Out-Of-State Plates - Fountains of Wayne
Out-Of-State Plates Image
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

  • Summary: This 28-track, two-disc compilation culls radio performances, demos, and other previously unreleased tracks from throughout the band's history.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 14
  2. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Essential listening, especially for those who only know "Stacy's Mom." [15 Jul 2005, p.73]
  2. [The] consistent quality belies any notion of the extraneous.
  3. 80
    The songs change, but the sensibility remains the same, more or less: plaintive to mopey, clever to smartass, and back again. [Jul 2005, p.118]
  4. Out-of-State Plates is a ragged collection of hits and misses that will satisfy FOW completists, while being of intermittent interest to recent converts or general power pop fans.

See all 14 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. MickO
    9
    This CD is certainly a mixed bag, compared to FoW's usual inspired standards of pop songwriting. But hey, that's expected on this sort of kooky collection of out-takes, B-sides and covers. Overall, the album shows that FoW continue to be masters of cheeky and fun guitar pop, while also having an ability to evoke heart-aching melancholy. The undoubted highlight for me is the new song 'The Girl I Can't Forget'. This song has got to be one of the most perfectly written, most joyous pop tunes I have heard for a very long time, and it alone is worth the price of the CD. It also earns the whole album a good rating from me ! Expand
  2. JoelE
    8
    Girl I Can't Forget makes it onto my short list of perfect pop songs. The other new tunes are very good. The others are fairly hit and miss, but almost every one has SOMETHING that makes listening a pleasure. Expand
  3. EkimS
    7
    If viewed as a followup to "Welcome Interstate Managers", this could be seen as a big disappointment. However, taken as a collection of leftovers, its pretty good. The two discs could have been edited to 1 for a stronger collection, but seeing as it sells for a 1 disc price, worth the investment for power pop fans. Expand
  4. Gazcomsat
    7
    I really like Foutains of Wayne. Welcome Interstate Managers was their best album to date in my opinion. With this in mind I was looking forward to a new Cd by the band considering it must be a year since their previous release. Whilst I don't mind this new compilation Cd, I hope it's not been released instead of a new studio album. Sure, it's good value for money and has allowed me to obtain the one or two tracks I didn't have from the singles etc but ultimately, it's not a patch on the newer stuff. The new single "Maureen" is good as is the other new song "The girl I can't forget" but by the bands own admission, most of the other songs have been put onto Cd because they "All had to be put somewhere". All in all, good value for money but there's better FoW albums out there. Expand

See all 5 User Reviews