1996 in music. • Page 3

For anyone that doesn't know Fountains of Wayne beyond "Stacy's Mom" - this is an absolute fave of mine:

@JRGComedy said it right - an all-time power pop album. I may have ranked this one too low, but depends on my mood really. Album does not have a weak track IMO.

So sad about Adam Schlesinger, one of the first high-profile COVID related deaths. The man had incredible songwriting credits, aside from the obvious "That Thing You Do!", etc.

 

i like almost countless power pop albums way more but it’s still pretty close to perfect

 

Give me 3-5 just for comparison's sake! I can listen to this kind of stuff endlessly lol

 

Fountains Of Wayne s/t is one of my all time faves.

Chris Collingwood’s solo record from a while ago is overlooked. It’s not a classick, I think he was so effortfully anti funny-FOW music that the record came out a little too precious singer-songwritery, but it’s good

And produced by Mitchell Froom so it sounds great.

 

Fountains of Wayne really doesn't have a bad album, just one or two lesser ones. First 3 are untouchable though.

Look Park is also solid! I can't remember who wrote it, but someone on the forum ranked every single FoW song and it spurred a really fun re-listening journey for me.

 

Did not know about this one, thanks for sharing! Will add it now to my 2016 list.

Shit that's ~20 weeks away though for these threads lol - might have to find some time to check it out before then.

 

Other 1996 cool power pop albums that I will post as I think of them…

(I don’t personally really like this Jason Falkner album, curious if others do…)

 

Olivia Tremor Control doesn’t fit the Fountains Of Wayne-like brief, but this record rules:

 

Before New Pornographers, AC Newman had a power poppy band called Zumpano:

 

I discovered this one last week:

 

like, of any power pop or specifically the 90s revival type stuff?

 

I remember Moods For Moderns, they were on Doghouse right?

 

No idea! The local record store owner posted them on his Facebook page last week and that's how I found them lol. It's 2006 again!

 

Up to you! I guess maybe just lesser known stuff - I'm pretty well familiar with most of the big names that influenced the 90s revival, Big Star / Cheap Trick/ The Cars, etc etc .

 

mike viola and the candy butchers - falling into place

brendan benson - lapalco

the grays - ro sham bo

 

I never heard anything besides Stacey’s Mom but it feels like this would be a band I am into

 

Start with the debut and just go forward chronologically

 

Maybe this is better suited for the 1994 thread, but as a lifelong Jon Brion fan, it gives me no pleasure to say The Grays album kinda sucks. For years (like 20 years) I’ve tried to tell myself it’s great, and while the production is classick JJP (if not a little too compressed), the songs are hollow showboating.

the final nail in the coffin fer me were some live shows that showed up on youtube in recent years:

Aside from the fact that Jon Brion and Jason Falkner clearly hate eachother (JJP has said they had to be in different rooms during tracking cuz they hated eachother so much), the band members are embarrassingly try hard and obnoxious in their demeanor, and the band has a totally bummer manufactured major label product vibe.

the most interesting fact about The Grays is the drummer Dan McCarrol was president of Warnee Bros and is now the head of Amazon Music or something to that effect.

 

Listened to the Fountains of Wayne record from this year - I haven't heard anything they've done other than "Stacy's Mom", which is a bit of an irritating song (though I did love it when I was like 12, admittedly). I enjoyed this album more than I expected though.

It's all pretty one pace power pop, with only the final song mixing it up a bit. There's nothing particularly remarkable about it to my ears for a first listen, just solid pop-rock songs, well crafted and written. Enjoyable, but nothing that really goes beyond a max of a 7/10 for me - no individual standouts, but solid all around.

 

The songs wear in really well because the lyrics are sharp and witty.

 

this is correct. Their lyrics are incredible; wry tales of bridge and tunnel mediocrity. The kind of anti-cultural screeds only the truly affectionate can muster

 

Speaking of Fountains of Wayne, '96 was also the year of this all-time great movie song, co-written by Fountains of Wayne mastermind, Adam Schlesinger.

 

Adam Schlesinger is a rightly beloved songsmith but I think the s/t is really Collingwood’s record; Radiation Vibe, Joe Rey, Leave The Biker, Barbara H are all his songs.

I think the whole That Thing You Do anecdote skews how integral Collingwood was to the band

(and maybe evidence to that fact is Traffic And Weather, which is almost all Schlesinger songs, and, while I love it, easily their slightest record)

 

I’d check out supercrush for a current power popish band. They rule.

 

man, that album rules lol. couldn't disagree more