My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue

Album review

Since the release of Take This to Your Grave in May 2003, Fall Out Boy seemed splashed across the concert listing pages of every fishwrap from Bakersfield to Buffalo. Still, they found time to record this tide-me-over acoustic EP. "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy" gets the unplugged treatment, and though their titles are ultimately more memorable than the new songs themselves, "It's Not a Side Effect of the Cocaine, I Am Thinking It Must Be Love," and particularly "Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner" are filled with the rousing vocals and emo-inflected sonic heartbreak that made Grave so memorable. The band's rhythm section is jobless for My Heart Will Always Be, until their ambitious cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart," which wisely layers the original's memorable bassline under FOB's normal warm urgency. The tenor of the song changes, certainly -- the clean cut kids in Fall Out Boy might've had a few prom dates break up with them over the years, but they're not going to access Ian Curtis' broken emotions and fatalism. They don't try. It's just a nice cover to flesh out the EP, adding a bit of look-back cred while stitching another heart on to the sleeve. In addition to the music, Fall Out fans will enjoy My Heart Will Always Be's DVD portion, which includes videos, more acoustic performances, a fan photo gallery, and the usual jumble of behind the scenes footage and band-related factoids.

© Johnny Loftus /TiVo