Anybody who knows me at all knows of my obsession with Foo Fighters. There will probably be many posts on this blog that feature on many aspects of Foo Fighters including the two documentaries that they have been a part of as well as probable commentary on various other things that members of Foo Fighters and more specifically Dave Grohl have taken part. This will serve as a review of the first two Foo Fighters albums.
Album Title: Foo Fighters
Release Date: July 4, 1995
Track list:
- This is a Call
- I'll Stick Around
- Big Me
- Alone + Easy Target
- Good Grief
- Floaty
- Weenie Beenie
- Oh, George
- For all the Cows
- X-Static
- Wattershed
- Exhausted
Foo Fighters original and self-titled debut album isn't really an album by a band. It's actually an album by one man, Dave Grohl. Except Greg Dulli playing a guest spot on X-Static, Dave Grohl recorded every instrument itself. He even had the presence of mind to create his own label Roswell Records and then co-released the album with Capitol Records that way he would retain control of the songs himself. He really is a business/musical genius and it showed even back then.
To me this album really shows almost a transition from the grunge era with songs like I'll Stick Around and songs that to me sound almost like last vestiges of Dave Grohl's punk past This is a Call. The song also features a few rather playful songs including For All the Cows. Overall I would say this is my second least favorite Foo Fighters album, but that's not really saying much as they are my favorite band. What the album really shows to me is the immense talent that Dave Grohl has with being able to put together an album basically by himself that he never even intended to form a band from, a band that today is one of the biggest rock bands in the world.
Album Title: The Colour and Shape
Release Date: May 20, 1997
Track list:
- Doll
- Monkey Wrench
- Hey, Johnny Park
- My Poor Brain
- Wind Up
- Up in Arms
- My Hero
- See You
- Enough Space
- February Stars
- Everlong
- Walking After You
- New Way Home
Foo Fighters sophomore album featured new band members Pat Smear and Nate Mendel. The Colour and Shape is one of my favorite albums of all time featuring my favorite song of all time Everlong. My friend Squirell once described it as the greatest love song ever written and I'd definitely agree with him.
The album opens up with the short but slow intro song Doll, which I view as kind of a welcome song before the fast and loud Monkey Wrench. I used to love this song but after years of hearing it played over and over by Rock Band people its kind of hard for me to deal with but I still believe that the end verse of him screaming out is one of the best things Foo Fighters have ever recorded. Hey, Johnny Park follows up the previous song in a similar fashion with a strong base to the song followed by a drop and into a final resolve. It might be one of the least talked about Foo Fighter's song and as such probably what I would consider to be their hidden gem. The album continues to move along with the loud guitar songs before moving into the slower and hero worshipping My Hero. From there it moves into the fun See You followed by the screaming and amazing Enough Space which Dave Grohl himself has said he wrote to make the kids in the US jump instead of mosh. It's a wonderfully loud song that in a lot of ways I feel set the tone for many Foo Fighters songs to come. From there the album moves into February Stars a nice slow song which while it doesn't lose it's grungier loud guitar amazingness which almost works as a break before Everlong. I don't really know how to explain Everlong. It is my favorite song of all time, and a song with so much depth that after listening to it hundreds of times I'm not even sure I know everything that happens in it or even the true feeling of what the song means to me in anything other than the actual feeling I get, it provokes a feeling that I am not even able to verbally explain. From there the album winds down with the slow song Walking After You and then finally finished off with the loud guitar heavy song New Way Home. The Colour and Shape is one of the most important and defining albums of the '90s with Everlong as what I consider to be the most defining Foo Fighters song. It's a near perfect album which just rocks it's way through 13 tracks and set Foo Fighters up as one of the greatest and longest thriving rock bands in the world.
Next time on album reviews: Foo Fighters, Part 2 featuring There is Nothing Left to Lose, One by One, and In Your Honor.
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