Fountains Of Wayne: Fountains Of Wayne

If you haven't heard it yet, Fountains of Wayne's "Radiation Vibe" is the closest thing to a perfect pop/rock song on the radio right now: It's got one of those swollen summer choruses that make you smile every time you hear them. The self-titled record from whence the song came is pretty good too. In many ways, it's the prototypical modern-rock record, with its thick mass of chocolatey guitars (a la Weezer), Chris Collingwood's smooth baritone (a la The Lemonheads' Evan Dando and others), and tons of three-minute songs full of the aforementioned anthemic choruses (a la everyone from the Beach Boys on). There's even the occasional dose of smug irony ("Please Don't Rock Me Tonight") to keep things from getting too sugary. If Fountains of Wayne seems calculated at times, that's far outweighed by the fact that there are some really great pop songs here, from "Radiation Vibe" on. Even if there weren't, that song is good enough to carry a whole album.