If you have not brushed up on your psychiatric terms lately Folie A Deux translates into “a madness share by two” and is also the title of the newest Fall Out Boy CD. In the recent couple of years this band’s fame and popularity have been growing rapidly. Member of the band are as follows: Patrick Stump vocals and guitar, Pete Wentz lyrics and bass guitar, Joe Trohman lead guiar, and Andy Hurley on drums. In 2003, the album Take This to Your Gave was released to much underground success on the label Fueled By Ramen. Fall Out Boy hit the main stream two years later with the single “Sugar We’re Going Down” off of From Under the Cork Tree. Mid last year, the band sent internet fanatics and super fans alike on a wild goose hunt giving them clues to something new the band was working on. A month later the band announced the release date of their new album.
The album starts off with the 2:18 long prelude called “Lullabye”. The song uses a haunting organ while Stump’s vocals are nothing short of epic. A good start to draw people in and something very not Fall Out Boy-ish.
As guitar power chords start to drown out the Organ music “Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes” comes in and completely changes gears. Once you get past the piano part in the very beginning this song reminds you why you fell in love with Fall Out Boy in the first place. Lyrically the song sounds like a B-side off of From Under the Cork Tree.
Next is the first single off of the album “I Don’t Care”. When I first heard this song way back in September I was skeptical about the album as a whole. After a couple of listens I understood why FOB chose this as their first single. The song is loud and in your face (as in your face as a Fall Out Boy song can be). And although Wentz’s message may not be completely clear as to what he doesn’t care about, we can all relate to the song in our own personal ways. The video for this single has some famous faces in it including pop punk legend Mark Hoppus .
“She’s My Winona” keeps your foot tapping. The chorus seems slightly repetitive though and musically the song sounds to close to the previous for comfort. Not a stand out tune. The next track is my second favorite on the album.
“American’s Suitehearts” has everything a good Fall Out Boy song should. The lyrics are snotty and poke fun at the friends one might encounter when striving for fame. Trohman’s guitar riffs will be stuck in your head all day while Stump belts at vocals with his larger than life voice. Fall Out Boy enlist a lot of famous friends to add some character to some of their songs.
“Head First Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet” is the first example because the insanely talented Elvis Costello lends his vocal talents to the song. But you’ll have to listen very closely or you might miss exactly where he sings. Even with Costello this song sounds like something you might find off of a Panic At The Disco CD meets something Danny Elfman might have composed. The piano parts make it seem too dramatic even for Fall Out Boy.
Next is another song that just sinks into the album. “The (Shipped) Gold Standard” is not horrible but nothing about it will catch your attention. Don’t feel bad skipping this song.
The lyrics in “Coffee’s For Closers” seem to be pulled right out of the recent political headlines. Stump sings “change will come” while the rest of the band puts everything they have got into their instruments. Even if you do not agree with its political message, the song can certainly open your eyes to see the light in anything bad in your life this is why this song is my favorite.
“What a Catch Donnie” comes in next slow. The only thing that keeps this song from being completely boring is the part in the end where a couple of Fall Out Boy’s friends and lable mates take their turn at singing famous choruses that made the band a household name. Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta, Gym Class Heroes’s Travis McCoy, The Cab’s Alex DeLeon, and The Academy Is…’s William Beckett one by one sing verses from everything from “Where Is Your Boy Tonight?” to “Thanks For The Memories”.
The album gets a little repetitive again with “27”. You’ll start thinking. “Didn’t I just hear this song a little while ago?” No, there’s nothing wrong with your stereo. Although the lyrics are not half bad if you can get over the fact that musically we have pretty much already heard this song before. It’s not a complete miss, but not a hit either.
“Tiffany Blews” treads the water of “Selling Out” while it features the current biggest name in rap music Lil Wayne. Surprisingly the rapper does not even rap in the song, he “sings”. The track does have a lot of hip hop influence but it ends up working.
Thankfully “W.A.M.S” starts to pick up the album where it was beginning to trail off. This is Wentz’s writing as we know it, bitter at some past lover. If the tune didn’t sound so clean, we might mistake it as a lost track from the Take This to Your Grave era.
Fall Out Boy again tap into their inner Panic at the Disco with “20 Dollar Nose Bleed”. If it weren’t for Stump’s unique voice you might mistake this for something off of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Even the use of horn instruments makes this song sound like something Panic might have put out three years ago. We’ve been there and done that.
With the last track on Folie a Duex Fall Out Boy pull out everything they have. The song sounds less commercially appealing than anything on this album. FOB even recruited Blondie’s Debbie Harry to show how in touch they are with their retro roots. Harry’s scratchy vocals contrast nicely with Stump’s clean and suave style. Overall the song is a nice ender to the album. It picks you back up where you might have gotten lost with a couple of previous songs by being the hardest song on the album.
While Folie A Deux, filled with its share of hits and misses, may not be Fall Out Boy’s best record to date it keeps die hard fans satisfied and rakes in some new fans at the same time. Commercially it’s not as appealing as their last CD Infinity On High, one can tell a lot of sweat and tears when into producing this work. I liked this album a lot and am sure my love for it will only grow more in time. I think the band got carried away with over producing it. If you were to take away the polishing, glitz and name dropping you would have something that would bridge the gap between “New” and “Old” Fall Out Boy. I would recommend this CD to any previous Fall Out Boy fan and those of you who have doubted them. Folie A Deux is a nice album to complete your still growing Fall Out Boy discography.
