Folie à Deux (Deluxe Version)

iTunes Review

Here’s the abbreviated guest list: Lil Wayne, Debbie Harry, producer Pharrell Williams, and the center of Patrick Stump’s hook-slinging universe, Elvis Costello. Elvis’ appearance is delivered alongside sweeping strings, melodramatic melodies and a chorus line of Warped Tour vets (members of Panic At the Disco, Cobra Starship, Gym Class Heroes, The Academy Is … and more). Bizarre? The torch-passing duet is quite seamless, actually — enough that you might not even notice Costello’s presence the first time around. That’s the important thing to remember here: Fall Out Boy never lets its famous friends get in the way of each song’s postmodern spin on what it means to be, well, Fall Out Boy. Among the album’s twilight- zone touches are the industrial strength synths of “I Don’t Care” (think latter-day A.F.I.), the hardcore howling (backed by Blondie herself) of “West Coast Smoker,” the piano-man lead and smoky horns of “20 Dollar Nose Bleed,” and the sudden blue-eyed soul outro of “W.A.M.S.” All and all, it’s enough to overshadow the pontificating of bassist/band mouthpiece Pete Wentz. It’s kinda hard to get mad at the guy when you’re busy singing every one of his songs.