I just listened to this for the first time on the networked iTunes at work. I was curious because so many people seem to like it. My reaction was, pleasant enough, simple songs done up in that warm, fuzzy sound. Good work music. "Stacey's Mom" is indeed catchy, but it does make me wish someone here had Heartbeat City on their server.

I just listened to this for the first time on the networked iTunes at work. I was curious because so many people seem to like it. My reaction was, pleasant enough, simple songs done up in that warm, fuzzy sound. Good work music. "Stacey's Mom" is indeed catchy, but it does make me wish someone here had Heartbeat City on their server.

Emily has been playing "Stacy's Mom" on my iPod for months, over and over and over. Good thing I love it.

The best part about the song is that it's more than a Cars soundalike, it's a Cars homage: the opening guitar-riffing-and-then-burst! is an affectionate carbon copy of the intro to "Just What I Needed"; and in the video, Rachel Hunter (playing the boy's MILF) takes off her bikini top in a recreation of the Phoebe Cates scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High – a scene that was backed by...the Cars! ("Moving in Stereo")

The album is terrific. A wee bit overrated (it peters out toward the end), but so few bands are doing this kind of no-frills, well-written power pop these days that I think the album has come across as some kind of revelation to critics. I don't blame them. Actually, Mike (or Moe), let me know if you'd like to borrow one of the other two FoW CDs I own. Their 1996 self-titled debut, in particular, is super-fun: all hooks, hooks, hooks.