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| From | "Mike Bennett" <mrhonorama@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Office/FoW |
| Date | Mon, 27 Aug 2007 09:51:27 -0500 |
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Office's Q + A album was in my top 10 of 2006. Their upcoming album will
have re-recorded versions of songs off of their first two albums and some
new songs. Greg's description is in the ballpark (though Masson hates The
Cars' comparison is hard to avoid). They have great stage presence
(including a percussionist/keyboardist who is perpetual energy and a looker
too) and usually keep the Office motif on the stage -- I've seen them play
with typewriters and stuff as stage decor.
I wish I had mustered up the energy to make it out for this gig.
Mike Bennett
NP: The Pretty Things -- Balboa Island (pretty good for a band that's been
recording since 1963).
Blog: http://blog.myspace.com/mrhonorama
Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com
Find out about Chicago shows:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/chicagopopshowreport/
>From: "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com>
>Reply-To: audities@smoe.org
>To: audities@smoe.org
>Subject: Office/FoW
>Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:10:49 -0500
>
>On Saturday night I saw Fountains of Wayne play a show at an unusually
>small venue for them, the Double Door in Chicago's Wicker Park
>neighborhood. I'm a big FoW fan, but I'm the first to admit that there
>are many better live bands on the planet. But Saturday was the first
>time that I actually saw FoW be decisively trounced by an opening act,
>in this case Chicago's own Office.
>
>A rather manic and theatrical five-piece, Office's throwback New Wave
>approach has been described by frontman/songwriter Scott Masson as
>sounding "if the Beach Boys and Wire got together with Roy Orbison and
>the Supremes." What it sounded like to me was the Cars in a head-on
>collision with XTC, with ABC and Talking Heads administering first aid
>on the scene. The point of it all, though, was that the songs were
>ridiculously hooky and inventive, and were delivered with great verve
>and style. Their new album will be released on James Iha's Scratchie
>label on September 25, and I'll definitely be buying it. I think FoW's
>Adam Schlesinger is Iha's partner with Scratchie, since Masson made
>reference to Office's nervousness at "playing before the boss" during
>their set; Schlesinger later said during the FoW set, "How about giving
>it up for Office ... the only band in America with interns!"
>
>As for FoW, the debate on Audities as to the relative merits of *Traffic
>and Weather* seems to have been resolved by the band themselves. As was
>the case when I saw FoW at a street festival here in Chicago last month,
>they only played four songs from the album: "Somebody To Love", "Yolanda
>Hayes", "Strapped For Cash", and the title song. That was only as many
>as they played from each of their two previous albums (not counting the
>odds-and-sods *Out Of State Plates*, whose "Maureen" is now a live
>staple), and it's also interesting that the first, self-titled album has
>supplied no fewer than eight songs for the setlists of FoW's two Chicago
>shows this summer. Both times they played "Radiation Vibe" and "Sink To
>The Bottom", and this time around they swapped out "Leave The Biker",
>"Survival Car", and "I've Got A Flair" in favor of "Joe Rey", "You Curse
>At Girls", and "Sick Day". It's not a huge surprise to me, since I still
>think that their first album contains their best collection of songs to
>date. It's simply telling that they're playing more songs from their
>eleven-year-old debut album than from the one that they put out this
>past spring.
>
>At any rate, the discovery of Office definitely made the night worth it
>for me. As much as I enjoyed the two other shows I saw during the past
>week (Crowded House at the House of Blues, and the Gin Blossoms at the
>Cubby Bear), the live soundtrack of my summer was beginning to feel like
>a nostalgia tour. I'm always happiest when I'm discovering new bands.
>
>
>Greg Sager
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