The title track on Fall Out Boy’s latest album, “Save Rock and Roll,” is an anthem of nostalgia for a lost youth. “Blood brothers in desperation,” sings frontman Patrick Stump, “The voice of our generation/How’d it get to be only me?”
To be sure, the boast “voice of our generation” sounds cocky, but it isn’t ridiculous. For several years, the Chicago four-piece was widely considered the best pop-punk group getting radio time. The post of “Best Pop Punk Band,” at least on a mainstream level, is still wide open, but Fall Out Boy’s new goal, apparently, is to save rock and roll. What, exactly, rock needs to be saved from — and why Fall Out Boy is qualified to be the savior — remains unclear.
Where Stump’s soaring choral melodies used to leap over genre boundaries and lyricist/bassist Pete Wentz’s clever one-liners used to wink with a strange combination of swagger and vulnerability, much of Fall Out Boy’s sound now reflects its major labelmates’ sound.
“Just One Yesterday” begins with a singing riff drum beat shockingly similar to Adele’s “Rolling In the Deep.” Nearly every track features a dance-pop beat reminiscent of Stump’s pop side project. The first song, “The Phoenix,” features a driving one-two beat in the chorus. Stump’s voice soars into the stratosphere in the chorus of “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark,” which perhaps best exemplies the rock sound Fall Out Boy wants to save.
What is perhaps most interesting about “Save Rock and Roll” is that Wentz’s lyrics seem to be both self-aware and defensive about the musical transformation at the same time. “I will defend the faith/Going down swinging/I will save the songs/That we can’t stop singing,” Stump sings in the title track. But whatever faith Stump claims to be defending likely isn’t the faith his listeners remember.
If listeners enjoy the dance beats, they will likely enjoy “Save Rock and Roll.” If they prefer the fast punk beats and the boyish energy, charm and enthusiasm of Fall Out Boy’s earlier work, “Save Rock and Roll” will simply be the final step away from what they used to be, which in itself makes the nostalgia seem even more appropriate.
Rating: Two stars
