'Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace'
The Foo Fighters are an interesting animal...not really heavy metal/hard rock, but not quite true alt/indie rock either. I think that's why i've considered myself an admirer since their S/T debut and pretty big fan upon the release of the classic 'The Colour & The Shape'. They've always sort of 'bridged a gap' between those two genres I love and have gone on to rise above both to become a true ROCK band w/ no hyphen preceding it.
Working w/ Gil Norton (Pixies) for the first time since 'Colour', 'Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace' doesn't quite recapture that paring's magic...but may be their most solid output in it's entirety since. Really though, they're a different band than they were then and this album is filled w/ tunes that can fill the very stadiums the band finds itself playing to nowadays.
Case in point, the lead off single, 'The Pretender', I posted the vid to a while back...a tune which has since grown on me to a point of really digging it. The big sounding arena-friendly rock continues on my personal favorites 'Erase Replace', 'Long Road to Ruin' and 'Cheer Up Boys (Your Makeup Is Running)'...you can almost feel the breeze from the Pete Townshend-esque guitar windmills.
The surprise track for me is 'Summers End'...a classic rock radio throwback that sounds like the Eagles on steroids. Not at all earth-shattering, but a perfect roll-the-windows down and head down the highway track. There are a couple of forays into the more acoustic jams that Dave has seemed to become fond of and, while not my favorites, I actually find myself not skipping past.
Bottom line, as I stated earlier, this the first Foo album in a long while I can honestly say I enjoy in it's entirety. No 2-3 killer tracks w/ varying degrees of no more or less than decent music peppered around them. This is a great album. A great album that via a pre-order from iTunes, gets you early access to show tickets and a bonus track...worth every penny. Check out a track in the sample area prior to the album's release on 25-Sep and then pre-order that bitch!
3 comments:
Nice review, man. I, too, am most fond of The Colour and the Shape, with There is Nothing Left to Lose trailing just a few steps behind.
There are two tracks on the new one that really stand out for me. The first is 'Statues' – a very Wings-esque track. Dave, like Macca, has always had a killer sense of melody, so I guess it makes sense.
The second is 'Home.' Never has Dave's voice sounded so raw and not-studio-perfect, but it works. I'm glad to see them step out of their comfort zone.
BROOKE! Hey buddy, thanks for stopping by. Totally agree on both counts. Like I said, even the less rocking and downtempo stuff still...well...rocks.
Yes it does. The wife and I caught both the ROCK! and Acoustic shows from the "In Your Honor" tour, and they were equally impressive. I look forward to hearing this new batch of songs performed live.
Keep on bloggin', Kev. I enjoy the hell outta it.
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