Traffic and Weather


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.

Background

While previous Fountains of Wayne albums saw lead singer Chris Collingwood and bassist Adam Schlesinger write songs separately then arrange them with the rest of the band, initial work on their fourth album saw them trying a new approach in which they wanted to get guitarist Jody Porter and drummer Brian Young more involved by jamming together at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York. While it yielded many ideas, it didn't result in any finished songs. In the end, "Strapped for Cash" was the only song developed from the Bearsville sessions, as the band reverted to their usual methods. However, Collingwood was suffering from depression and alcoholism during the making of the album. As a result, he only penned three songs for it — "Fire in the Canyon", "Hotel Majestic" and "Seatbacks and Traytables" — while Schlesinger wrote the rest.

Recording

Describing their process for the album, Schlesinger said, "We'll bring a song in, then Brian will come up with a feel for it, cut a basic track, then we'll spend a lot of time with Jody experimenting with different guitar parts. On this album more than any, you can really hear Jody's playing and the incredibly wide range that he's capable of."
The song "Someone to Love" includes backing vocals from former Smashing Pumpkins and Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, "Fire in the Canyon" contains backing vocals from the Candy Butchers' Mike Viola, "Seatbacks and Traytables" features former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, and "Strapped for Cash" features trumpeters Ronnie Buttacavoli and Scott Wendholt; the former trumpeter also plays on "Yolanda Hayes".

Reception

The album was met with moderate commercial success and generally favorable reviews. It reached #97 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and the song "I-95" was named #54 in Rolling Stone'ss list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. Blender described the album as having "more witty tales of confused young people caught between destinations".

Track listing

All tracks are credited to Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger.

Personnel

;Fountains of Wayne
;Additional musicians
  • Melissa Auf der Maur — backing vocals on "Someone to Love"
  • Ronnie Buttacavoli — trumpet on "Yolanda Hayes" and "Strapped for Cash"
  • Scott Harrell — trumpet on "Strapped for Cash"
  • James Iha — guitar on "Seatbacks and Traytables"
  • Mike Viola — backing vocals on "Fire in the Canyon"
  • Scott Wendholt — trumpet "Strapped for Cash"
;Technical personnel

Quotes about the album

All quotes from Adam Schlesinger.

General

  • "I don't think anybody is counting on us for another one of those. I hope not."
  • "As usual, there are a lot of songs about transportation and travel."
  • "Our goal is 12 units, then if we hit 13, it looks like a runaway success."
  • " was busy putting that other Smashing Pumpkins reunion together while we were working on this Smashing Pumpkins reunion on our record."

Songs

Recording

  • "We had these grand ambitions to change our process, we went up to Woodstock and jammed, but in the end, only one thing from that session, 'Strapped for Cash,' turned into an actual song. For the rest of it, we went back to our usual method of writing on our own and bringing in a song to be arranged by everyone. Woodstock was good to get back together and loosen up, but I guess we're pretty set in our ways."