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| Somebody accused me of having emo hair the other week, which seemed to make me the obvious choice to review Infinity on High, the latest album by Chicago-based hard-core act Fall Out Boy. |
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Confusingly, though, FOB (as I like to call out them) seem to be hell-bent on distancing themselves as much as possible from the e-word. There are a number of swipes at what they persist in referring to as the “scene” (“this ain’t a scene, it’s a goddamn arms race”; “make us poster boys for your scene, we aren’t making any acceptance speeches”). R&B producer Babyface has been drafted in on two tracks, and there’s an intro by Jay-Z (don’t get too excited: it’s pretty much “Hi, I’m Jay-Z. You may remember me from ‘Crazy In Love’. Now give it up for Fall Out Boy!”). The packaging looks like it cost someone a lot of money.
But more importantly, there’s a wide-ranging breadth and depth to the album: while still essentially a punk record, it touches on FM rock and pure pop, lashed together with relentlessly sparkling production and some great tunes. Once Jay-Z has said his piece, opening track ‘Thriller’ settles down into a familiar pattern with its big nu-metal chords and catchy refrain of “long live the car-crash hearts”. However, that’s probably the most Kerrang!-friendly track on the album. Current single ‘This Ain’t A Scene…’ sounds like an R&B tune until the punk-pop chorus kicks in. ‘I’m Like A Lawyer With The Way I’m Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You)’ (a title as brilliant as it is grammatically iffy) was one of the tracks produced by Babyface, and sounds it: it wouldn’t be at all out of place in the Billboard chart, or the daytime Radio One playlist. The other one, ‘Thnks fr the Mmrs’, even more so: you could imagine Backstreet Boys or N*Sync or someone singing it. In a good way.
Elsewhere, ‘I’ve Got All This Ringing In My Ears And None On My Fingers’ (what?), with its pounding piano, has a peculiarly camp strutting quality to it which Scissor Sisters, or even Sir Elton himself, would be proud of. ‘Golden’ is nothing less than a fully-fledged ‘80s power ballad, which veers dangerously close to ‘Power Of Love’ (the Frankie Goes To Hollywood one that always rears its gruesome head at Christmas) - but which, somehow, manages to be great in spite of that. ‘Hum Hallelujah’ contains what the sleeve notes refer to as an “interpolation” of the Leonard Cohen song. I could go on.
Yes sir, Infinity On High is a surprisingly enjoyable collection of songs, and one which would seem to put Fall Out Boy in the same stadium-rock bracket as Foo Fighters or Red Hot Chilli Peppers. And there’s a sheep on the cover! What more could you ask for? |
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| Mat Beal - 9/10 |
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Name:
allicat
| Date:
23/04/07 | Reply
Don't you get it? like, you hear ringing in your ears, but you dont have a ring on your finger...aka a girlfriend, i mean, i'm like dumb, and i get it...think about it..
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Name:
MB
| Date:
23/04/07 | Reply
I think I get it, but it still doesn't really make sense. It should be 'I've Got Ringing In My Ears But No Rings On My Fingers (ie I'm Single - Form An Orderly Queue, Ladies!)'. I'm deducting this album one point for poor syntax. And possibly not being as good as I thought it was when I wrote this review and I was out of my head on Night Nurse.
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