The latest album from Fountains of Wayne is “Sky Full of Holes,” a surprisingly mediocre effort from the sarcastic power-pop maestros. Although the album has some good moments, as a whole it fails to stand on its own for some reason, and ends up flirting with blandness.

The writing duo of Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger is a virtually foolproof one, especially when it comes to snide and/or hilarious commentary on the banal adventures of social life that we’re all used to. Lyrically, listening to a Fountains of Wayne album is like listening to an episode of the new Beverly Hills 90210 being narrated by Jon Stewart or something. Everything is taken with a grain of salt and never too seriously, thus making room for witty, self-aware lyrics that tell a story that will always make you laugh at some point. Both Collingwood and Schlesinger have proven themselves to be great lyricists, whether it be for Fountains of Wayne or for their other side projects. On “Sky Full of Holes,” the writing is the least of the problems – the lyrics are still funny and interesting to listen to, rarely ever contrite or generic. But the music and song production, i.e. basically everything other than the lyrics, is where the problem comes in.

The album starts off as being extremely promising, from the Beatles-esque old school rocker “The Summer Place” and “Richie and Ruben,” the funny follow-up song about two shady businessmen. The third song, “Acela,” is hands-down the standout track of the album with its bluesy, vintage sound. The first act of “Sky Full of Holes” is interesting and easy to listen to; in fact, the first half of the album is like a completely different record than the second half, which is where things start to fall flat.

Lyrically, the album is always still there – there are amusing catchy lyrics and fun stories to listen to throughout the record. But there is something missing, something that makes parts of the album a bit underwhelming, and this is most apparent during the second half of it. Songs like “Cold Comfort Flowers,” “Workingman’s Hands,” and “Firelight Waltz” are almost snooze-worthy and seem to blend in together as one long boring song. One track that’s in between these songs is “A Road Song,” which is an example of how funny lyrics can save an otherwise generic song. “A Road Song” is a love song written on the road and is about how corny love songs written on the road can be. Collingwood’s honest vocals sing out “I just wanted to say, hey – I’ve been writing you a road song/It’s a cliché, but hey – that doesn’t make it so wrong/And in between the stops at the Cracker Barrel/And forty movies with Will Ferrell/I need some way to occupy my time.” You can’t really go wrong with lyrics like that.

This notion of the lyrics making the song more than what it is is also the case with “Hate to See You Like This.” In a way, the theatrical touch of the song with all of its musical and instrumental layering adds to the oomph of the song, but honestly, if it weren’t for the lyrics, it would just be another sappy-sounding pop song with some sweet musical layering. But after all, it’s the lyrics that have always separated Fountains of Wayne from other power-pop bands anyway.

“Sky Full of Holes” is by no means a bad album, but it’s not the best either, especially from Fountains of Wayne. The first half introduces the record as if it were a 60s throwback album with the catchy songs and fun lyrics. But the second half seems to be musically uninspired, which is strange for Fountains of Wayne. As a whole, the album is not cohesive and seems to lack direction, for there’s just something about it that doesn’t fully gel right. For true Fountains of Wayne fans, this record will not be a letdown in regards to the hooks and lyrical output, but for people who just know Fountains of Wayne as the band who introduced us all to “Stacy’s Mom,” this probably won’t be the record for you.

For more info, check out:

Fountains of Wayne Official

Fountains of Wayne MySpace

Fountains of Wayne Facebook