"Hit Music in Some Alternate Reality"

"What set FoW apart, always, was the level of compositional skill. They were formalists, not experimentalists, squares relative to the noise-first alt-rock aesthetics of the time—the Steely Dan of their era, outré next to a harder-edged majority, but with an outmatched awareness of the connotations of a given chord sequence and the emotional effects of a sudden shift in volume. These are easy qualities to underestimate, but, as Robert Christgau wrote in 2005, 'Anybody who thinks that Fountains of Wayne are just another slick pop band better tell us who their compeers are.'"

Carl Wilson at Slate writes an appreciation for the late Adam Schlesinger.

As does Michael Hann in The Guardian.