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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Pop-rockers get props from Jay-Z and Babyface

There's a kind of blissful arrogance that comes along with titling the first track on your album "Thriller" with zero hint of irony. Fall Out Boy, composed of earnest singer/guitarist Patrick Stump, impish bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz and the other two guys who get less attention, namely lead guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley, embrace the idea that arrogance is bliss on their fourth LP, which is probably the best album of a young 2007 so far. \nDishing out enough power chord riffs and syrupy sweet sing-along choruses in the first five tracks to make any record exec's head spin with joy, Wentz, Stump and the band have cemented their place as some of modern pop music's best harmonic craftsmen, managing to render the question of whether they sold out and went Hollywood somewhere along the line a nonfactor. A couple of listens to "The Take Over, The Break's Over" and the Babyface-produced "I'm Like a Lawyer With the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" and you'll care less whether Wentz actually banged Lindsay Lohan. \nSpeaking of silly song titles, Sufjan Stevens soldiers on as Fall Out Boy's only real competition nowadays. Titles like "The (After) Life of the Party," "The Carpal Tunnel of Love" and "Bang the Doldrums" are unnecessary enough to get millions of eyes rolling, but at least the songs are solid. A song that's not so solid, however, is the proverbial radio hit "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race," which is basically an R&B drum-machine beat and a constant repetition of the song title, punctuated by some woo-hoos in the middle of a quickie chorus. \nIt's surprising that Fall Out Boy didn't come right out and plant our asses firmly on the floor by making "Hum Hallelujah" the first single. With its rousing chorus, monster riffs and shout out to Leonard Cohen, it's the best track on a record with some damn good ones. The album itself drags slightly somewhere in the second half, and 50 minutes seems about 12 minutes and three tracks too long for an album of nothing but well-orchestrated pop. \nSay what you will about Fall Out Boy, but these guys from Chicago know what they do well and pretty much stick to it, with the exception of the vocal and piano lament "Golden." The closer, "I've Got All This Ringing in My Ears and None on My Fingers," with Stump singing wistfully of "New York eyes" and "Chicago thighs" is a fitting temporary send-off from a band that, at least according to Jay-Z's spoken-word intro, has finally made it. We'll see if making it suits them.

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