The last few
weeks I have been contemplating music and how certain artists I in general like
have released albums recently that either felt like the defining statement in
the artist’s catalog or a regression from previous work. I initially was thinking about the Kings of
Leon’s albums from Youth and Young
Manhood to Come Around Sundown,
then Coldplay’s recent effort, Mylo
Xyloto, which I haven’t fully heard but the reviews I have read suggest
this is along the lines of X&Y,
which was a disappointment. So then I
thought “why not listen to most of, if not all, of an artist’s music catalog
and give my impression” (however lowly that impression really means in the
grand scheme of things), which leads me to my “case study” ideas.
With these
studies, my goal is to really hear how the band’s sound has evolved from album
to album and give an assessment of where I think the band is. I don’t want it to come off as a
retrospective or some biography about the band.
I do, however, want to see how my interest in the band and music in
general has evolved from the time the record first came out. So, I thought I’d start with a band who I
believe released one of the best albums so far in 2011 – the Foo Fighters.
Case Study: Foo Fighters
The Foo
Fighters have officially released seven studio albums, one live album, and one
compilation album of their hits:
·
Foo
Fighters (1995)
·
The Colour
and the Shape (1997)
·
There Is
Nothing Left to Lose (1999)
·
One by One
(2002)
·
In Your
Honor (2005)
·
Skin and
Bones (2006)
·
Echoes,
Silence, Patience & Grace (2007)
·
Greatest
Hits (2009)
·
Wasting
Light (2011)
I will
attempt to be as concise as possible, but knowing me I will go off on a tangent
about an album or seven, so bare with me.
Foo Fighters: I remember when this record came out, which
happened to be a little over a year after Kurt Cobain died and Nirvana ceased
to exist. Dave Grohl, the drummer for
Nirvana for its biggest albums, was the ultimate drummer, and I wondered what
would happen to him now that this gig was up.
I didn’t know that he had put together this hodge podge of songs, let
alone played all the instruments. For a
debut, this is definitely a great kickoff.
As a teenager I was drawn to the energy behind each song, particularly
the hits—“This Is a Call”, “I’ll Stick Around”, and “Big Me”. “I’ll Stick Around” even had controversy
surrounding it, with media and Nirvana fans wondering if Grohl was taking a
swipe at Cobain in the lyrics (as I recall, ANYTHING that had something to do
with Nirvana at that point was controversial).
Musically this record features some of the dynamics and volume that
would be taken to new heights through the rest of their catalog (particularly
their hard rockers), even if it wasn’t nearly as loud as future releases would
be. Lyrically the experience is sort of
up and down; the singles were definitely the better lyrical songs of the
set. All in all, for any band this would
be a tremendous start.
The Colour and the Shape: Until recently, I felt that this was the best
album they had recorded. Unlike on Foo Fighters, Grohl was backed by
permanent bassist Nate Mendel, drummer William Goldsmith (who would shortly
after this record would be replaced by now drummer Taylor Hawkins), and
frequent collaborator and guitarist Pat Smear (who also played with
Nirvana). This album takes dynamics,
soft and loud, to levels far superior to the debut. Cohesively this record also surpasses the
debut, with Grohl writing most of the songs around a crumbling relationship. Lyrically this is a great record. Tie the musically dynamics to this, and you
become emotionally a part of the music.
From “Monkeywrench” (a fantastic rocker) to “New Way Home”, the Foos
made this amazing record that many fans and critics considered their best. It certainly plays out of the speakers that
way. The best songs to me on this set
are “Monkeywrench”, “Hey Johnny Park!”, “My Hero” and the ultimate “Everlong”.
There Is Nothing Left to Lose and One by One: Stylistically these two records are somewhat
similar, with the lineup now becoming fixed for the long haul (Grohl, Mendel
and Hawkins recorded Nothing Left,
Shiflett joined up on One by One) and
growing into their roles within the band.
Both records maintain that musical blueprint that began on Foo Fighters, though they attempted to
expand the sounds used on their records.
I like One by One; Nothing Left to Lose is my least
favorite of theirs (ironically, Grohl likes Nothing
Left to Lose but hates One by One). Both albums had some great songs, but there
were elements on the first two records that just didn’t feel like they were
there on these. Neither is lyrically up
to snuff compared to The Colour and the
Shape, though the highlights from each record (from Nothing Left to Lose, there was “Breakout”, “Stacked Actors”, and
“Learn to Fly”; from One by One,
there was “One by One”, “Times Like These”, and “Have It All”) are very
good. “Times Like These” in particular
seems to hint at what the future would be like for the band. To me the band seemed to stagnate a bit here,
though their popularity continued to build.
In Your Honor, Skin and Bones, and Echoes,
Silence, Patience & Grace: These
three records represented a bit of a departure in sound for the band. While they still were very good with the hard
rock tunes (“In Your Honor”, “No Way Back”, “DOA”, “The Pretender”,
“Erase/Replace”, and “Cheer Up, Boys”), their exploration into softer dynamics expanded
exponentially compared to their first four records. There were a lot more acoustic songs, a lot
more softer sounding songs. All of Skin and Bones is an acoustic
retrospective of their music, the bulk of which came from In Your Honor (disc 2 of that record was practically an acoustic
affair). Results were mixed on both
musical and lyrical fronts. “Best of
You” is the best lyrical song from either record. “What If I Do?”, “Miracle”, “Let It Die”, and
“Long Road to Ruin” are all great songs.
What I worried about with these records was if the band was starting to
lose its identity. I loved them for
their harder stuff, and that seemed to be taking a back seat for this softer
side. At the same time, I started to
think that maybe by growing older and more mature they (particularly Grohl)
were starting to think about their long-term legacy and that the progression
could lead to better stuff down the road.
I thought about how other bands I love (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones,
Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam, the Beastie Boys, etc) had evolved and how the Foos
were evolving. Something had to give.
Wasting Light: When this record came out, I realized that my
latter feelings were true. This is my
favorite record and, in my opinion, their best record. They returned to the hard rocking they had
done on Nothing Left to Lose and One by One though channeled the music
through the melodicism of The Colour and
the Shape and In Your Honor. Each song is consistently good much like The Colour and the Shape, not hampered
by the filler songs that had burdened all of the previous records. The recording sounded more organic than it
had on previous records. Lyrically this
is their best record despite not being as cohesive as that of The Colour and the Shape. I can listen to this record from beginning to
end and repeat and not tire of it. The
band plays to their strengths here, which is rocking and rocking hard. My favorites on this record are “Rope”, “Dear
Rosemary” (with Bob Mould), “White Limo”, “Arlandria”, and “Miss the Misery”,
though I really like the majority of the record. This is also their best reviewed record (not
counting Greatest Hits).
