According to Schlesinger, "Musically, the stuff on the record is like picking through all the songs that people our age weren't about to avoid growing up.

"[1] Collingwood's songwriting contributions on this album - including "Troubled Times", "A Fine Day for a Parade" and "Amity Gardens" - tended to be more serious than Schlesinger's.

"[1] Dropped by Atlantic after sales failed to meet expectations, the band had a growing dispute with the company after it put no effort into promoting the album's single "Troubled Times".

[16] The album contains two fan favorite songs from the Fountains' live performances:[citation needed] "Red Dragon Tattoo," about a boy who gets a tattoo to impress a girl, and "Denise," a faux-grunge power-pop confection where the songwriters show their intentionally bad and comic writing with "She works at Liberty Travel/ She's got a heart made of gravel."

"Troubled Times," originally written by Collingwood when he and Schlesinger were in a previous incarnation of Fountains of Wayne called Pinnwheel, is also a fan favorite.

[citation needed] "Red Dragon Tattoo" was featured prominently throughout the Stephen King mini-series Kingdom Hospital.