Best Power Pop of 2011: #2 Fountains of Wayne – Sky Full of Holes

Down to #2 in our best power pop of 2011….

Fountain of Wayne – Sky Full of Holes

As a kid, I used to drive down Rt 23 (or was it half way down 46?) through Wayne NJ and drive by an outdoor lawn statue showroom. I’d wonder “Who’d want to buy anything from that place?” The business, called Fountains of Wayne, had the requisite Madonna on the half shell, concrete critters, and any other trailer park lawn ornament you could think of. 30 years later I can’t get enough of them. Not garden gnomes. The band.

“But maybe the tossed-off nature of Tinted Windows just proves that good power-pop takes time. Because Sky Full of Holes finds Fountains of Wayne back at the top of their game. From the rocking opener “The Summer Place” to the gentle closer “Cemetery Guns”, the album is full of great songs… the album is just about as good as Fountains of Wayne have ever been. It stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the bulk of their catalog and continues the band’s clinic on great songwriting. Yeah, I was partaking of the Fountains of Wayne catnip when I was just a music nerd, and now that I’m also a rock critic I can say that their stuff is as potent as ever. [Chris Conatan for PopMatters.com]

Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger are at it again, giving us memorable character vignettes worthy of Ray Davies. Richie and Rubin sounds like a couple of guys I grew up with, and I dare you to listen to “Action Hero” and tell me that Collingswood and Schleesinger aren’t taking about YOU.

Sky Full of Holes is their best record since Welcome Interstate Managers. Additionally, its clearly among the best power pop of 2011. Buy it….HERE.

Website:http://www.fountainsofwayne.com/home/