Fountains of Wayne

(Atlantic)
by Katy Shea

Fountains of Wayne is self-consciously cool, hip Weezer-esque pop without any really memorable hooks. There are some nice melody lines here and there, but overall it’s American style garage guitar-driven pop that just never really gets rockin’ enough to be interesting. There are a few tunes that have radio play potential. “Leave the Biker” takes more chances both lyrically and musically, and “Please Don’t Rock me Tonight” at least has a recognizable hook, but the overwhelming sense is that these guys are the poor man’s Weezer which is, well, enough said.