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56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Year's Best, June 10, 2003
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.
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52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the Wait, June 11, 2003
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.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pop returns to the top, August 7, 2003
By A Customer
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).
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