Folie à Deux

Performer: Fall Out Boy
Engineer: Erich Talaba; Zeph Sowers; Kiki Cholewka; Neal Avron...
Producer: Neal Avron...
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Audio Mixer: Neal Avron. For their third major label release, Fall Out Boy return as twice-minted multi-platinum celebrities and deftly deliver what they came to: a huge rock album by a huge rock band. Having already lost any shred of punkdom that the '00s strand of emo ever had, the Illinois quartet seems unfettered by their chosen genre's boundaries and dive headlong into a loud stew of affecting power pop, glam, and classic rock hooks. The debut single, "I Don't Care," reimagines "Spirit In the Sky" as an anthem for the skinny-jeans-and-guyliner set with scathing bon mots like "I don't care what you think as long as it's about me" courtesy of bassist-lyricist Pete Wentz. Singer-guitarist Patrick Stimp adds newly soulful and loose vocal phrasing to his usual arsenal of open-throated choruses--with particular strength on cuts such as "Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" and "What A Catch, Donnie," a stringed power ballad that features guest appearances by Elvis Costello and Travis McCoy of the Gym Class Heroes. Also featuring guest appearances by Pharrell Williams and Debbie Harry, FOLIE A DEUX doesn't break the mold, but will remind everyone of why Fall Out Boy conquered the world in the first place.

Rolling Stone (p.66) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]heir most exuberantly cheeky release yet. It's also their most rock-star-ish....Stump is emerging as one of the world's most unlikely blue-eyed-soul stars..." Spin (p.112) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[W]hile the gleaming power chords of 'America's Suitehearts' are predictably pogotastic, their left-field forays into disco rockabilly and, yes, soulful balladry are much more impressive." Entertainment Weekly (p.60) - "FOLIE kicks off smartly with the near-perfect radio valentine 'Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes,' a towering guitar anthem built on wedding-march organs, thundering drums, and singer Patrick Stump's limber vocals." -- Grade: B Billboard (p.39) - "FOLIE is easily the group's most adventurous outing yet, with assured forays into blue-eyed soul, arena-ready glam and '80s-style electro." Mojo (Publisher) (p.104) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[B]assist Pete Wentz's lyrics essay adolescent angst with a gift for sardonic double-edged wordplay, leavening the drama with dark wit." Blender (Magazine) (pp.75-76) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The unlikely highlight is the piano ballad, 'What a Catch, Donnie,' where Stump shows off his R&B vocal chops on some of Wentz's most over-the-top lyrics."

The mercurial term "emo" has meant many different things since its first appearance in the mid-1980s hardcore punk underground. By the mid 2000s, the term was best exemplified by the band Fall Out Boy. Playing an accessible brand of melodic rock marked by clever, classically angsty lyrics and the blistering energy of punk's harsher sub-genres, Fall Out Boy rocketed to near TRL superstardom following the release of 2005's FROM UNDER THE CORK TREE.

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.3

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