The Foo Fighters are Back

A Review of Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace
Mark Fisher

 

L.. always liked the Foo Fighters, but
I'll be the first to say that their previous
album, the dual disc Jn Your Honor,
didn’t work. The idea of making one CD
of fast, hard rock songs and another CD
of quieter acoustic ballads was novel,
but like most double albums a lot of

the songs felt like filler, particularly on
the acoustic half. Some of the songs
were great, but they could have saved
everyone $8 and just put out a single
disc without any mediocre material on
it. I did like that they tried something
different—a band like the Foo Fighters

doesn’t need to change their formula in
order to generate sales—so I respect that
they tried something new instead of just
repeating the same formula again.

Why am I starting off my review
of their new album by giving you a
review of their previous one? Because
this is album is the album that the last
album should have been. It combines
the harder rock songs with the softer
acoustic ones perfectly, and shows the
Foo Fighters taking their music in new
directions, and best of all, doesn’t have
any filler that will cost you an extra $8.
Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace
will be warmly welcomed by anyone
who likes the Foo Fighters but wasn’t
overly impressed by Jn Your Honor.
And most of the people who were overly
impressed by Jn Your Honor were the die
hard Foo Fighter fans who will love the
new album by default anyway. Everyone
wins!

The songs on Echoes, Silence,
Patience, and Grace pick up nicely
from where the Foo Fighters last left
off. The mellow acoustic songs on the
album, such as “Stranger Things Have
Happened,” sound more refined than
the similar songs from their last outing.

 

BROOKLYN PUB

WATERFRON

ZES@) | ‘olumbia St.

THURSDAY *
is ad
STUDENT
NIGHT!

 

 

 

 

604.51 7,

af ee SiS

29066 www.bro Shane a

 

TUNE
TWISTER

 

Some of the songs have a folk music or
country feel to them, which before Jn
Your Honor would have been a departure
from the band’s typical material. One of
these songs “Long Road to Ruin” would
be the perfect song for a prairie road trip.

After having to stretch themselves in
order to produce enough diverse songs to
fill a double album, The Foos seem more
comfortable breaking from the mold
here. For example, “Statues,” a piano
ballad, has a fiddle and an accordion
in the background
instead of guitars.

The first Foo Fighters
instrumental to appear
on an album, “Ballad

of the Beaconsfield
Miners,” is a guitar duet
with rising jazz guitarist
Kaki King. The song

is named after miners
who were buried

alive and spent their time in the mine
listening to Foo Fighters on their iPods
until they were rescued. King is one of
several guest musicians on the album;
Pat Smear, the Foo Fighters’ original
guitarist, also makes an appearance.

He helps lend a grunge era sound
reminiscent of the Foo Fighter’s self
titled debut to the album’s second track,
“Let It Die,” an intense song that will
flash a lot of fans back to Dave and Pat’s
Nirvana days— Pat was also Nirvana’s
second guitarist on their last tour, and he
can be heard on both of Nirvana’s live
albums.

In addition to Mr. Smear, another
familiar face that worked with the Foos
back in the day is the album’s producer,
Gil Norton. Norton was the man behind
the boards for the seminal and anthemic
The Color and the Shape, and eleven

 

“the harder rock songs
combine with the softer
acoustic ones perfectly,
and shows the Foo
Fighters taking their
music in new directions”

years later, Gil proves once again that
he knows how to get the best out of the
band. Hopefully they’ll bring him back
for another album after this one. This
album compares better to The Color and
the Shape than any of the Foos other
subsequent albums.

The album does have a few flaws
to it. The song “Cheer Up, Boys (Your
Make Up Is Running)” has a great title,
and you’re totally expecting a hilarious
emo fan bashing song to follow. But
there’s no humor in
the song besides its
brilliant title. Dave
Grohl instead gives a
“grow up” message
to emo performers.
The song feels like
a single, so maybe
they’re saving the
funny stuff for the
video—they didn’t do
a humourous video on their last album,
but they have in the past for songs
like “Learn To Fly” and “Breakout.”
So they’re due for another one. While
the 12 songs on the album are mostly
diverse, the band overuses their tried
and true technique of starting a song
really quiet for the first verse and chorus,
and then kicking into loud guitars and
screaming after about a minute and
a half. The final flaw is the album’s
closing track “Home.” The song is Dave
Grohl by himself on the piano. The song
slow, boring, and you’re better off just
stopping the album after track 11. ’m
sure Dave Grohl is capable of writing a
good solo piano song, but this isn’t it. If
this album is any indication, by the time
their next album comes out, he’ll have it
down pat.