Back in the summer of 2005, the Foo Fighters released their fifth studio album In Your Honor. Dave Grohl pronounced that the album is the “ultimate” Foo Fighter’s album. The album came as a double disc album, with the first disc being hard rocking songs, and the second album featuring soft, acoustic driven songs. Guests on the second album included John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Norah Jones, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. In Your Honor is one of the Foo Fighters’ most successful and highly publicized album to date.
While many critics gave the album rave reviews, I was not one of them. The rock album drew thin, with the only enjoyable songs on the album being the singles “Best of You”, “DOA”, and “No Way Back”, with the rest being completely unbearable. Despite all of the guest appearances on the acoustic disc, as a whole it was a complete mess. To date, I believe that I have given the entire acoustic album a complete listen-through only once.
Ever since the beginning of the summer, when I first heard news that the Foo Fighters were releasing another album, I couldn’t wait for it to arrive, mostly because of my disappointment in the last album. When I discovered that Gil Norton (who produced their second album The Colour and the Shape, which was re-mastered and re-released this year as the 10th anniversary of the original release of the album) was producing the album, I was certain the it would be a success. On September 25th, the Foo Fighters released their sixth studio album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.
The album starts off with a bang with the first single from the album, “The Pretender”. The track is a hard rocking return to the early days of the Foo Fighters. The chorus is very catchy:
What if I say I’m not like the others?
What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
You’re the Pretender
What if I say I’ll never surrender?
So who are you?
The first single also includes a very cool music video, with a SWAT team attempting to attack the band:
While the album starts off very strong with “The Pretender”, if unfortunately fades from there. It seems that Dave Grohl and Co. could not steer away from the half acoustic/half rock idea that was used on In Your Honor. Instead of having separate acoustic and rock songs, there are multiple tracks where both of these ideas are meshed together. The tracks “Let it Die”, “Erase/Replace”, “Come Alive, and “But, Honestly” all have a similar recipe; they all end with hard rocking guitars, and include a soft acoustic intro or bridge. While “Erase/Replace” uses the recipe with the most success, the for mentioned tracks become awfully repetitive and boring. There are some enjoyable filler songs on the album, including the acoustic track “Stranger Things Have Happened”. The more enjoyable tracks are ones that most listeners will casually listen through. “Long Road to Ruin” and “Summer’s End” are both upbeat, 90’s rock songs that the Foo Fighters are known for.
The end of the album includes some interesting experimentation. “The Ballad of Beaconsfield Miners” is a sort-of tribute to a man Dave Grohl met before he was involved in the Beaconsfield mine collapse in Tasmania, Australia. The instrumental track guests Kaki King, and is mostly acoustic guitar picking. Another experimental tune is last one of the album, “Home”. The ballad includes only Dave Grohl singing and softly playing the piano. The track includes a tie-in to the album title:
Echoes and silence, patience and grace
And all of these moments
I’ll never replace
While both of these are an interesting change from the Foo Fighters norm, they both come as awkward and out of place on the album. These would both have a better effect if they were included in some sort of B-side or bonus disc. Personally, I would of much rather seen some more upbeat rock songs at the end of the album, instead of these two head scratchers.
Before I bought Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, I hoped for a follow up album that was better than In Your Honor. Overall, the Foo Fighters put together a decent album. The album had a better structure than their previous album. Unfortunately, the album left me wanting more, for it did not meet my high expectations.
Key Tracks:
- Long Road to Ruin
- Summer's End
- The Pretender
1 comment:
Ah, The Pretender by the Foo Fighters. I've seen this video multiple times on TV and I have to say that I really do enjoy it. First, because it would be awesome to be rocking out on my drum set while being entirely drenched in some random liquid, the same liquid that has so much force that a band of police can't even overcome it. Bad-A!
But secondly, there are a LOT of political symbols in this vid. And they are incredibly obvious too. "What if I say I'm not like the others?" This line along with the rest of the chorus shows that they're speaking out entirely against authority. This seems to be a very common theme with many, many other bands too. It makes you question authority; what's so bad about it? What is it that all these messages keep being delivered to us through these catchy songs? Is there something we're not seeing?
Stuff like that. I like songs that make you think, and they did a great job with the video making their message apparent, rather than having you sitting and trying to guess what the hell they meant by it.
Also it's a very catchy song, I enjoy it. It's a shame the rest of the album didn't go so well, really didn't have any power behind it at all.
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