Anyone else pick up, or at least hear, this new album? Shamelessly taking Metacritic's summary of the band:

"The debut album for the band comprised of Taylor Hanson of Hanson fame, Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos, Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and ex-Smashing Pumpkin James Iha."

Since most of the songs are written by Schlesinger, it sounds more like a Fountains of Wayne album, sung by Taylor Hanson, composed entirely of love songs. That's great for me, because I love FoW (though their last album was a step down.) I can't stop listening to this album, and its probably my favorite record of the year so far.

Thanks for mentioning this. I like a lot of Fountains stuff and a fair amount of Cheap Trick and will grudgingly admit to not completely hating a track or two from the last Hanson. I'll check it out...

I heard one of the songs performed on Letterman the other night and I didn't like it at all but I'll definitely give the full album a listen at some point.

John, I agree. The song they performed on Letterman sounded like a song any teenager could write 6 weeks after getting his first guitar. The Rolling Stone review says: typical line: "All I really want to say/Is I need you every day". I'm not sure if that was from the song they played on Letterman, but it had very similar lyrics. That said, though, I love the Fountains of Wayne, and I remember thinking something similar the first time I heard "Stacy's Mom." I never did really grow to like that song, but all in all, Welcome Interstate Managers is one of my favorite albums of all time. So, Vanilla, I might check it out with your recommendation. I have little doubt in Adam Schlesinger's ability to write a killer hook.