This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
For the unitiated, Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger is the guy who wrote That Thing You Do! for that Tom Hanks movie.
And that’s pretty much the sort of sugary pop thing he and his band do on this hummable, magnetic disc. Only the time and place are changed — Utopia Parkway is a loose concept album about Long Island teens in the 1980s. Buoyed by bright, summery melodies and sly, smarty-pants lyrics, these 14 instant classics are catchy, kitschy celebrations of suburban aspiration (“Well, I’ve been saving for a custom van / And I’ve been playing in a cover band,” the title-cut opener boasts) and adolescent angst (“Will you stop pretending I’ve never been born / Now that I look a little more like that guy from Korn?” whines the owner of a new Red Dragon Tattoo). Cool — and I haven’t even mentioned Laser Show or the Kula Shaker parody Go, Hippie.
