Infinity on High

一旦一支地下团体浮出表面，那么回到原来的状态几乎是不可能的，尤其是那些在尝过主流音乐所带来的经济上的成功后，My Chemical Romance就已经证明了这一点，而现在Fall Out Boy也终于发行了他们的第二张大厂牌的专辑，也是他们的第四张专辑，导致他们成功的From Under the Cork Tree还可以听出那种从indie到主流的蜕变，而这张Infinity on High就彻底是一张主流音乐打造的大牌专辑，甚至去年Fall Out Boy就希望Babyface能够为他们制作音乐，这觉得不停留于嘴上说说，Babyface还真的为专辑制作了一些歌曲，我想歌迷完全完全没有必要对此大惊小怪，写了Un-break My Heart的Diane Warren不是为Aerosmith写了I Don't Want to Miss a Thing吗？但我也感保证你听不出哪一首歌是Babyface制作的。

虽然专辑的第一首单曲被定为是This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race，但是最早亮相的却是The Carpal Tunnel Of Love，他要数专辑中少有的几首硬派歌曲之一，相比之下，This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race则来得流行的说，都快成了一首power pop单曲了，这次名字最长的歌曲是I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You)，他的流行旋律是专辑中最为醒目的，Golden有种John Legeng音乐的感觉，有时这样的一张专辑感觉就是用摇滚的方法来制作一张流行专辑，保留了流行那种琅琅上口的特点，但被这么一折腾的流行音乐又不是少年少女们能够作为American Idol演唱曲目的歌曲，我能够列出唱片中数不清的好听的歌曲，像Bang The Doldrums，Thnks Fr Th Mmrs等等，Fall Out Boy唯一放弃的，和My Chemical Romance一样的是emo，与其说他们是emo团体，不如说是punk或者干脆是pop punk，似乎他们忘记了在不打破自己integrity的同时，同样能够做出好的专辑，我不是在说这是一张差劲的专辑，但我觉得Fall Out Boy能够做的更好。顺便说一句，有没有听出来为专辑开场的是谁？是浑身不搭界的，更不是混音师搞错了的Jay-Z。

A funny thing happened to Fall Out Boy on the road to Infinity on High: they got famous. Before 2005's From Under the Cork Tree they were just another pop-punk unit from suburban Chicago happy to break even at shows with gas money. Next thing anyone knew, they were headlining arenas and being heralded as the new face of pop-punk alongside their peers in My Chemical Romance. It was a position that never seemed to rest easy with the guys, and because of this, Infinity on High seems a bit conflicted. Fall Out Boy wants to charm everyone here. They want to prove themselves to critics by moving past the confines of emo, allowing a love of all things pop to come right to the forefront. Yet they also want to resonate directly with those day-one fans who may long for the intimate VFW shows of yesterday. This disparity makes points of the record seem awkward, and for the first time, the band appears to over-think things. Pete Wentz's lyrics are oftentimes resentful, full of fame-induced angst, and really emphasize his need to drive home his position that stardom has not changed the band. So it's in weird contrast to these sentiments that Jay-Z is the one opening the album and calling out haters who said FOB would fail. The glorification of their celebrity abruptly switches into Patrick Stump stating (pleading?) that the band is not buying into the hype -- nor do they even want it. "Make us poster boys for your scene/But we are not making an acceptance speech" is defiant, and when his sweet voice asserts, "Crowds are won and lost and won again/But our hearts beat for the diehards," it's clear that FOB still holds their roots close. But this is contradicted by the fact that the album's majority is far and away their poppiest material to date, more pop/rock than pop-punk, which inevitably means more interesting to those who know them just as that "Dance, Dance" band with the media-whoring bassist, Pete Wentz.... Read More...