Review Summary: More feast than famine.
Eight is the overarching number for
Sonic Highways. It’s the Foo Fighters’ eighth studio album, it consists of eight tracks recorded in eight different cities with eight different special guests, plus there are eight infinity symbols hidden in each nook and cranny of the album’s grand, illustrious artwork (besides, aren’t infinity symbols essentially nothing but sideways eights?). Billed up as an ambitious project with an accompanying HBO television documentary series with the same name, the expectations for
Sonic Highways were somewhat large, given that
Wasting Light was seen by many as a career-resurging record. Citing the lack of filler and revitalized energy as highlights, it seemed as if the Foos were on a hot streak. After Dave Grohl took some time off to direct
Sound City, a documentary focusing on the historical record studio of the same name, it was decided that he would gather up the old gang and go on a road trip across the country in order to record the new album.
While
Wasting Light was made in a more underground fashion, being recorded in Grohl’s garage,
Sonic Highways opts for the complete opposite, settling for an extravagant method of production in which the Foo Fighters traveled to eight different cities in America, each with their own rich musical history, recording one song per locale. In an attempt to truly encapsulate the sound of each city, the band invited an iconic musician to play with them on each track; for example, Zac Brown makes an appearance to bring some country twang to the Nashville-dedicated “Congregation”, while “In the Clear” features the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans. It really does add to the depth and meaning behind the record and its songs, even if some don’t bring much to the table at all. For the most part, though, the Foo Fighters manage to make the tracks sound like the city they were influenced by – “The Feast and the Famine” is a raucous ode to the 80s Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene, one that heavily inspired Grohl to become a musician, while “Subterranean” sounds just as moody and introspective as the rain-ridden city of Seattle; even if it does fall a little flat towards the end, it does do a good job of holding its own during the first few minutes. The best way to digest the album’s full experience is to watch the HBO series as well as listen to the music; several off-kilter references that come off as random out of context gain a new level of meaning once the story behind them is revealed.
At the same time, the reliance on the accompanying television show is
Sonic Highways’ biggest flaw as well. While the aforementioned lines do gain make more sense after discovering their importance during the band’s recording process, it comes off as bit too try-hard and inauthentic. References to the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. “on the corner of 14th and U” or New York’s “secret[s] behind the SoHo door” and “…beneath the subway floor” seem like they were written just to acknowledge their respective cities without any reasoning behind them. At times it all just feels a bit too forced and not at all genuine, as if Grohl is simply feeding off the experiences of others in an attempt to encapsulate the musical history of America. If anything,
Sonic Highways feels more like the soundtrack to the television show rather than a stand-alone project, and while the band most likely wanted an effect similar to that, it detracts from the experience when listening to the music only.
Nevertheless, when the music rocks, it
rocks. There’s a pretty good reason why opener “Something From Nothing” was chosen as
Sonic Highways’ lead single, and that’s because it’s perhaps the best track on the album. The song builds itself on a gradual crescendo, starting as a slow crooner, with lyrics about the Chicago fire and being “cold as a match, ready to strike” until the instruments start to pick up and the vocals start to get faster. It all just comes together naturally, and the main highlight is when everything gets cranked up to eleven and Grohl completely loses his mind, going ape*** and yelling, “*** it all, I came from nothing!” over the accelerating guitars and high-energy drumwork. The release just feels so excellent, and makes the build that much more effective. In fact, it’s a rather odd choice for a lead single – instead of following a standard verse-chorus-verse structure, it just keeps building and building, with no main hook. usically, it’s closest to “Let It Die” off of
Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, but it’s filled with much more explosive energy and adrenaline, starting off
Sonic Highways on a high (maybe even perhaps too high) note.
There’s plenty of experimentation on this record, which is understandable given the context behind some of these songs. The brass section on “In the Clear” and twangy guitars of “Congregation” are appropriately used in order to pay homage to the city that influenced the tracks. The subtle build that takes place within “I Am a River”’s seven-minute long runtime is not unlike the one that occurs in “Something From Nothing”, except it’s more drawn out for effect instead of relying upon one point of explosive energy. While the lyrics can get a bit repetitive, it does make the ending a bit more powerful. Each repetition of the titular phrase puts additional emphasis on it, and as the strings wail on and on,
Sonic Highways comes to a close with one of its best tracks.
After starting out strong,
Sonic Highways does take a steep nosedive in quality during its latter half. Featuring the incorrigible triad of “Outside”, “In the Clear” and “Subterranean”, the three worst tracks on the album, the Foo Fighters open up on such a strong note only to see their momentum fizzle fast in a weak stretch that ranks as one of their most dull. Turgid, stale radio rock has always been their Achilles heel, and that’s exactly what personifies “Outside”, which may run for five minutes long but really doesn’t accomplish much, feeding off of Grohl’s soulless vocals and an overall lack of inspiring energy. Although there’s a chorus, it isn’t well defined and lacks a good, catchy hook to make it at least somewhat memorable. The same goes for “In the Clear”, which at least comes off as unique thanks to its notable influence from its guest musicians, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The parameters for quality on
Sonic Highways are clearly defined – whenever there’s at least some sense of energy or fire, the result is a nice rocker with plenty of flair and substance behind it. That’s what these tracks so dearly lack, and for that there’s a notable difference between the snoozers and the hard-hitters.
There’s no doubting that
Sonic Highways was supposed to be this huge, grand project that extended its boundaries to more than just an average Foo Fighters album. Yet when looked at alone, it certainly does feel a little underwhelming given the hype surrounding its concept. Sure, the whole idea of recording one track in eight different historical cities might have sounded interesting on paper, but when executed, certain aspects fall flat. It’s clear what
Sonic Highways wants to be, though what’s not clear is what it’s supposed to be. That’s unfortunate, too, because it had the potential to be so much more. Whether it’s the lack of energy at times or overreliance on the accompanying television series, certain aspects weigh the album down in spite of all its highlights. One would think that with only eight tracks, the band would have been able to trim down the filler that made listening to full albums strenuous, yet that’s still not the case. Sure, there’s still the bewilderingly rockin’ “Something From Nothing” and the slice of classic Foo with a modern spin that is “Congregation”, but is that really enough? Or is it just one for the "jukebox generation" and not Dave himself?
