Fountains of Wayne

Fountains of Wayne–

Utopia Parkway

(Scratchie / Atlantic)

It must be the solemn, serious, “artistic” looks on the band member’s faces (whilst wearing Beatles suits) on the inner sleeve photo that have influential reviewers pegging Utopia Parkway as a modern masterpiece. The disc is actually an above-average collection of ‘60’s-seasoned power pop with territorial themes like girls, the end of summer, the big parade and going to the laser light show– an affectionate pastiche, in other words.

If you lament the lack of melody in contemporary music, you’ll probably love the Waynes’ second effort and end up overrating it like influential reviewers have. . . but that says more about the state of contemporary music, and influential reviewers, than it does about the relative merits of this album. Pleasant, but hardly groundbreaking. Pick hit: “A Hat and Feet.”

— Don Harrison