Fifteen years and five albums into the career, it’s fair to say that Fountains Of Wayne are probably still best known for their 2003 single ‘Stacy’s Mum’. The band have described it as a tribute to The Cars. While there’s nothing on here that’s quite as instantly catchy as that, there’s a fair amount of decent tunes here, in the style of US new-wave flavoured pop that they have become known for.
The two singles so far ‘Richie and Ruben’ and ‘Someone’s Gonna Break your Heart’ are decent songs, while other tracks like ‘The Summer Place’ and ‘A Dip In The Ocean’ are gorgeous, too.
Occasionally it can get a bit samey -’Hate To See You Like This’ feels like they are just going through the motions, for example -but this is a pretty solid album overall.
It’s not earth-chattering, but it’s Fountains of Wayne doing well what they do best -and if you can get a bit of sunshine this summer (easier if you don’t live in Scotland, I guess!) then this is a good soundtrack for it.
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