FEATURE:
Second Spin
Fountains of Wayne - Utopia Parkway
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WE sadly lost…
IN THIS PHOTO: Fountains Of Wayne in 1997: Jody Porter, Chris Collingwood, Brian Young, and Adam Schlesinger (from left)/PHOTO CREDIT: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images
Fountains of Wayne’s lead singer Adam Schlesinger in 2020. He died from complications of COVID-19. Whilst it was a great tragedy for the world and a big loss, it did get people who might not have heard the New York band dig them out. I was one of those who had not heard them for a while. Whilst not as celebrated as the band’s eponymous debut, 1999’s Utopia Parkway is a great album that I think we should cast in a new light. Maybe not as celebrated as it should be, Utopia Parkway definitely deserves a second spin. I love an album names after an area. Whether a concept album built around the area or simply name-checking that place, Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger of the band wanted to follow albums with a strong thematic story inspired by its surroundings like Muswell Hillbillies by The Kinks. The band were big fans of The Kinks. Collingwood and Schlesinger definitely nodded to the legendary London band when making Utopia Parkway. That point of their lives where they were maturing and wanted to show respect to where they live. Not shying away and feeling like they needed to write about a more glamorous area they have no connection to, Utopia Parkway is named after a major street that connects the neighbourhoods of Utopia and Beechhurst in the Queens borough of New York City. In 2020, RHINO named Utopia Parkway their album of the day:
“When we were teenagers, we liked listening to Kinks records because we'd never been to England, and we got a sense of what it was like to live there,” said the late, great Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne's second album. Named after a Queens, N.Y. thoroughfare, UTOPIA PARKWAY revels in the people, places and music of Schlesinger and fellow singer-songwriter Chris Collingwood's '70s/'80s suburban youth. Such originals as “Troubled Times,” “Red Dragon Tattoo” and “Denise” are filled with memorable melodies and telling lyrical details leavened by a sense of humor. Adding a little muscle to the band, touring guitarist Jody Porter and drummer Brian Young joined the line-up to ensure the 1999 Atlantic collection had just the right ratio of power to pop. Crank this one up and enjoy a virtual ride down UTOPIA PARKWAY”.
I would advise people who might not be familiar with Fountains of Wayne to go and check out Utopia Parkway. It is a fabulous album from a band like no other. It makes it so tragic that we will never see the band perform the songs live again. Punk News provided their take on Utopia Parkway in 2019:
“Formed in New York City in the mid-90’s, Fountains of Wayne were masters of power pop throughout their fairly brief career. Their 1996 self-titled debut album was barely changed from the demo that founders Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood handed Atlantic Records. That record spawned the single “Radiation Vibe”, which has perhaps the catchiest pop rock chorus ever written, and led to extensive touring. Schlesinger was also tapped to write the title song to the Tom Hanks film That Thing You Do!, for which he received an Oscar nomination, and continued working with his other band, the criminally overlooked pop/dance act Ivy.
FOW’s follow up album was 1999’s Utopia Parkway. While not really a concept album per se, the foundation of everything here is rooted in the sprawling, monotonous desert that is American Suburbia. What FOW does best on Utopia Parkway is to take of all the dull, everyday minutiae of suburban life, and package it into a sound that is so bright and so refreshing, it’s as if pure sunshine is leaping out of your speakers. Now a quartet, there is much more fullness here than on their debut, which was arranged and mixed so barebones that it sounds like a punk record dressed as power pop. Nothing gets too complex or layered; other than the usual strings and sticks, there is just enough sprinkling of warm keyboards to compliment Collingwood’s dreamy croon. We get the pop craftiness of the Monkees, delivering tales of suburban boredom with the urgency of The Clash.
It’s all here, too. Trying to track down the girl you like, chain travel agencies, holiday parades, venturing to not just a mall, but a whole valley of them (probably referencing an actual area of northern New Jersey with 8 major shopping malls in a 20 mile radius), and when going to the planetarium is the ultimate night out. Even the crucial rite of passage that is the senior prom gets it’s own ballad. And true to the FOW formula, it’s all from an insider’s perspective, which makes for touching genuineness, and is served with such an enjoyably biting snark that we embrace laughing at each trite idiosyncrasy the band calls us out on.
Fountains of Wayne weren’t satisfied with Atlantic’s marketing efforts for the album; an argument which led to the label dropping the band, and a few years of inactivity for the band. After some side projects and production work, the band came back in 2003 with Welcome Interstate Managers, an album which finally made the band a household name thanks to the inescapable single “Stacy’s Mom”. While the band is now gone, 20 years later Utopia Parkway is their benchmark; the best achievement from a band whose touch can be heard today on bands like Vampire Weekend, the New Pornographers, and Sheer Mag. Their DIY debut may have turned heads in its own brilliant way, but it was Utopia Parkway’s jangly, summery sound and the honest telling of the stories of so many millions of us that still makes it as relatable and enjoyable today”.
Just to round up, I am going to bring in a review from AllMusic. A reliable go-to when it comes to interesting assessments, they have a lot of praise for Utopia Parkway – even if they note it lacks necessary depth and maturity at times:
“There's no denying that Fountains of Wayne know how to craft a great pop record. They know how to write a hook, they can pull of mild rockers and sweet ballads with equal aplomb, and they write melodies that feel like half-forgotten favorites. They have all the elements of a classic power pop band but they suffer from that peculiar '90s ailment -- detachment. For all their flair, talent, and craftsmanship, the band don't really dig deeper than the surface. Of course, that doesn't mean they make bad records, and their second album, Utopia Parkway, is, if anything, every bit as good as their fine debut. All the songs immediately make a connection and all of their melodic attributes simply strengthen with repeated listens. However, those repeated listens reveal that Fountains of Wayne don't have a lot to say. That's not a cardinal sin in guitar pop, since most bands simply recycle the same lovelorn themes, but Fountains choose to have fun with clichés, throwing in goofy asides even in their ballads. Throughout the record, they seem like the well-read, pop culture-saturated kids who sat in the back of the classroom, cracking jokes that only they can understand. Depending on your view, this either enhances the fun or keeps the record at a distance, because if you don't share their disdain for hippies, laser shows, proms, malls, and bikers, it will be a little hard to sing along with those glorious melodies. For some, this may be a minor point, but consider this: emotional depth is what lifted Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend to classic status and what keeps Utopia Parkway from truly soaring, despite its many virtues”.
A lot stronger than many people give it credit for, listen to the brilliant second album from Fountains of Wayne. Released in April 1999, Utopia Parkway is worthy of deeper investigation. If some see the album as devoid of depth and substance, others have declared it as a masterpiece. To be fair, Utopia Parkway sort of falls between the two poles. It is definitely a very strong album that warrants repeated listens, even if there are some weak spots. Anyone who is dubious or have avoided the album, I would advise that you…
SPEND some time with it.