The FOW website reports that their new album will be entitled Traffic And Weather, and will be released worldwide by Virgin Records in the Spring of 2007.

Sweeeeet! They write some of the best, adult power-pop out there now. And of course they get ZERO play on the radio. Very good in concert as well. Thanks for the update. I've burned out "Out of State Plates" and need something new.

Totally agree!!!

A great side project that Adam Schlesinger did was with an artist named Meg Hentges, album title "bromton's cocktail". Adam produced it and played on all of the tracks.

Rick A.

PS It's also in HDCD format for you audiofiles out there.

You probably know this, but he was also involved in the band Ivy, as well as the soundtrack of That Thing You Do.

Cover art has been made public now, along with some tracklist details:



>> A new, indelible cast of characters is inducted into the FOW pantheon of stars on Traffic And Weather: Yolanda Hayes, a sullen object of affection behind the glass at the Department Of Motor Vehicles; Seth Shapiro and Beth Mackenzie, two lonely, hardworking New Yorkers who cross paths - sort of - in "Someone To Love" (which features Hole/Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur singing backing vocals); the exhausted couple in "Michael and Heather At The Baggage Claim", dragging themselves onto an airport shuttle bus after a long trip; newscasters in heat in the album's title track, and many others. Hapless protagonists like the suspicious boyfriend of "This Better Be Good" and the hit-man target in "Strapped For Cash" are also classic Fountains Of Wayne narrators.

Travel and transportation continue to figure heavily in the on-the-go world of FOW. The guy who buys himself a "'92 Subaru" is convinced that the right pimped-out ride is all he needs to get the girl; in the Beatlesque "i-95" a driver explores a rest area gift shop late at night, on the way to visit his loved one; we hear of "an eerie kind of sadness on the highway today" in the Gram Parsons-tinged "Fire In The Canyon" (featuring backing vocals by the Candy Butchers' Mike Viola, who was the voice of "That Thing You Do"). The misery of sitting in coach on a delayed flight is examined in the wistful waltz "Seatbacks And Traytables" (which contains a guest appearance on guitar by James Iha). And in the semi-epic "New Routine", we follow a series of characters who each randomly pick a new place to live, only to discover someone else there who can't wait to move away. <<

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000N4SKFK/?tag=imwan-20

Cover art is very cool. Thanks Linda!

Seth said, "You probably know this, but he was also involved in the band Ivy, as well as the soundtrack of That Thing You Do." Yeah Seth, caught that as well. Very talented guy!


Rick A.

The cover reminds me of '70's porn. Don't know why but the movie Boogie Nights flashed in my head after seeing this cover. Cool

Any album that can do that can't be all bad.

Bumping this thread out of sheer excitement. Just heard the album ~ it's terrific. If you have sugarpop tastes like me you will like this album a lot! Kinda reminds me of what Brendan Benson was doing on his last album. Very retro-modern mix, '80s-isms sprinkled throughout. One song sounds like "Gift"-era Jam, complete with horns. Sounds like FOW was influenced on this album by Squeeze too.

Linda: I just got an advance copy of it and I like it a lot. Hopefully radio will pick up on it .

Rebel007

Bumping this thread one last time to herald the arrival of this album in stores on Tuesday. Amazon now has audio samples of all the tracks:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000N4SKFK/?tag=imwan-20

A couple of stray FOW things to celebrate today's release of their new album ...

Their MySpace page has an unreleased demo which they did for the animated movie Monster House last year. Would have made a very cool theme for the film but for some reason it wasn't used:

http://www.myspace.com/fountainsofwayne

Also, I'd mentioned earlier in the thread that it sounded like FOW were channeling Squeeze a bit on the new album. In fact this page includes a couple of photos of Chris and Glenn Tilbrook together:

http://www.glennmovie.com/photos/photos_tribeca.htm

And someone in the FOW forum said that the band were covering Squeeze's "Is That Love?" at live shows last year. (Although I can't find a download of it, sadly ...)

And Difford and Tilbrook are putting a "version" of Squeeze together for a tour later this year. And the catalog is supposed to be remastered as well. Sorry if I read this hear, in another thread, it's been one of those days and I can't remember where I read this.

Here you go, Rich:

http://www.imwan.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11573

Thanks, That's what I thought. See, total mush today.

Something special for all you FOW completists ~ an expanded Tour Edition of the Traffic And Weather album will be coming out in Japan on October 8th:



>> Japanese-only two disc (CD + NTSC/Region 2 DVD) Tour Edition of the Alternative Power Pop band's 2007 album features two bonus tracks ('Sense Into You' and 'You Gotta Go') plus a bonus DVD that features the music video clips for 'Someone To Love', 'Mexican Wine' and 'Stacy's Mom'. (Note that the DVD will probably not play on most North American systems.) Toshiba EMI. 2007. <<

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TLYFRE/?tag=imwan-20