Fall Out Boy emerge with their breakout album From Under the Cork Tree as one of few bands that dare to have a sense of humor. Track names like 'Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year' and 'I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me' (which none of the vocals have anything to do with), hint at what's to come, and the opening song 'Our Lawyers Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued' and 2nd track 'Of All The Gin Joints In The World,' while not, in a critical eye, groundbreaking, are unforgettable in this context for the fun lyrics 'We're only liars but we're the best / We're only good for the latest fashion trends / We're only good cause you can have almost famous friends', resonating guitars and lead singer Patrick Stump's anthemic filling voice.

Stump then demands us, in a fantastic falsetto, to 'Dance, Dance!' in an intensely catchy track with the same name. The success of single 'Sugar, We're Going Down' displays again the potential that the vocalist has to breathe life into an otherwise mediocre tune. He adopts a lighter, emo-y voice to pipe out 'We're going down / Down in an earlier round / And sugar, we're going down / Swinging' a line that, looked at closely, doesn't really make sense, but in the heat of the moment, backed by echoy guitars, is impossible not to enjoy.

The album falters slightly on 'Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner,' a waver from which it never fully recovers. The lone acoustic guitar strips the band of the ambience they've maintained up to now and the weakness of Stump's voice without anything behind it is rudely exposed.

'I've Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea You Should Shut Your Mouth' takes a turn for a darker, more serious side of the band - 'Please put the doctor on the phone 'cause I'm not making any sense / Blame anyone but me for this mess' - and establishes itself as the album's semi-ballad.
Tracks 7-9 are just the first four songs recycled, and the last three tracks are notable, but not quite as impressively formulated. 'Slept' is an all-out attempt at grandiose, weaving crowd vocals into the song. 'A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me' is a mild standout, showcasing the repetition of she said' in the chorus (although it's nothing unheard of) and 'Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying' is a confusing close. It sees the return of the falsetto, but concludes 'I'll put a new address / On the same old loneliness / When breathing just passes the time / Until we all just get old and die...' It drops off and leaves you hanging. Was that a joke or was that serious? If it's the real deal, it doesn't belong on this album that's been so good-natured up to the last 30 seconds, and it's something you'd expect from a band a lot more depressed than Fall Out Boy.

Heavy: Hints at it but not really
Language: No

Recommended: Yes

Write a Review