Traffic And Weather - Fountains of Wayne
Traffic And Weather Image
Metascore
68 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 29 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Summary: Band member Adam Schlesinger produced FOW's long-awaited fourth studio album, which follows four years after their breakthrough hit 'Welcome Interstate Managers.'

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 28
  3. Negative: 4 out of 28
  1. The A.V. Club
    100
    Traffic And Weather offers vivid little snapshots of characters and places, but in Schlesinger and Collingswood's hands, a snapshot can tell the whole story.
  2. Uncut
    80
    Cements FOW's status as the savviest modern-day practitioners of both Beatlesque pop and Steely Dan's cool precision. [Jun 2007, p.94]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. Under The Radar
    60
    After such a lengthy break between records, the disappointing ratio of great-to-crummy songs is a mild surprise. Traffic and Weather could’ve been so much better. [#17, p.84]
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  4. New Musical Express (NME)
    30
    Their songs are either shitty soft-rock or worse, wink-nudge pastiches like the new-wavey 'Someone To Love'.

See all 28 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 19
  3. Negative: 2 out of 19
  1. MattD.
    10
    Has times of Beatles-like excellence! But they are no Beatles clone: the 80s influences again help to spice up the music, and the ending alt-country song is good enough to not be an afterthought. The lyrics completely nail Generation X culture!… Expand
  2. JohnR
    8
    How corny is '92 Subaru'? Barenaked Ladies heard it and said, "Wow, that's corny. Are they Canadian, too?" Hey, Fountains of Wayne, Ray Davies just called. He heard '92 Subaru' and says he wants his embarrassing '80s period back. Haha, seriously, '92 Subaru' aside, this is song-for-song every bit as satisfying as WIM. There's at least three masterpieces here ('T&W', 'New Routine', 'This Better Be Good'), and the rest is completely listenable and not completely disposable. 'Planet of Weed' is hilarious and kind of sweet -- I don't get the backlash against that song. And, OK, even '92 Subaru' scratches some dark, repressed .38-Special-adoring itch somewhere. Pitchfork hates pop music, that's all I can figure. Anyone who likes pop music will like this album, and like it repeatedly.… Expand
  3. RobYou
    7
    Not their best, but still pretty strong. "Someone to Love" and "Strapped for Cash" are standouts. I would've given it an 8 if they'd left off "Planet of Weed". I really don't get what crawled up Stylus' and Pitchfork's butts...it's as if they announced around the office "Who hates Fountains of Wayne?", and assigned the review to the most vociferous respondent.… Expand
  4. ToddW
    1
    After their first album the future looked promising for these guys. Unfortunately, they then decided to go the Coldplay and Killers route and try to make music for the masses, without realizing the sheep they were amusing wouldn't know the difference between a good song or a talented and visionary band and a bag of wool/shit. If you doubt, take a look at the total and complete garbage that passes for entertainment these days. American Idol? Please; it should be called American Idle. The scary thing is these guys would be superstars on that show.… Expand

See all 19 User Reviews

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