Traffic and Weather

Traffic and Weather
Studio album by Fountains of Wayne
Released	April 3, 2007
Genre	Rock
Length	47:27
Label	S-Curve Records
Producer	Adam Schlesinger Chris Collingwood Mike Denneen
Fountains of Wayne chronology
Out of State Plates (2005) Traffic and Weather (2007) Sky Full of Holes (2011)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Pitchfork Media	(3.0/10)
PopMatters	(8/10)
Robert Christgau	(A)
Rolling Stone
USA Today	(?)

Traffic and Weather is an album by Fountains of Wayne. It was released on April 3, 2007. The album has been described as having "...more witty tales of confused young people caught between destinations".

The album reached #97 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The song "I-95" was #54 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.

The song "Traffic & Weather" is featured on KYW-TV/WPSG in Philadelphia during its morning traffic and weather segments.

Track listing

All songs written by Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger.

1. "Someone to Love"
2. "'92 Subaru"
3. "Yolanda Hayes"
4. "Traffic and Weather"
5. "Fire in the Canyon"
6. "This Better Be Good"
7. "Revolving Dora"
8. "Michael and Heather at the Baggage Claim"
9. "Strapped for Cash"
10. "I-95"
11. "Hotel Majestic"
12. "Planet of Weed"
13. "New Routine"
14. "Seatbacks and Traytables"
15. "Sense Into You" (Japan bonus track)
16. "You Gotta Go" (Japan "Tour Edition" bonus track)

Personnel

• Chris Collingwood – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Adam Schlesinger – bass, keyboards, backing vocals
• Jody Porter – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Brian Young – drums

Guests

The track "Someone to Love" includes backing vocals from Smashing Pumpkins and Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur.

The track "Fire in the Canyon" contains backing vocals from the Candy Butchers' Mike Viola.

Former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha adds guitar to "Seatbacks and Traytables".

Trumpeters Ronnie Buttacavoli and Scott Wendholt play on "Strapped for Cash". Buttacavoli also plays on "Yolanda Hayes".

The album was mixed by Michael Brauer and John Holbrook.

Quotes about the album

All quotes from Adam Schlesinger.

General

• "I don't think anybody is counting on us for another one [Stacy's Mom Standard Hit] 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."
• "(Billy Corgan) was busy putting that other Smashing Pumpkins reunion together while we were working on this Smashing Pumpkins reunion on our record."

Specific songs

• "Someone to Love": "a little bit 'Eleanor Rigby'-esque, in that it's about these two lonely people living in New York. It has a disco-y beat, which is something we don't do a lot of. Melissa Auf der Maur sings backing vocals, and that's the first female vocal we've had since Dominique Durand from Ivy on the first album."
• "'92 Subaru": "It kind of sounds like The Doobie Brothers or Little Feat or something."
• "Yolanda Hayes": "About a woman who works at the DMV"

Production of the album

• "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."