Fleming & John - The Way We Are (1999)

The Way We Are, the sophomore release by Nashville, Tennessee, pop-rockers Fleming and John shows that the quirky, infectious energy of their debut record, Delusions of Grandeur, was no fluke. In fact, The Way We Are is even grander, a gloriously overproduced pop epic. Vocalist Fleming McWilliams's voice soars from a waifish whisper to a Joplin-esque wail to operatic diva, often in the same song. Multi-instrumentalist John Painter assembles a dizzying palette of sounds, from buzzy, riff-heavy guitars to horns, accordion, Middle Eastern percussion, and theremin, which yields a general sense of weirdness--all set in a perfectly pop context--while the Love Sponge String Quartet add sonic depth and a Van Dyke Parks quality to several arrangements. The album gravitates to happy love songs, then to sad love songs, striking an emotional balance between contentment and melancholy with a sense of humor that never dips into sappiness. All this combines with impeccable pop-rock production for a record that is bottomless with potential hits. --Bradley S. Caviness