Who knew that Sgt. Pepper's was once again the in record for now hipsters? First, Panic at the Disco dropped the exclamation mark and donned trippy marching uniforms for the psychedelic pastiche Pretty, Odd, now Fall Out Boy follow with Folie ŕ Deux, a record that doesn't attempt to re-create the sound but the spirit of 1967, when rock bands would try anything on their LPs, especially if it included lots of orchestration. Strings are only one of the accoutrements on Folie ŕ Deux. Fall Out Boy pile everything onto their fifth album: cameos from superstars and running mates, so many that Lil Wayne and Debbie Harry are barely heard; thundering arena rock rhythms and ultra-slick hair metal riffs; hints of soul and R&B; synths lifted from new wave singles and retro hits alike. If only it were done with a modicum of care, it might seem like a crazy postmodern hall of mirrors, but Fall Out Boy are too artless to be postmodern. They're hyper modern, flitting through the past and present, taking nothing seriously and taking everything they can, cramming so many allusions into their overstuffed songs it's impossible to tell what is intentional and what is accidental. (Are those crashing chords on "Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes" really taken from "Baba O'Reilly"? Do they realize "I don't care what you think/Just as long as it's about me" is from Nirvana's "Drain You"? Does it matter?)
Uncertainty about FOB's intentions is a problem intensified by how lyricist and de facto leader Pete Wentz writes every line with a smirk (it's a wonder he's yet to title a song with an emoticon) and how singer Patrick Stump treats every lyric as if it's sacrosanct, never acknowledging that there just might be a pun there. Stump's one quirk is an unhealthy obsession with Elvis Costello, borrowing so many of Costello's overheated mannerisms that when the man himself appears for a show-stopping cameo on "What a Catch, Donnie," it takes a moment to register that he's really in the studio singing on an overblown song that also features members of Gym Class Heroes and the Academy Is..., and even contains a passing Beatles allusion when somebody sings "Sugar, We're Going Down" on the close out, just like how John sang "She Loves You" at the end of "All You Need Is Love." Whether intentional or not, there's a certain glee to FOB's pop absurdity because their cheerfully careless genre-bending has no reverence: fitting all these sounds and jokes into a pop song is all a game and it's one listeners can share, whether they're playing spot-the-allusion or just succumbing to the sugary hooks clustered within one track. It would be more fun if these hooks were polished into something resembling a constructed pop song -- FOB's melodic phrases don't necessarily lead to the next -- and if the production weren't so brittle and digital. When there's as much going on in a mix as there is here, there needs to be room to breathe and there is none on Folie ŕ Deux, with every little detail louder than the next. It also might help if Stump for once would realize that he is singing the words of an unrepentant goofball who gave his newborn son a name whose initials are BMW -- everybody else in the band and audience is having some fun, why not Stump? -- but that disconnect is yet another way that Fall Out Boy capture the Zeitgeist of the latter half of the 2000s better than any band: there's so much going on in Folie ŕ Deux, you either choose to take it all seriously or take none of it. Fall Out Boy make as much sense when heard either way.
2008 Fueled By Ramen Buy (Amazon.com) 6.5/10 (Note: Also published at Blogcritics.org) The lyrics of Folie A Deux... *** I'm coming apart at the seams. Pete Wentz. Patrick Stumph. Two names you should commit to memory, if you haven't already. Arguably the biggest name in rock, Fall Out Boy is the band to be right now, like it or not. They're not coming apart any time soon. But... Doc,
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Fall Out Boy has always been an interesting band to me, but in an effort to prevent this review from turning into an essay I will only explain this briefly.By having an introverted bass player who writes all of the band's sharp and poignantly lyrics and having a lead singer who, among other things, is a producer and good friends with most of the popular music industry, Fall Out Boy teeters the ...
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This week, a few decent CDs are released in order to be prepared to be stuffed into Christmas stockings. Which one will be in yours? Fall Out Boy - Folie A DeuxThe All-American Rejects - When the World Comes DownKeyshia Cole - A Different MeAnthony Hamilton - The Point of it AllJamie Foxx - IntuitionPlies - Da RealistSaliva - Cinco DiabloLouis CK - Chewed UpSavage - Savage IslandHeavy D - Vibes...
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Leave it to Fall Out Boy to name their second single "Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet." Folie A Deux (out November 4th), indeed. Maybe Folie a Quarte? Either way, "Headfirst" is is relentlessly catchy — but if "I Don't Care" didn't catch on (it fell disgracefully out of iTune's Top 40 less than a [...]
