Foo Fighters
Sonic Highways
When I first heard that the new Foo Fighters’ album, Sonic Highways, was going to be a loose collection of songs recorded around the country with various artists and lead singer collaborations, I was kind of nervous. The press release said something flowery, describing the album as “a love letter to the history of American music,” with sessions at iconic studios in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Seattle and Washington, DC. That’s all fine and dandy, but based upon past experience, I generally don’t feel too good about departure-from-the-norm type albums. What sounds like a good idea from an artist looking for inspiration or something new usually comes off like a throwaway piece of their career. And when it’s a band of a certain stature in the upper echelons of my musical taste, I prepare for disappointment.
Foo Fighters is one of those bands that’ll get my immediate attention when they release a new album. I’ll get excited and usually buy it. I’ve been disappointed along the way, though. I think I would still like a refund for the In Your Honor and Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace albums. That is partially because it followed the greatness and wholeness of One by One and just let me down. Granted, they gave us the “Best of You” and “The Pretender” singles, but that’s about it (at least for me). I get tired when attempting to play those “Long Play” albums from beginning to end. I liked Wasting Light, so I hadn’t lost faith in the Foo Fighters. They were still a band, like U2, King’s X or Stavesacre that I’d shell out ten bucks sight-unseen on a new album.
Back to my trepidation about this Sonic Highways project… After all, you want to hear about me and my feelings, instead of about the band I’m supposedly reviewing, right? Specialty projects like this are nice. They’re meaningful, but they’re also sometimes highly self-indulgent and about as useful as a good documentary on revealing another side of an artist I like.
Don’t get me wrong, I do care that Dave Grohl was influenced by Ian Mackaye or Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin or Johnny Cash. It’s just not the kind of album I’m probably going to upload on my iphone and take along for car rides and other adventures. To be invited to my personal VIP iPhone playlist, it needs to be something special and lasting. I wanna hear the Foo Fighters at their best. Give me full-tilt rockers like “Times Like These,” “Everlong,” “My Hero,” “Learn to Fly,” “All My Life,” “Monkey Wrench” and “Have It All.” Those are my favorites. That exemplifies the Foo Fighters to me – a penchant for big hooks, but passionate singing that borders on the edge of spit-flying screaming and just behind the beat resting. Dave Grohl and company have this part down. They know how to write a good song and they certainly know how to perform. It’s hard not to like this band.
But will I like this album? That is the question.
The slow, plucking intro to the lead-off track, “Something From Nothing,” immediately started to set my fears aside, with Grohl’s easy-going vocals cascading over some gentle guitar. Verse one and two had me breathing a sigh of relief. “I’m going to like this one.” The climb into each chorus was rocking, but just shy of balls out metal. Then the second chorus climbed further into some sort of Ronnie James Dio tribute territory. In fact, those tough-guy riffs could’ve been lifted straight from the tune “Holy Diver.” Don’t get me wrong, I love Dio’s music and I love the tunes of the Chicago artist they visited for this collaboration (Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen), but this was going south for me fast.
Track one gave way to track two, though, and “The Feast and the Famine” came to the rescue. This is the Foo Fighters I love. Catchy melodies stack vocals over guitar, crashing drums and loud, celebratory choruses. “Congregation” follows suit with a nice rocker doing more of the same, only trading off between riff and vocals instead of blending the two. The tune recorded in Austin (with guitar hero Gary Clark Jr.), “What Did I Do … God As My Witness” infuses a little ‘60s Brit pop, Motown soul and even a little bit of Americana folk rock (a la Creedence Clearwater Revival), creating a modern day love song of gratitude (“What did I do to deserve you?”). It’s an epic song that almost ends and begins again. It finally does come to an end with a jam that’d be at home on a Skynyrd live album. It’s quite the feel-good tune.
“Outside” churns along, led by a great groovy bass line that settles into a nice ditty that feels native to the place it was recorded – Joshua Tree, California. With Joe Walsh collaborating, it hearkens back to a sound from the ‘70s and the not-too-distant Laurel Canyon singer/songwriters. You might even hear a rich melody like this on a Tom Petty album.
“In the Clear,” recorded with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans, marches with a cadence and rock confidence that is pure Foo Fighters. I’m dang proud of this band for letting their own music and sound rule over these songs, not letting the guest musicians overtake their own special identity. These guys know how to make their audience feel good. But, just so no one confuses them with being a happy Christian rock band, they throw a “God” and a “damn” into the mix.
“Subterranean” was the first song I heard for this album just prior to its release and it’s got a great, creepy acoustic hook not unlike the subdued but building passion of “Low” or “Stranger Things Have Happened.” It swings back and forth between dreamy and energetic. Maybe it’s the rainy and melancholy weather of where it was recorded (Seattle).
“I Am A River,” the album’s longest track at 7 minutes and 9 seconds, ends the album with an atmospheric, mellow and moody piece. 8 songs go by fast, but at 42 minutes it qualifies as a full-length by rock and roll standards.
Yes, Sonic Highways is a real Foo Fighters album. I predict it’ll live on my iPhone for a good, long while. They had me scared for a moment, but I overcame my fears just by listening and I now know that I can certainly live with their latest album. It was a calculated risk, but the results sing for themselves.
If you’re curious, the album’s cover is a detailed collage that shows landmarks from each of the 8 cities’ landmarks – like the Superdome in New Orleans, the Statue of Liberty in NYC, the Space Needle in Seattle, the Frost Bank building in Austin, the Parthenon in Nashville, Chicago’s John Hancock building, the Hollywood sign and the Washington Monument. For more insight into this album, check out the companion HBO television series, Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways, with special episodes on each city. [RCA] Doug Van Pelt
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