Sky Full of Holes | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 20, 2011 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 45:05 | |||
Label |
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Producer | Adam Schlesinger, Chris Collingwood | |||
Fountains of Wayne chronology | ||||
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Singles from Sky Full Of Holes | ||||
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Sky Full of Holes is the fifth and final studio album by the American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It was released on July 20, 2011, in Japan, on August 1, 2011, in Europe, and on August 2, 2011, in North America. It debuted at number 37 on the US Billboard 200, giving Fountains of Wayne their first Top 40 album on that chart, and debuted at number 16 on the UK independent chart.
Prior to working on their fifth album, Fountains of Wayne had done acoustic tours that would eventually influence the direction they took for the record. According to guitarist Jody Porter, "It’s a little bit more introspective and not as loud of a record as the last two. I think that came from the fact that we started last year doing acoustic-based tours because we didn’t have a record out. We wanted to get back out on tour and did it stripped-down. Overall it’s not as brash or guitar-heavy." [2]
Having taken a back seat to bassist Adam Schlesinger during the writing and recording of previous album Traffic and Weather due to personal health issues, lead singer and co-songwriter Chris Collingwood became more involved this time around. Collingwood stated, "When we made the last record, I was not doing well in a lot of different ways, drunk a lot of the time. I didn’t contribute a whole lot to the last record, and I think we settled into a situation where Adam was taking control of a lot of things. I only wrote three songs on the previous Fountains of Wayne record, so when this one came along I had a lot more to bring. It was just a matter of bringing everything back into balance, and there was a lot of fighting about it." [3]
During the making of the album, the relationship between Collingwood and Schlesinger had deteriorated to the point where they had to stop working and seek professional help. According to Collingwood in 2016, "Adam and I just fought constantly making that record. We stopped making that record in the middle of making that record to try to work out a whole bunch of things that were going on between us. We saw a psychiatrist and tried to work things out." In the end, they agreed to finish the album and tour behind it, before going their separate ways. [4]
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 68/100 link |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Americana UK | link |
The Guardian | link |
Robert Christgau | A− link |
The Irish Times | link |
Melodic.net | link |
Rolling Stone | link |
AllMusic | link |
Slant Magazine | link |
Entertainment Weekly | A− link |
Spin | [5] |
Jody Rosen, writing in Rolling Stone , had high praise for the album, and said the storytelling was "sharp" and the guitar hooks "crunchy," with the overall direction of the album darker than previous outings. [6] Jill Menze of Billboard called the album "excellent", describing it as "a new minimal sound with a poppy, folk-leaning flair." [7]
Spin gave the album a score of 7/10. Critic Stacey Anderson writes, "'Sky' eschews the occasional decade-hopscotching of 2007's Traffic and Weather , reaching a new, raw sincerity and cohesiveness: 'Hate to See You Like This' is an anxious entreaty to a depressed girlfriend exquisitely framed by a dramatic backdrop of electric and acoustic guitars." [5]
Chris Willman of Reuters also strongly recommended the album, but cautioned listeners: "It may be a moot point that the new effort is FOW's least airplay-friendly, since neither radio nor MTV would likely play this kind of stuff anymore even if the group did manage to come up with a 'Stacy's Mom II.' But fans who prefer an abundance of power in their power-pop may worry about what the lopsided spunk-to-sadness ratio portends for the beloved band." [8] He called "Action Hero" the best track on the album. [8] Matt Diehl of the Los Angeles Times lauded the album. "Sky teems with immaculate power pop, spanning jangling Beatlesque rockers like “The Summer Place” through the bittersweet balladry of “I Hate to See You Like This”... It's a remarkably consistent album, full of snappy arrangements, surprising chord changes and tasteful instrumentation, but Collingwood's voice embodies its true appeal," he wrote. "That storytelling depth raises Fountains of Wayne to the apex of their genre, imparting a wry, cynical worldview that lingers well after the snap, crackle and fizz subsides." [9]
Allison Stewart, reviewing the album for The Washington Post , was more mixed in her assessment. She said, "Sky, with its carefully detailed stories of suburban schlubs, feuding bar owners and luckless Acela riders, hits all the right notes, but something feels off. Slow and sentimental, more wistful than droll, Sky is as interested in loping, acoustic country-folk songs as it is in vigorous pop. If the band’s last album, 2007’s Traffic and Weather, was a Cars homage, Sky is an unofficial tribute to the Jayhawks. It’s not a misfire — one of its gentlest songs, “A Road Song,” is also one of the band's all-time finest — but those who expect the usual gimlet-eyed power pop (that is to say, most everyone) will be left wondering where it went." [10]
In the United Kingdom, The Guardian critic Michael Hann described the album's music as "a more sedate sound, the dominant texture being acoustic guitar overlaid with muted electrics." [11] But the sound was a good one for the band, he said, and named the final track, "Cemetery Guns," the album's best for being "beautifully arranged and written with calm understatement". [11]
