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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | DanAbnrml9@aol.com |
| Subject | Re: audities-digest V1 #368 (10 msgs) |
| Date | Thu, 12 Jun 2003 22:24:20 EDT |
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In a message dated 6/12/03 9:01:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
audities-owner@smoe.org writes:
> I have to say upon the first few listens of WIM...I'm not entirely
> impressed.
> The album (IMHO) is a bit of a let-down after a 4+ year wait from
> Utopia Parkway. There are certainly stand out tracks ("Little Red Light"
> and "No Better Place")...but as a whole the album doesn't seem as
> strong in the songwriting department as their first two. BUT...they get
> points for theme consistency by revisitng the lyrics about the office
> worker with a drinking problem...and of course, FOW is better than most
> drivel being put by the majors these days. If only the kids would get it...
>
>
I wish this list would stop referring to *the kids* and their little problem
of not *getting* it... oh well.
For me, and this is coming from an admittedly huge FOW fan, this album is
maybe a notch below Utopia Parkway but one above the debut--which I don't think
has aged that well, in a weird way. I would still place all three very high in
my overall favorites list, and I think that WIM's sprawling feel (which stands
at odds with UP's rather uniform feel) makes it an ideal successor to UP,
especially since a lot of the lyrical themes are in the same vein. My only real
complaint is with the pacing--it's front-loaded with rockers and the slow
numbers are kinda bunched together in the middle of the album (broken up by "Little
Red Light") and I think it would've been nice if there'd been another uptempo
or midtempo tune slotted in there someplace, even if it meant one of the
lesser album tracks got bumped to b-side status. I do think that the first four
songs represent the best run of cuts yet found on a Fountains of Wayne album,
and maybe that's part of the reason--it keys you up and then slows down.
Which reminds me again... does anyone know what that bonus track on the
japanese version of the album is, and if it will be released as a bside at some
point? I'm really hoping that "Bowling Shoes" makes an appearance someplace,
becuase from the live mp3 I have, that one sounds like it could be a stunner.
--Jason
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