Fountains of Wayne

Certain Songs #468: Fountains of Wayne – “Cemetery Guns”

March 2, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sky Full of Holes
Year: 2011

While 2003’s Welcome Interstate Managers will probably be remembered as the high point of their career, the last couple of albums released by Fountains of Wayne — 2007’s Traffic and Weather and (especially) 2011’s Sky Full of Holes were both full of excellent, well-crafted pop songs.

Which I hope they do every few years forever. In fact, now that it’s been a few years since Sky Full of Holes, it’s about time for a new one, don’t you think?

Certain Songs #467: Fountains of Wayne – “Little Red Light”

March 1, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Welcome Interstate Managers
Year: 2003

If my favorite Replacements song is ostensibly about an existential crisis surrounding whether or not to leave a heartfelt message on a now-outdated piece of technology, then my favorite Fountains of Wayne song is the flip side of the dilemma Paul Westerberg spelled out in “Answering Machine.”

In “Little Red Light,” Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collinwood describe an existential crisis surrounding not receiving a heartfelt message on a whole slew of now-outdated pieces of technology!

Certain Songs #466: Fountains of Wayne – “No Better Place”

February 29, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Welcome Interstate Managers
Year: 2003

Here is the list of songs from Welcome Interstate Managers that I almost wrote about: “Bright Future in Sales,” “All Kinds of Time,” “Bought For a Song,” “Supercollider,” and of course the actual hit single, “Stacey’s Mom,” which rode a brilliant Cars rip and a problematic MILF-tastic video to just outside the top 20.

But it always seems like doing that many songs an album is excess, except when it doesn’t. None of which has anything to do with today’s song, “No Better Place.”

Certain Songs #465: Fountains of Wayne – “Mexican Wine”

February 28, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Welcome Interstate Managers
Year: 2003

After 1999’s Utopia Parkway, which seemed to be a step back from their debut (though it did feature a song I almost wrote about, the gorgeous “Amity Gardens”), Fountains of Wayne came roaring back in 2003 with the album I consider to their masterpiece, Welcome Interstate Managers.

In my original review of Welcome Interstate Managers for Neumu, I predicted it would “go down as a guitar-pop classic, smack dab in the midst of the pantheon with any Big Star, dBs, Posies, etc. record you might want to name.”

Certain Songs #464: Fountains of Wayne – “Leave The Biker”

February 27, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Fountains of Wayne
Year: 1996

One of the great things about Fountains of Wayne is that even when they write songs about well-worn territory, they’re able to come up with enough detail to make it fresh and funny.

Which is one of the reasons I love “Leave The Biker:” it’s full of what all of my English teachers used to call “telling details,” which give real heft to the story of an (ostensibly) Nice Guy who has a thing for a girl who is hanging with a douchebag.

Certain Songs #463: Fountains of Wayne – “Sick Day”

February 26, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Fountains of Wayne
Year: 1996

In retrospect, it makes sense that a band that named themselves after a local retail store would end up penning some of the best songs ever written about an underserved rock ‘n’ roll subject: the 9-to-5 white collar workplace.

After all, part of the ethos of pop music is not having to work a day job, and that ethos — fantasy, really — fuels song after song about a life where you aren’t expected to be at a desk or a counter five days a week.

Medialoper Bebop Episode 13: Phony Clashmania

August 4, 2011 by Jim Connelly

MTV turned 30 this week, and Jim, Tim & Kirk discuss its influence and the time that Kirk said “I Want My MTV” for a cable tv contest. (03:45 – 15:25)

Then, it’s a Musical Moment to Die For with “Duel” by Swervedriver (15:30 – 17:33)

Game of Thrones is totally blowing up right now, so we get into a spoiler-free discussion about how we all got into it and why we like it. (17:35 – 29:10)

Medialoper Bebop has a sponsor now: DuroSport Electronics. We’re not happy about it at all. (29:30 – 31:50)

After that, we look at why the London Tourism Bureau is using “London Calling” to try and bring people to London for the 2012 Olympics. (29:35 – 37:16)

Finally, Tim shares the music in his mix: Portugal.The Man; Arctic Monkeys; Fountains of Wayne. And tosses in an extra plug for the new Jane’s Addiction song. (37:18 – 41:05)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:47 — 69.8MB)

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