Artist Of The Week: Fall Out Boy

This past week I haven't been listening to one particular band that much. Instead, I've been going through my library of over 15,000 songs, trying to listen to all of them. This week, I've been going through the A's, so my week has been filled with bands such as ABBA, A-Ha, Amy Macdonald and the Audreys. However, I haven't listen to any of them enough for them to truly classify as artist of the week material. Then, only a couple of days ago, I heard Fall Out Boy's new album, Save Rock And Roll.
   Quite simply, it rules. They're a band I haven't really had a lot of exposure to in the past despite having two of their albums, Infinity On High and Folie A Deux sitting on my computer and being obsessed with Thnks Fr Th Mmrs (which is great for putting the lyrics into conversation and seeing who notices), but then I listened to My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up) and it was completely revolutionary and utterly brillaint. It's just such a ridiculously catchy song (it's been in my head all week) and I love it to pieces. After downloading the album, I can safely say that the rest of the songs are also up to this high standard.

   The Phoenix is another great song with a fantastic, intense violin backing track and some catchy lyrics ('I'm gonna change you like a remix, then I'll raise you like a phoenix'). It's a headbanger to be sure. Alone Together is a little less intense and ends up feeling like a more average pop-song. This isn't really a problem, especially with lead singer Patrick Stump's wonderful vocals, and it's better than most modern pop songs. Where Did The Party Go is one of my least favourite songs from the album. It just seems less original than the rest of the album.
   But then we have the utterly fantastic Just One Yesterday, which features Foxes (best known for working with Zedd on the track Clarity, which is one of my favourite songs at the moment). It's a beautiful song with a moving message, again augmented by the catchy music and wonderful lyrics. One of my favourite songs off the album. The Mighty Fall is not the sort of song I would usually like, with it coming across as some sort of angry ballad, but it's also quite dancy (it's not hard to imagine this track being remixed to be more dubstep) so another winner.
   Miss Missing You starts like an eighties pop song (which is never a bad thing) and has some great imagery, but the idea of missing missing someone is a relatively common one in pop music, but they tackle it in a way that's immensely enjoyable. The last four songs of the album I haven't got around to listening to as much yet, so my impressions of these are my initial ones, so they might change yet. Death Valley isn't as good as a song lyrically, but musically is just as strong as the other tracks. Young Volcanoes is a great, uplifting song (with a disturbing video) but it's another winner. Rat A Tat is probably my least favourite song off the album. It just isn't up to the standard of the rest of the album. Slightly disappointing, really.
   The final song of the album, the titular track is another fantastic song, featuring Elton John and a simple backing track that builds and builds and awesome, stirring lyrics. It ends up being one of the most beautiful songs on the album.
   Save Rock And Roll is one of my favourite albums I've listened to this year and is an early candidate for Best Album Of The Year. Anyway, here is my favourite track from the album for your listening pleasure!

Until next time!
Thanks,
James