America covered "A Road Song" on their 2011 Back Pages album. [12] [13]
All songs written by Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger, except where noted.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "The Summer Place" | 3:31 |
2. | "Richie and Ruben" | 3:32 |
3. | "Acela" | 3:13 |
4. | "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart" | 3:54 |
5. | "Action Hero" | 4:00 |
6. | "A Dip in the Ocean" | 3:35 |
7. | "Cold Comfort Flowers" | 4:26 |
8. | "A Road Song" | 3:04 |
9. | "Workingman's Hands" | 2:39 |
10. | "Hate to See You Like This" | 4:14 |
11. | "Radio Bar" | 2:56 |
12. | "Firelight Waltz" | 3:14 |
13. | "Cemetery Guns" | 2:54 |
No. | Title | Length |
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14. | "Song of the Passaic" (John Alleyne Macnab, Fountains of Wayne) | 2:51 |
No. | Title | Length |
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15. | "The Story in Your Eyes" (Justin Hayward) | 3:04 |
Chart (2011) | Peak position |
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UK Independent Albums | 16 |
US Billboard 200 [14] | 37 |
US Billboard Alternative Albums | 4 |
US Billboard Independent Albums | 3 |
US Billboard Rock Albums | 6 |
Fountains of Wayne was an American rock band that formed in New York City in 1995. The band included founding members Chris Collingwood, Adam Schlesinger, Jody Porter, and Brian Young. They released six albums from 1996 to 2011 before effectively disbanding in 2013. They are best known for the Grammy-nominated song "Stacy's Mom".
"Stacy's Mom" is a song by American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It is the third track on their third studio album, Welcome Interstate Managers, and was released to radio as the album's first single on May 19, 2003, through S-Curve Records and Virgin Records. "Stacy's Mom" was written by bassist Adam Schlesinger and vocalist Chris Collingwood, both of whom produced the song alongside Mike Denneen. Its subject matter was inspired by a friend of Schlesinger's when he was young who was attracted to Schlesinger's grandmother. It is a power pop song with which the group hoped to emulate the sound of American rock band the Cars.
Welcome Interstate Managers is the third studio album by the American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It was released by S-Curve Records on June 10, 2003. The album contains the power pop single "Stacy's Mom," which reached number 21 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's highest-charting hit in the United States.
Utopia Parkway is the second studio album by the American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It was released by Atlantic Records in April 1999.
Fountains of Wayne is the debut studio album by the American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It was released on TAG Recordings, Scratchie Records, and Atlantic Records in 1996. A reissue of the vinyl was released on Yep Roc Records.
Adam Lyons Schlesinger was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was a key songwriting contributor and producer for Brooklyn-based synth-pop duo Fever High. He also wrote songs for television and film, for which he won three Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the ASCAP Pop Music Award, and was nominated for Academy, Tony, and Golden Globe Awards. He died unexpectedly due to complications of COVID-19 at the age of 52.
Brian Young is an American drummer and music producer. He is best known as the drummer of the New York–based, Grammy-nominated power pop band Fountains of Wayne and Seattle-based alternative rock band The Posies. From 2012 to 2021 Young was the drummer for the Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Jody Porter is an American musician. He was the lead guitarist of Grammy Award-nominated power pop band Fountains of Wayne. The band released four major label albums, including Welcome Interstate Managers on Virgin Records in 2003, an RIAA-certified Gold LP. The album spawned the hugely popular U.S. Top 40 hit and number 1 music video "Stacy's Mom".
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"Just the Girl" is a song by American rock band the Click Five. It was released on June 13, 2005, as the first single from their debut studio album, Greetings from Imrie House (2005). The band formed in Boston and were managed by talent scout Wayne Sharp, who assisted in signing the band to Lava Records. "Just the Girl" was composed by songwriter Adam Schlesinger, best-known for his work with Fountains of Wayne, as well as his career in film and television.
Chris Collingwood is an American singer, songwriter, and artist. He is best known as the former lead vocalist and founding member of the power pop band Fountains of Wayne.
Andy Chase is an American musician, record producer, and label owner. He formed the band Ivy with Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Dominique Durand, now his wife. Chase owns Unfiltered Records and co-owned Stratosphere Sound studio with Schlesinger and James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins.
Traffic and Weather is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It was released on Virgin Records in April 2007.
The discography of Fountains of Wayne contains five studio albums, one compilation album, 16 singles, one DVD, six music videos and seven other appearances.
"Radiation Vibe" is the debut single by Fountains of Wayne, from their eponymous debut album. It was released in 1996 on Atlantic Records.
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