Review Summary: The Foo Fighters create 11 solid tracks of pure rock that won't reinvent the wheel, but which are better off for it.
This is the first Foo Fighters album I’ve ever listened to. Although they’ve always been something that would be right up my alley, and even though they’ve made some songs that I’ve enjoyed listening to for years, I’ve never considered actually
listening to a Foo Fighters record. This may make me a poor contender for writing a review this early for a band that’s still surprisingly popular among the general public, but if this album is good enough to make me want to listen to the full back catalog of a band that I’ve never really bothered with, then… well, I guess that means something, right?
The Foo Fighters have always had a knack for writing simple and direct rock songs, and that habit doesn’t stop on their ninth release,
Concrete and Gold. Even though most of the band are reaching their fifties (with Pat Smear edging out 60!), they really don’t sound their age or show any signs of slowing down any time soon. The first single off the album, “Run”, is wonderfully heavy and huge – a brilliant slab of atmospheric, hard rock that is a perfect taste of what you’re in for - although it should’ve been cut a minute before it finishes.
Delve further into
Concrete and Gold, and you’ll find that “Make It Right” offers nice riffs that could’ve fit perfectly on a Led Zeppelin record, though still remaining original and true to the Foos’ sound. Tracks such as “T-Shirt”, which begins the album with a simple acoustic guitar part before blowing up into an enormous, electric rocker, and “Happily Ever After (Zero Hour)”, another more laid-back song with orchestral ornamentation and Beatle-esque guitar and vocal melodies, finely showcase the band’s depth and their ability to still create captivating material 22 years after their first, self-titled release. One of my personal favorites here has to be “Sunday Rain”, which creates a wide soundscape while harkening back to something that could’ve been on Blur’s own self-titled album. It’s restrained when need be, but when they need to rip and create a brilliant, big sound, they just let all that energy release and it’s truly wonderful to hear.
I may be mentioning other artists in this review quite frequently, but it’s important to notice that the Foo Fighters don’t sound like they’re derivative of them on this record, and that it’s more a case of them deciding not to reinvent the wheel and just going out and creating the fine sort of rock that they’ve been doing for the last 20-odd years. And for that, I think they’ve done quite a fine job here. This album won’t be something you’ll go to listen to because it’s something that changed music forever or because it makes you think deeply about everything you’ve ever done; rather, it’s more of something to listen to when you just need some good-old fashioned rock in your life. And really, it’s nice to see that somewhere out there, there’s still a huge, major rock band that’s doing just that.
