Review: Fall Out Boy/Folie à Deux
Fall Out Boy – Folie à Deux
Fall Out Boy's latest shows growth and understanding.
Island 2008
Rating: 3.5/5
This year, 2008, was one of change and growth in more than one respect, and the realm of emo was no different. First it was theatrical Vegas boys Panic at the Disco dropping the ! from their name and releasing an album of Beatles-influenced psychedelic-pop (Pretty. Odd.) that threw all preconceived notions about the band to the wind. Then emo grandfathers Weezer dropped the ball on their new album, hearkening back to a time when it was cool to be uncool and spreading their creative wings (before falling quickly back down to earth). Now it’s Panic mentors Fall Out Boy, the original purveyor of ironic, tongue-in-cheek pop-culture observations mixed with sugary-sweet riffs and a band that would certainly disagree with the “emo” label thrown on them by the media, expanding their sonic palette yet again with their fifth record Folie à Deux.
FOB’s last record, 2007’s Infinity on High, took the band into uncharted power-pop territory (not to mention massive commercial success) while keeping bassist and main songwriter Pete Wentz’s heart-on-sleeve, pun-heavy lyrics on full display. Folie à Deux, then, is the logical extension of the band’s increasingly more grandiose aspirations. Fall Out Boy is tired of being the appointed kings of emo; they are more than ready to move on to the biggest arenas of the land, and Folie is just the kind of wildly overproduced, epically scattershot maelstrom of musical creativity in all its best and worst forms that will assuredly get them there.
Calling in all the favors they’ve accumulated over their three and a half-odd years of stardom, Folie is fairly bursting with guest stars, from those you’d expect on a Fall Out Boy record (Panic vocalist Brendon Urie and Gym Class Heroes MC Travis McCoy are just two of the biggest) to those that leave you a bit stunned, such as bespectacled punk-pop godfather Elvis Costello on “What a Catch, Donnie” to New Wave sex symbol Debbie Harry on “West Coast Smoker” to Lil Wayne’s work on “Tiffany Blews” (ok, maybe that last one isn’t so special; after all, where hasn’t Lil Wayne been this year?).
But as usual with a FOB record, it’s Wentz’s sharp lyrics and singer Patrick Stump’s over-emotive vocals that define Folie à Deux. On first single “I Don’t Care,” over a walloping classic-rock riff reminiscent of Norman Greenbaum’s ‘60s anthem “Spirit In The Sky,” Stump growls “I don’t care what you think as long as it’s about me” while sounding an awful lot like (seriously!) David Cook. Opener “Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes” sounds an awful lot like the opening to the Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” but it’s Wentz’s sly jab at his critics within the lyrics (“imperfect boys with their perfect lives / nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy”) that, as usual, make the song.
Without a doubt, however, the biggest influence on the record is Cheap Trick-style ‘80s power pop, complete with orchestrated strings on “(Coffee’s For Closers)” and Stump’s best falsetto effort on songs such as the hilarious view on the music industry “The (Shipped) Gold Standard.” The hooky riff is still king in the world of Fall Out Boy, as are sing-a-long choruses and songs that rarely slow the tempo down. From the ridiculous ‘80s schizo synth rock of “Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet” (yes, Wentz is still in love with outsized song titles) to the funky pogo-beat on the excellently titled “20 Dollar Nose Bleed,” there are hooks aplenty throughout Folie. And fame has yet to jade the band’s pun-tastic sense of humor, with Stump singing with dead seriousness lines like I don’t know much about classic cars / but I got a lot of friends stuck on classic coke.” In fact, Stump’s relentless dedication to give every song his note-stretching best and to sing as if a gun was pointed at his head at all times no matter the content is perhaps the most entertaining part of the record.
Fall Out Boy’s huge aspirations, however, don’t always work out as they’d like them to. “What A Catch, Donnie,” a 5-minute piano R&B ballad that ends in the most bombastic, “Hey Jude”-esque ending, complete with Stump muttering a bit of “Hey Sugar, We’re Going Down” at the end. It’s ambitious, epic, and an utter mess from beginning to end. “w.a.m.s.” is an ill-advised foray into a bass-heavy dance number that comes off as a cheesy genre exercise. And Wentz is still writing lines that will keep that crown of emo firmly atop his head, including such gems as “a long walk to a dark house / roman candle heart keeps us far apart / I’ve got your body doing alright / hate me baby, maybe I’m a piece of art” on the not-so-romantic “Tiffany Blews.”
In fact, besides the aforementioned “20 Dollar Nose Bleed” and the saving Debbie Harry spot on tossed-off closer “West Coast Smoker,” the second half of Folie is more tiresome than engaging, as the stacks and stacks of production and Stump’s indefatigable vocals began to wear. Creative ideas are never bad, but FOB’s seeming desire to put as much shit in each song as musically possible practically begs for a better editor.
Folie à Deux, is, without any shadow of a doubt, the most impressively inspired collection of music Fall Out Boy have put to record, and despite it’s many flaws, it’s a testament to their willingness to try to grow out of a genre that they were unfairly boxed into early in their career. Pete Wentz will never the most subtle songwriter or arranger, and the band’s penchants for multi-layered vocal harmonies and dense song titles probably won’t be going anywhere, and most of their fans won’t mind a bit. It’s always nice to see a band reach for the stars, even if they don’t quite make it. Rock ‘n roll has always been about excess, and Fall Out Boy have learned that lesson well.
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