FOO FIGHTERS
Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
[Roswell/RCA-2007]
Perhaps it's a bit harsh to compare Dave Grohl’s outfit with his legendary alma mater, but like Nirvana, maybe three studio albums should’ve been enough for the Foo Fighters. The self-titled debut [1995] was a catchy, spirited pop-punk affair—recorded almost in its entirety by Grohl—that was followed up by the Gil Norton-produced The Colour and the Shape [1997], which elevated the band to mainstream stardom. There Is Nothing Left to Lose [1999] toned down things a bit and made a further bid for mainstream acceptance—“Next Year” became the theme song to the NBC sitcom Ed—but the muse was still smiling on Grohl and he had the tunes. However, with subsequent albums, it’s pretty much been downhill since.
Once again working with Gil Norton—no Pixies sound-alike production this time—Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace is simply a pristine production, recording and mix, which is to say it’s quite sterile, unfortunately. Add to that songwriting that updates the sound and feel of classic rock without anything to make it classic. In other words, it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, but is actually a dodo. When the best thing about first single and leadoff track “The Pretender” is a chorus reminiscent of the Sesame Street game “One of These Things Does Not Belong (Not Like The Others)” you know it’s gonna be sad. Even the promisingly-titled send up of the current emo scene "Cheer Up Boys (You're Makeup's Running)" is flatter than week old fountain soda. ESP&G is better than anything Nickelback has ever done, though. (Yeah, enough of the damning with faint praise.)
Hey, Dave: You think Tom Petty might still give you that drumming gig?
