M-M-M-M-M-Maureen

For all those who assume, as I used to, that gas is more expensive inside cities, it turns out that this is apparently not always the case. Gas up by Alma (40 miles north of the city or so) has spiked to the point where one Speedway (usually among the cheapest stations) is at $3.31 for regular. The highest premium price I saw while leaving the city was $3.32. Cripes.

Quick review of the new Fountains of Wayne CD, Out-of-State Plates. Rather than being an actual new LP, it's a 2-disc collection of unreleased tracks (two of which are actually new, from 2005), rarities (mostly songs that were released on international singles and such), and a couple live recordings. The booklet is nice; it comes with little commentary by Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger on each of the songs, some of which is pretty hilarious.

The CDs themselves are, as you would likely expect, something of a mixed bag. The first disc is actually pretty solid throughout - leading off with "Maureen," which may have replaced "Stacy's Mom" as my favorite FOW song. (They have other songs with more interesting lyrics and perhaps better music as well, but these two are so infectious they're impossible to deny.) Other great songs on the first one include "California Sex Lawyer," "You're Just Never Satisfied," and a cover of ELO's "Can't Get It Out of My Head," but really, only one of the 13 songs wasn't strong enough to make it into my MP3 playlist, so it's solid indeed. The second disc is a bit weaker; "Elevator Up" is another great FOW power-pop tune, and there are a couple good sweeter songs, including "The Girl I Can't Forget" (this disc's 2005 cut) and "Kid Gloves." There's also a surprisingly unironic cover of "...Baby One More Time." Aside from a decent cover of Jackson Browne's "These Days" (one that won't challenge Nico for the best version of the song), though, there's not much after track 6 besides a country cover, a live cut of "She's Got a Problem" (which sounds better on the self-titled release), a few novelty-type songs, and a handful of filler-sounding stuff at the end.

The first disc alone makes Out-of-State Plates a must-have for the Fountains of Wayne fan, though novices would probably be better served to start with their first album. With a solid combination of power-pop and sweeter love songs similar to how their other albums are divided, Out-of-State Plates finds Collingwood and Schlesinger at their best, even if it's only in compilation form.