heroes, these songs are filled with somewhat nerdy losers. The second cut features a guy who has a 'bright future in sales," the third tells the story of a guy who has the hots for his female friend's mom, while in another the singer fantasizes about a former classmate who has gone on to celebrity in Hollywood returning to be his back in Hackensack.

Because so many of the songs are stories and because the lyrics matter, the mix brings the voice far more to the forefront than in frequently the practice these days. I love this attention to words. As much as I adore bands like Built to Spill and Modest Mouse, the voices sometimes fade into the background, become merely another texture in the music. But here the voices are brought unmistakably to the front. You really don't want a line like:

And the bourbon sits inside me
Right now I'm a puppet in its sway
And it may be the whiskey talking
But the whiskey says I miss you every day

Few recent albums give me as much overall joy as this one. I should also add that one of the great things about the songs on the album are their instant accessibility. Much like a band like The Smithereens, these songs can be loved the first time you hear them. Luckily, they stand up to repeated hearings as well.

The first two CD's by Fountains of Wayne were masterpieces of power pop and humor (think Zappa-McCartney compositions performed by Cheap Trick). On their third CD, Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger have done an Elvis Costello move (I've rocked your socks off and shown you my wit -- now I'll amaze you with my versatility).

As previous reviewers have noted, the first three songs pack a dynamite 1-2-3 punch. Song number 3, "Stacy's Mom," is vintage FoW - power chords, instant sing-a-long lyrics, and a slightly subversive topic -- a "My Sharona" for the new millenium. Play it loud once and it will run through your head forever.

In addition to the great power pop, Chris and Adam deliver quieter and more poignant pieces, pulling their songwriting tounges out of their cheeks and delivering emotional content that sounds less from the head and more from the heart than their earlier work.

"Hackensack" is a beautiful but futile love song. A laborer working in his dad's business, scraping paint off hardwood floors, directs his thoughts to the now-famous actress who once sat next to him during first period, Fridays at 8:15. "Yours and Mine," the album-ender, is a short, almost-unifished, two verse song which captures the togetherness of a loving couple in their simple, daily routines. "Peace and Love" brims with the happy vibe of someone who has determined to enjoy life without denying the problems around him -- a blend of the Beatles' "All you need is love" with the catchy pop singing of Call and Response.

FoW is at its best when it comes to capturing a paricular moment or mood -- when they write and sing about teenagers left alone during their parents' vacation on "Fire Island" or the blissful peace felt by a quarterback who finds himself with "All Kinds of Time," Chris and Adam OWN those topics. It is hard to imagine anyone even bothering to write another song about those subjects after hearing FoW's definitive take on them.

This band deserves to be huge. Let's hope that the third CD is the charm for them.

Fountains of Wayne's "Utopia Parkway" is surely one of the best CDs of the 1990s. A few months ago, a friend of a friend (don't ask!) gave me a copy of the demo for what has now been released as "Welcome Interstate Managers." And while I liked it, it seemed a step back in quality from "Utopia." But the finished version of the album, which I'm happy to say arrived this morning, is absolutely remarkable--at least as good as "Utopia," maybe even better. Witty, sometimes funny, sometimes moving lyrics wedded to truly inspired melodies that you'll have trouble removing from your cranium. Folks, this one's a keeper. Now, if we can just get some songs from this on the radio, where they belong...

The melody, harmony, and clever lyrics found on the first FoW album are here stronger than ever. This may be the best pure pop album of 2003. And while "Stacy's Mom" is certainly fun and catchy, its teenage story stands in stark contrast to many other songs on the disc, including the biting "Bright Future in Sales" and the more adult oriented tunes like "Yours and Mine." And, for pure sing-along fun, there hasn't been better bubblgum in years than "Hey Julie." This album is a delight from start to finish. And, a plus at least for me--my kids were stunned that I had this disc and played "Stacy's Mom" for them when their high school friends were just hearing it first! Now, this probably isn't something they told their friends, but it does show that this is an album that kids and young adults today will enjoy as much as those of us who grew up on late 60s/early 70s rock and pop . . . .

Each song has its own personality, and it shows on their best disc yet, the wonderfully addictive "Welcome Interstate Managers."

Starting off with the ever-so-catchy "Mexican Wine," which gives a call-out to United Airlines and High Times magazine (in the same verse, nonetheless), FOW lead us into an album obviously influenced by the sound and the rhythm of the 1980's and the pop melodies of the 1960's, or maybe I should say, early Beatles. They also evoke the sounds of the Cars, Elvis Costello, Weezer, and dare I say, Foo Fighters ("Little Red Light" has a very Foo feel to it, with leadman Chris Collingwood's growling vocals and a grungy-new wave riff).

But, the album has such versatility to it, and such a good amount of change, that it keeps everything refreshingly upbeat and keeps the listener on their toes, since they won't expect a country song here ("Hung Up On You") or a soft song about being a wild & crazy kid there("Fire Island"). And with every song having a unique hook to it, it definitely draws anyone who enjoys fun-filled, kitchy pop-rock.

Smart lyrics (which are winningly acerbic at times, romantic, and more than often compelling), good melody and a knack for being original in a time when music seems awfully redundant, make Fountains Of Wayne a band that everyone should know, like and praise, because they deserve it. It's nice to hear a pop-rock band sing about being drunk ("Bright Future In Sales") and most notably, lusting over a hot mom.

If you're looking for a good-hearted, full-out catchy-as-hell album, do yourself a favor and check out Fountains Of Wayne. And also pick up their first two albums, which are just as good, and are slightly darker than this one. There's no going wrong with these guys.

So, I heard Stacy's Mom on the radio back in July sometime, and I was stunned by how good it was...cause there are no good songs on the radio usually. After hearing a few more off this CD, I decided I should buy it, and it was a good choice. It's starts with three tracks of amazing power pop, all of them equally awesome, and flows right into some more power pop, some rock and even some melodic songs, like Valley Winter Song, Fire Island and Hackensack. It's really tough to pick a standout, because honestly, all of the songs are great. I skipped over no songs when I listened to this CD. Besides the fact that the music is spectacular, the production is outstanding too. The songs sound amazing, and there isn't a bunch of dead air between each song. One of the best CD's I've heard in a long time.