 | Tracklist:
1. Bridge Burning
2. Rope
3. Dear Rosemary
4. White Limo
5. Arlandria
6. These Days
7. Back & Forth
8. A Matter Of Time
9. Miss The Misery
10. I Should Have Known
11. Walk
| Ranking: #131 for 2011 | |
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On 212 Lists
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| Summary: No filler! Finally, it's the album the Foos always had in them. |
It's tough for old dogs to learn new tricks, particularly ones as long in the tooth and weather-beaten (not to mention successful) as Dave Grohl. He's happy and polite enough in interviews to seem youthful, but let's not lose sight of the fact that between Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Probot, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, and lesser-known projects like Dain Bramage, Mission Impossible, Scream, and The Backbeat Band, this is the 21st studio album Grohl has been a major part of in his 42 years (and that's just a rough count - I've probably missed a couple). That doesn't include collaborations or live albums either. To get some perspective on that, U2 have only released 12 studio albums, and spring chickens The Eagles have only released 7.
You would expect somebody that's been involved in so many projects with so many different people all exerting some kind of influence on him (there are certainly worse people to hang around with than Kurt Cobain, Josh Homme, Mark Lanegan, and John Paul Jones) that his primary project would take in a fairly broad range of ideas and influences, but instead, narrowness has always been the biggest flaw that the Foos suffer from. With the exception of the acoustic second disc of In Your Honour - which remains their finest single CD and grossly overlooked in most discussions of the band - you know exactly what to expect from any one of their albums. That's why, despite a string of very fine singles, they've never managed a good album.
Until now. Wasting Light isn't a masterpiece, nor does it see Grohl really reinventing the wheel as far as the band's sound goes, but it's clearly painted from a broader pallette of colours and it's clearly their first consistently good set of songs.
Crucially, it sounds like Grohl has started to learn from his collaborators. "Bridge Burning" and the decidedly Probot-esque "White Limo" are both noticeably heavier than anything they've conjured before besides "Low", which, fittingly enough, was both complimented and derided for sounding so much like Queens of the Stone Age. He's reaching into rock history more too, perhaps as a result of his affiliation with John Paul Jones - "Dear Rosemary" rides a riff that's could just as easily have been written by The Kinks as Jack White (truth be told, it's a whisker away from being a shameless rip-off of "Steady As She Goes" by The Raconteurs, but it's forgiveable). And then there's "Arlandria", which opens up a hithero unexpected chicken/egg scenario between the Foos and Biffy Clyro. These five tracks makes for a startling opening to the album. It honestly feels like this is the kind of music that Foo Fighters should have been making all along - the newfound heaviness really suits them, making a mockery in the process of softer, awkwardly performed tracks like "Learn to Fly" and "Big Me".
The second half doesn't quite hold up the standard, sadly, but it's certainly still got its moments - "These Days" is melodically Beatles-esque, and "I Should Have Known" is a spooked, sweeping, string-laden ballad with a psychedelic edge that you suspect they wouldn't have been brave enough to attempt on any of their previous albums. "Walk" is fine enough too, even though it has a slight whiff of obligation about it, as if it was written purely to tick the box marked 'epic album closer'.
A couple of songs late on in the album aren't that great ("A Matter of Time" doesn't feel like it really knows what it's doing structurally, starting out like The Cars before turning into Rocket From the Crpyt for 8 bars before a Springsteen-esque chorus), but any disappointment with that is tempered by remembering all the filler from their previous albums, all the likes of "Statues" and "Aurora" and "My Poor Brain" and "Enough Space" and "Resolve", and acknowledging that everything on here is better than that. A Foo Fighters album without filler? I never thought I'd see the day.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 4
Great review Nick, although I guess you mean "Learn To Fly", rather than "Learning To Fly".
Really digging this album, although every time I hear "Dear Rosemary", I get "Steady As She Goes" stuck in my head for hours...
| | | Album Rating: 4
Good Review!
BUT the summary doesn't fit the score. Can't say the album has no filler but only give it a 3.5. That just doesn't work.
Aside from that small issue, good job.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
3.5 means 'great'. It says so right under the rating. 4 would be excellent, which this clearly
isn't.
| | | Album Rating: 4
Review is great, and yes, a few songs are a little weak, still, this ain't a 3.5 imo
Digging: The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet Digging: The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet | | |
is it so difficult for you guys to understand that 3.5 is a positive rating
anyway i still think the self titled is the only worthwhile foo fighters record. definitely has less
filler and better songwriting than anything grohl has done since
Digging: Thinking Fellers Local 282 - Strangers From the Universe
| | | Album Rating: 3
Aurora and Resolve are great songs! but interesting review and well written. might give this a listen but I've been going off the foos for years.
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"this aint a 3.5 imo"
>rating: 4
hahahahahahahahahaha ok
Digging: Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It
| | | Album Rating: 5
I like the review, but it probably should be scored higher.
Digging: mewithoutYou - Ten Stories Digging: mewithoutYou - Ten Stories | | | Album Rating: 3.5
I like this album, but you should probably score it lower.
Digging: Purplene - Purplene Digging: Purplene - Purplene | | |
when people are arguing over a rating like it actually matters instead of discussing the review
good review, nick, but I've never liked these guys
| | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
Fucking awesome album is fucking awesome
| | | Album Rating: 4
"...but it's clearly painted from a broader pallette of colours..."
Sold me right there.
Digging: The Apples in Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker | | | Album Rating: 4
I meant it deserves a higher rating, my bad.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I think everyone understood that, but the review clearly states the reasoning behind the rating and it makes perfect sense. Opinions are wonderful things.
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I will need to check this album out
| | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
Good review. Glad to see that the Foos aren't relying solely on singles as they usually do.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Love the band. Love the album.
I thought the review was well written and I respect any level headed opinions. But obviously everyone is going to feel different about this album depending on how much of a Foo Fighter fan you are.
| | | Album Rating: 5
The Colour and the Shape was a great album so I stopped reading after you said they've never released a good album.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
WHat I liked about this review was that you stepped back and looked at the album from a broader stance and compared using specific examples from their other albums. It gave you a sense of concreteness. Because of that, I can't argue with anything you say about the album.
I guess something I took away from reading this album is that there is an acceptable range in which albums' ratings should exist, and anything outside of that range is irrational.
for me that range is 3.5-4.5 on this album... objectively, it does too many things right to warrant anything lower than that.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
A funny observation: Rjmunthe said that the coulour and shape was a great album.
by the logic of our staff reviewer doesn't that mean you should have it as a 3.5 and not a 5? lol :P
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