Albums by this artist

Utopia Parkway (1999)

Fountains Of Wayne (1996)

Fountains Of Wayne

Utopia Parkway

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» JONATHAN COHEN | SENIOR EDITOR

Fountains Of Wayne Utopia Parkway Atlantic/Scratchie, 1999 RiYL: Teenage Fanclub, The Posies, Matthew Sweet, Ivy

Fountains Of Wayne's 1996 debut album was written and recorded over eight days, a fact demonstrated in the album's simple but catchy pop songs and the sheer disposability of the music. At the time, Chris Collingswood and Ivy's Andy Schlesinger were the group's only members. But on Utopia Parkway, guitarist Jody Porter and ex-Posies drummer Brian Young are full-time players, allowing the Fountains come off much more like a real band with an eye on establishing a sound of its own.

The results are somewhat promising. Lord knows the world doesn't really need another quartet of slick white guys singing lyrics like "I know this girl named Denise / she makes me weak at the knees / she drives a lavender Lexus / she lives in Queens but her dad lives in Texas" -- that train is on its way to Weezerville.

Although the 14 songs here owe a strong debt to the power pop of years gone by (Teenage Fanclub, The Posies, Big Star), a few of them are so catchy that they excuse the ones that are competently redundant ("The Valley Of Malls," the punk-lite "Lost In Space"), stylistically out of left field (the grown-up, orchestral "Prom Theme") or just god-awful ("Laser Show"). Because the lyrics are so alternately sincere or ironic, it's too easy to turn off the tongue-in-cheek numbers in search of something with a little more substance. But perhaps that's the point.

"Troubled Times" fits the bill. This gorgeous number harnesses a superb, hook-filled melody and Collingswood's sweet vocal, conjuring up images of that summer sweetheart who slipped away come late August. A classic, pure pop gem. "Amity Gardens" hits the same high standards, offering one of the catchiest choruses in recent memory: "if you knew now / what you knew then / you wouldn't want to go to Amity Gardens."

Unfortunately, little else on Utopia Parkway is worthy of repeat listens. There's nothing particularly bad about songs like "Go, Hippie," the pretty but downtrodden "A Fine Day For A Parade" (a parade??!) or the new-wave tinged single "Denise," which is about as fast and rocking as this band gets. But in all honesty, Fountains Of Wayne don't have enough of a personality to truly stand above modern rock's rank and file. That they're at least trying is highly admirable. An "A" for effort, but back to the auditorium for rehearsal.

JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"