Whatever happened to Fountains of Wayne? (c/d?)

Back to the record, this is quickly becoming my #2 Fountains of Wayne record, right behind Welcome Interstate Managers. It's so much better than Traffic and Weather.

Your second sentence is definitely true, but I can't imagine ranking WIM over either of the first two.

I think I'm with kornrulez

Maybe its nostalgia and all the hours I spent with the first two albums in college as an antidote to all the awful music my roommates were playing at the time, but I think those first two are pretty much perfect power pop albums. I'd rank 'em as:

Fountains of Wayne
Utopia Parkway
Welcome Interstate Managers
Sky Full of Holes (although, with time, I think this may climb to #3)
Traffic and Weatehr (definitely their worst)

I like this new record quite a bit after a couple of listens but unlike their other three good albums, I can't get into it TOO much because there's one song ("Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart") that is so far ahead of the other songs, it's absolutely perfect, maybe the best song they've done since the second album, so the other songs haven't had a fair hearing from me. Might listen to it front to back while skipping that one...

jon OTM. First album is just classic after classic. Traffic and Weather was, I think, them trying too hard to be Steely Dan for middlebrow people, but mostly failed. (Although "Someone To Love" is still great.)

Yeah, a lot of enjoyable but imperfect tracks on the new one. Even "Someone" has a repeat or two too many. Better than traffic and weather which is full some superficially well written songs that are just not that fun to listen to.

I agree that track is the obvious standout though.

Xgau's certainly given them a lot of coverage lately (given his word limit). I dunno, they seem better as singles artists to me.

Just scored their catalogue up through & including Out of State Plates for $6 at a library sale.

"Welcome Interstate Managers" owns

Yes. I love that record.

when I was 14 I was silly and didn't care for "Halley's Waitress" or "Hung Up on You", but I can't really blame myself for being young

Word on the internet street is that Adam Schlesinger has been placed in a medically induced coma as he's treated for COVID-19. Press isn't reporting it yet, but apparently known friends of his have confirmed it.

Hope it's a lie tbh, but also hope he beats it if it's not.

Fuck

Jesus christ

Not in a coma: https://variety.com/2020/music/news/adam-schlesinger-coronavirus-coma-fountains-of-wayne-emmy-winner-1203549825/

well that's...probably good news at least

never seen his credits listed all together before, between all his projects dude has written a frankly ridiculous number of great songs

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/adam-schlesinger-coronavirus-dead-dies-1203552130/

Fuck. Only source I'm seeing so far, but Variety says he died. Hopefully this is proven wrong or premature, damn.

Hell.

local station played radiation vibe the other night as a get well, such a great song, one of the great alt rock songs

Confirmed by Rolling Stone now too, dammit this one stings a lot. Been a fan since catching "Radiation Vibe" on 120 Minutes or something way back when, don't think they ever released a bad album. Also dug that Tinted Windows power-pop confab way more than I would have expected.

Fuck COVID-19.

RIP. The sound of my tweens.

wow

Holy shit... RIP.

Everything's ruined, indeed.

very shocking. this virus does not only hit the elderly or those with (known) pre-existing conditions.

I had no idea he wrote songs for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend too, maybe I need to bump that higher on my to-watch list.

Been a fan since catching "Radiation Vibe" on 120 Minutes or something way back when

Same. I bought the cd as soon as I could get to the store, and it remains one of the most perfect songs of the 90s.

RIP Adam

saw Ivy and FoW play many times

Fucking hell, this sucks

jesus damn RIP

huge Apartment Life fan

ugh :(((((((

Crazy Ex GF had some great songs.

bad time to ask this, probably, but do hardcore FoW fans know there are Adam songs and Chris songs, like Teenage Fanclub or something like that? or are they all pretty much collaborations that sound like FoW?

"That Thing You Do" has got to be one of the most convincing songs ever written for a film, also.

Never actually checked out Ivy, I'll have to rectify that.

horrible. he was so talented. he and rachel bloom were collaborating again, on a musical adaptation of THE NANNY.

also i think i’ve mentioned this but “stacy’s mom” is an enduring party song at the college where i teach, like second only to “mr. brightside.”

Had forgotten he produced and wrote for the most recent Monkees albums.

Utopia Parkway is classic start to finish. Soundtrack to 1999-2000 for me. Geez I remember standing a Border’s listening station listening to “Radiation Vibe” over and over. So talented.

I didn't know that!

Two personal stories. One, my friend and I were almost signed to a vanity label of his, way back when. Two, years ago I interviewed him and asked him about his experience in the original "The Real World" season on MTV (he was in someone's band. Becky?). He got really quiet, then, almost accusatory, asked me how I knew that. I told him I actually recognized him when it was shown as a rerun a couple of years later, since I was a fan of Ivy and Fountains of Wayne and ergo one of the few at the time who would know Adam Schlesinger, from, well, Adam. He got quiet again, thrown off by the fact that a seemingly "gotcha" question was actually based in my fandom. Then he just politely asked that I not put that information in the story, so I didn't.

xpost Re: Monkees, sorry.

I have a subway car to myself so I'm playing FoW jams and singing along really loud.

Why does my daughter know "Stacy's Mom"?

xxp just looked that up -- it was Becky's band: https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1997-05-14-9705140080-story.html

Josh I guess it’s permanent youth culture now, it’s interesting to find these things. Apparently Linkin Park is in this category.

This really sucks.

RE: The songwriting - I saw a detailed post that someone made on a (official?) FoW forum a few years ago that broke down the songwriting - I remember it being either solo Chris or Adam songs pretty much all the way. Not sure what the source of it was, but it seems credible.

I think it has done now, but I remember Radiation Vibe, Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart, Leave The Biker being solo Chris songs. I think Stacey's Mom and of course Everything's Ruines were Adam ones. Memory not too reliable otherwise.

*gone now

man this sucks. my fav FOW song seems prescient atm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFUAG_1775U