Utopia Parkway

by

Fountains of Wayne

Edit

Naming your sophomore album after a road in Queens, NY that goes pretty much nowhere hardly bodes well, and it's not surprising the radio stations and general record buying public stayed well clear of this album. I mean, why would anyone be interested in a collection of songs that were funny, witty, tuneful, melodic, bittersweet and catchy as SARS. The fact that they're also AM radio-tastic, full of hooks and generally under 3 minutes long too must also have been a huge turn off. 1999 was, remember, the year that Limp Bizkit released "Significant other" and Kid Rock's "Devil without a cause" was taking over the airwaves. This record was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Fast forward to 2003 - Fred Durst can't even get a date with Britney Spears and the Fountains of Wayne are making their own, belated attempt at airwave domination. So hopefully more people will see the cheerful little blue cover of "Utopia Parkway" and be encourage to take out the shiny little cd, pop it into their player and hit . And they will not be disappointed.

"Utopia Parkway" is proof that FOW are brilliant and indeed have always been brilliant - it's just the rest of the world that was wrong all along. Musically it's a bit less rock-y than the debut, and a touch more rock-y than "Welcome Interstate Managers", but that's as maybe. The songwriting, musicianship and ability are just as good, and the album sounds as great on first listen as it does on 3 millionth. The songs, as usual, revolve around character that live and work in the New York metro area and mostly hate it, but the deftness and depth of these characterizations is what sticks in the mind here, funny without being cruel, sympathetic without being mushy, the songs could only be written from experience, from the heart of someone who knows the subject matter intimately.

My second and third songs on the album, if forced to choose are "Denise" and "It must be summer". Beautifully funny, catchy tunes about chasing girls and living life with the top down and the pedal to the metal ("I know this girl named Denise - she makes me weak at the knees").

The best song on the album, however, and the best song they've written, and the best song that anybody ever has written is "Troubled Times". A tender ballad to true love, this song alone is worth buying this album for a million times, and giving copies to all your friends, your friends' friends and all the world leaders with hearts of stone. This'll bring world peace in 3 minutes 36 seconds.

The Fountains Of Wayne have always been brilliant. You now have to pay for your years of neglecting them.

I'm a sucker for pop music. Give me the charging momentum of the Records (Red Dragon Tattoo, Lost In Space), Raspberries' boogie tunes (Laser Show) and piano introductions reminiscent of the Beatles' `Let It Be' (Prom Theme). Fountains of Wayne's Utopia Parkway is filled with catchy and well crafted sixties and seventies pop. `Denise' is the girl who makes the singer "weak in the knees." When he asks "Do ya love me?" the band members answer "do ya do ya - oh do ya" with a Beach Boys' harmony. My favorites are the light love ballads including `Troubled Times,' `A Fine Day For A Parade,' and `Amity Gardens.' These compositions are undiluted pop: melodic, whimsical and romantic. Fountains also makes clever use of visual symbolism. After being dumped by his girl, the narrator of `Hat And Feet' is emotionally devastated and left with only his, well, hat and feet.

You might malign Fountains for their irrelevant and superficial lyrics - there's no profound social messages here. Or you could throw a few stones because they've simply recycled conventional pop cliches and hooks. I don't care - there's nothing substantial about puppy love, but it is all consuming. Fountains Of Wayne equates cruising down `Utopia Parkway' to making it as a number one stadium sell-out band. I'm not at all certain if they'll achieve their goal. Still, there's plenty of room left for well crafted and unassuming pop.