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Fall Out Boy may have pushed back the release of their forthcoming album Folie A Deux 6 weeks (to December 16th), but this week the FOB's are releasing "What A Catch, Donnie" as their third digital single; a part of their continueing effort to "countdown to" Folie A Duex. This single is their most impressive yet. [...]
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This week, a few decent CDs are released in order to be prepared to be stuffed into Christmas stockings. Which one will be in yours? Fall Out Boy - Folie A DeuxThe All-American Rejects - When the World Comes DownKeyshia Cole - A Different MeAnthony Hamilton - The Point of it AllJamie Foxx - IntuitionPlies - Da RealistSaliva - Cinco DiabloLouis CK - Chewed UpSavage - Savage IslandHeavy D - Vibes...
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OOHH, yay. I've been anticipating single releases and leaks (hehe) of Fall Out Boy 's upcoming album. Although Fall Out Boy may have pushed back the release of their forthcoming album Folie A Duex, 6 weeks (to December 16th), But FOB now released, "What A Catch, Donnie" as their third digital single; a part of their continueing effort to "countdown to" Folie A Duex. And they did much pleasure ...
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In their continuing quest to get people to give a crap about Folie A Deux , Fall Out Boy released a third track from the album (now slated for release on December 16) yesterday. "What A Catch, Donnie" is certain to become a crowd favorite at shows, with a glorious singalong to end the track (featuring the voices of a number of FOB's friends, among them Elvis Costello, Gabe Saporta, Brandon Urie...
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Fall Out Boy has always been an interesting band to me, but in an effort to prevent this review from turning into an essay I will only explain this briefly.By having an introverted bass player who writes all of the band's sharp and poignantly lyrics and having a lead singer who, among other things, is a producer and good friends with most of the popular music industry, Fall Out Boy teeters the ...
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The latest single to leak off of Fall Out Boy's Countdown to Folie a Deux campaign, "America's Suitehearts" is avengefully dull. Did Folie A Deux really run out of impressive songs? If not, why isn't Fall Out Boy releasing those? Or maybe I'm just having a crummy Sunday? You be the judge: Download: Fall Out Boy - [...]
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Did you know Fall Out Boy were releasing a new record on Tuesday? If you did, you seem to be in the minority. The once ubiquitous punk band have but one mild radio hit in play right now in "I Don't Care" (#22 on the Top 40 this week). It's true, Folie A Deux lacks the immediate gratification that previous FOB albums gave, but this album signals Fall Out Boy's graduation from the standard pop-pu...
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2008 Fueled By Ramen Buy (Amazon.com) 6.5/10 (Note: Also published at Blogcritics.org) The lyrics of Folie A Deux... *** I'm coming apart at the seams. Pete Wentz. Patrick Stumph. Two names you should commit to memory, if you haven't already. Arguably the biggest name in rock, Fall Out Boy is the band to be right now, like it or not. They're not coming apart any time soon. But... Doc,
More >
Leave it to Fall Out Boy to name their second single "Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet." Folie A Deux (out November 4th), indeed. Maybe Folie a Quarte? Either way, "Headfirst" is is relentlessly catchy — but if "I Don't Care" didn't catch on (it fell disgracefully out of iTune's Top 40 less than a [...]
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MUSIC NEWS - FALL OUT BOY members PETE WENTZ and PATRICK STUMP were nearly arrested on Monday, Dec 15 in NYC after they attempted an improptu acoustic concert to promote FOB's new Folie a Deux album. They set up gear in Greenwich Village's Washington Square Park in NYC and thrilled passers-by with an unplugged set of FALL OUT BOY hits. But their performing wasn't received well by the NYPD...
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Music News - They're at it again! Fall Out Boy will attempt to set another Guinness World Record. This time it's for the Most Interviews on Radio in a 24 Hour Period by a Pair of Two . Pete Wentz & Patrick Stump will team up to take over the airwaves in as many stations across the fifty states in a span of 24 hrs via "satellite interviews" from Premiere Studios in LA. Their record quest will b...
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I know it's not Tuesday, but we thought we would spread the New Tunes Tuesday love to Thursday. Although I am generally skeptical of what Fall Out Boy can bring to the table, the title of their new album, Folie a Deux, intrigues me. It literally means "a madness shared by two" in French. I don't think that their new album is quite madness, but it is consistent Fall Out Boy material, complete
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Here can be something remarkably transcendent about dumb music, a kind of breezy conceptual freedom that comes with performers who shamelessly own up to their own vapidity. Folie Deux seems to prove, if nothing else, that Fall Out Boy is good at masking their best qualities and pushing forward their most annoying ones. Folie Deux simply cannot sit still.
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 "Folie ŕ Deux")
