I would rather review modern art things than music records because things get all pretentious when one tries to describe how musical instruments sound and what a song is supposed to mean. In order to avoid all that ponsing around I chose this CD to review from my collection as none of the above hurdles apply. You can’t get more basic than grunge metal.
Two disc CDs are always dodgy affairs as few bands out there are capable of writing 20-30 good songs in such a short time, which the Fooeys have comfortably fallen short on here. One whole disc of accompanying acoustic tracks is wearing stuff, almost to the point it earns only one listen.
Disc One *******
“The ‘loud’ side”
‘In Your Honour’ opens up proceedings with angry guitars and Dave Grohl’s likewise vocals merging as one. Not exactly the best track to open your record, but hey, they are the Foo Fighters! I suspect it opens the live shows too as it has that feel. No Way Back is more my beat, melodic and going somewhere fast. It feels like
the record is building momentum now, teeing up the big hit in ‘Best of You’. This track is a cracker, summing up all those frustrations toward people that can’t help bullying others from a position of power, trying to take away your passions in life. You can imagine slamming their head into the pavement to the drum beat.
DOA (dead on arrival if you ever wondered) is another strong track with a real tempo, again melodic and bassy. Metal lyrics must rhyme so they are limited, and so I won’t be taking much notice of them in my music reviews in this particular genre. ‘Hell!’ track five, the guitar and tempo is turning like those metal bars on the old steam train wheels, repative and powerful, pumping and energy bursting. ‘The Last Song’ isn’t, if you see what I mean, again Grohl’s angry vocals barking out. It sounds like he’s really mad with an ex-girlfriend all through the record. Nice rhythm guitar here.
‘Free Me’ kicks in with a big Nirvana drum beat, guitars picking things up and throwing it across the room. I don’t like songs where you can hear the drummer. Not a bad number, though, but Grohl still seems hung up on singing songs about this bird that ‘tipped’ him. ‘Resolve’ slows things down some; I suppose what constitutes a ballad for these Mid-west rockers. It’s not made clear if he’s singing about the Aspirin brand. Nice little tune to have on your radio when driving in the desert, as you do in Foo Fighter land.
The Deepest Blues are Black’ has a deceptive start, before getting very noisy, loud vocals and frisky guitars, then dipping back to a mellow vibe. Bit like my Lexus on a frosty morning. These guys are not big on screaming riffs, doing the splits, balls to the floor stuff like ‘evy metal’ of old.
‘End over End’ has a Johnny Cash like vocal intro, off all things, before the guitars kick in. This style reminds me a lot of the excellent Company of Wolves. The song certainly doesn’t finish like the great man did. ‘The Sign’ is the final track of disc one, ‘skiddy’ guitars hinting out something a little quicker. A more AOR feel. I’m sure this will have got big airplay in the US. Its very FM radio and the type of stuff I like. Cool track to tidy up side one.
Disc 2 ***** “One not so loud”
I’m sorry but metal bands should not be doing double discs that have one full disc of acoustic tracks. But that is indeed the case with The Fooeys with this CD. Some of it is so melancholy Im hearing Nick Drake! Rock bands are supposed to be angry and breathing fire, not Jack Jones the surfer guy. I refuse to comment on it as it’s all the same. So much for this one goes to eleven!
Track listing
Still What If I Do Miracle Another Round Friend Of A Friend Over And Out On The Mend Virginia Mood Cold Day In The Sun Razor
Of the worth whiles here ‘What If I Do’ has a nice summer feel to it, maybe chilling at the beach with your friends as the sun goes down, logs crackling on the camp fire. Friend of a Friend and Over And Out both have more than a whiff of acoustic Nirvana about them, although it’s not my type of tune. It’s all in the lyrics you know. The last song on the album is called Razor, although he didn’t do a Kurt Colbain thankfully.
Not a bad record but too much on it to really cherish the product. With the so called skater rock driving down the average age of metal fans to about 8 the nostalgia that the Foo Fighters brings to the charts seems to have been buried by the all conquering Red Hot Chili Peppers seriously over hyped last summer. One for Foo Fighter fans only guys.
Inspired by the American public that Dave Grohl met on the trail while campaigning for ... more
John Kerry during the 2004 US Election campaign, In Your Honour could easily have fallen flat, a casualty of George W Bushs triumphant return to the Whitehouse. That...
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Disc 1 In Your Honor No Way Back Best Of You DOA Hell The Last Song Free Me Resolve The ... more
Deepest Blues Are Back End Over End Disc 2 Still What If I Do Miracle Another Round Friend Of A Friend Over 'N' Out On The Mend Virginia Moon Cold Day In The Sun Ra...
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Inspired by the American public that Dave Grohl met on the trail while campaigning for ... more
John Kerry during the 2004 US Election campaign,In Your Honourcould easily have fallen flat, a casualty of George W Bushs triumphant return to the Whitehouse. That i...
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Advantages: 20 tracks, 2 discs of music, and a number of excellent little numbers. Disadvantages: The album is not great, the excellence of the music is inconsistent.
Advantages: 20 tracks, 2 discs of music, and a number of excellent little numbers. Disadvantages: The album is not great, the excellence of the music is inconsistent.
Advantages: Quite catchy tracks, something for everyone some good guitar riffs etc. Disadvantages: Some tracks not memorable, the mix of track types may make it seem like they lack real direction
IzzyS 14.04.2009 (14.04.2009)
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Nov 2nd, 2009
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