See what Dave Grohl says about the album, as well as tour dates.
The Rock monster, known as Foo Fighters have released their
fifth studio album. Three years after they released One By One, the
nicest guy in rock, one Senor Dave Grohl and erstwhile cohorts have
produce not one but two CD's worth of foos stuff to combine into a double album.
Twenty songs, ten ROCK and ten ACOUSTIC!
Current single Best Of You, gives
you a brief taster of things to come. DG screams down the mic, waking everyone
in a hundred mile radius. Taylor Hawkins pounds away at the drums as if his life
depends on, Nate and Chris add added structure and diversity to song through scorching
gutiar riffs and a hard to break bass beat. The Foos are back with a bang, and
it's only gonna get louder!
Title track In Your Honor starts with DG
sending soaring guitar riffs towards the heaven, his screaming vocals could
break glass. "Can you hear me/ hear me screaming" Loud and
clear Mr G!! "In Your Honor/ I would Die Tonite" TH's
rolling fills kick in to add added punch to the song, giving the song a strangle
hold on your ears. The songs then erupts into double time structure,
Taylor H kicking the wholly crap out of his drums. It's certainly the best way
to open up the ROCK side to a new album. The song certainly has a definitive
metal feel about it. The screaming vocals of Grohl, the drum bashing of Hawkins,
seem to drown out any attempt to get in the way of the Foos at full whack!
It's like a out of control juggernaut hurtling down the M25 in the wrong
direction, you either stand you ground and hope for the best or run like fuck to
get out of the way! (On this evidence I'm already half way to Scotland!!! just
driving by a layby on the M1 - on the outskirts of Nottingham)
Next song No Way Back, gets right into the mainstream of Foos rock, it see DG vocals slightly easier on the ears, Taylor drum beats again are unforgettable, the
songs reminds you of early foos stuff. This is raw foo material, cranked up
to the extreme.
Track four is DOA, this contains a thunderous chrous of " It's
a shame we have to die my dear/No-one's getting out of here aliiiiiiiive".
This song which depics the scene of excepting that all hope is lost and that
well your numbers up!
This album definitely feels as if the Foos have gone metal, though it's not quite as in your face as I thought it might be, songs such as The Last Song are played as if your chest is being beaten by a very large drum stick, which is being held by Animal from The Muppets, the old time romance of The Deepest Blues Are Back gives way to feeingss of love, peace and all that guff.
The Rock CD is certainly an intrinsic part of the foos, most songs
are directed at you by the force of a cannonball been fired from point blank
range.
The ACOUSTIC CD of the album is the part of the album which
draws much of my attention. Inspirational songs, guest appearance, makes this a
CD which is easy on the ear but ambitious to boot.
The Foos are picking up
from past album greats such as Everlong and Walking After You (Color And The Shape - 1997).
Opener Still enters on a cool breeze of
tranquility, you feel the effect of weightlessness and the notion of being swept
away on a crest of a wave, which genteelly breaks onto the shore of a sun
drenched island.
What If I Do? continues in the same fashion, you get the
feeling the band have eaten a large piece of chill out pie and have served up
something so laid back, that you could mistake them for either being A)
completely stoned or B) completely pished!!
The whole ten tracks are, in my humble opinion, Dave Grohl and Co at the creative best. Everybody remembers the gems of Big Me (Foo Fighters- 1995 ) and Everlong and Walking After You which tap deep into the pysche of the band.
The Acoustic side of the latest offering definitely opens your ears and minds to a different side of the band. A side which is effective and direct in it's approach, without the need for being mad for it, in a Rock kinda of way!
Track Friend Of A Friend was written when Grohl had just joined Nirvana and had befriended a young and very driven Kurt Cobain. The early days of Nirvana (after Grohl had joined as the new Powerhouse drummer) had been strange, yet a real eye opener for the, then, young Grohl. The song was conceived at Cobain's apartment in Seattle 91'. The song depics Cobain and a guitar which when the two came together produced something very special. Life is easy, though the future is unknown. The main focus of the song evolves round the guitar. Cobain plays and everyone listens. You get a insite into the way in which the band lived together, gain inspiration and gel together as friends. A scene of three people who form a tight group, in an apartment working towards a common goal, music.
The next song to grab your attention is Virginia Moon. This was recorded and
collaborated with Norah Jones. This is another ambitious track by the Foo's. The style for the song is wholly jazzy. The soft tones of Norah Jones' voice gives the song a smooth edge. Though you feel Dave voice slightly overshadows Norah's, though unintentionally, it does make the hearing of her voice a little more harder to pick out.
Cold Day In The Sun is probably the first foos songs which has Taylor Hawkins behind the Mic rather than behind the drum kit. Taylor has a very intriguing voice which has a "gravelley" edge to it. It works very well with the dynamics of the song. Dave is behind the kit, which completes the reversal of roles. Taylor is the foos secret weapon, the song was written by the great man himself, the band tried to record the song as a rock track but it is much better played out as a acoustic number.
Final song on the Acoustic CD is Razor, this is the second track which guests another musically mammoth artist, Queens Of The Stone Age' Josh Homme. Josh performs the second guitar harmony in the track.
The Foos have come back and produced a double whammy of goodies for you and I to listen to! Twenty songs which you can either jump and rock out to or just crack open an ice cold beer and chill out and take it easy. The Foos album has ensconces itself into my CD collections and there it will take it's rightful place. An album of rage and calm, is something you don't get to hear this days, as the two extremes are hard to put together but Dave, Taylor, Chris and Nate have pulled it off with room to spare. This is a classic foos album which adds another chapter in the never ending life of the FOO FIGHTERS!!!
| ROCK CD | ACOUSTIC CD |
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