In 1997, Foo Fighters teamed with alt-rock production cornerstone Gil Norton to make their best album, The Colour and the Shape. Ten years later, they've regrouped with Norton for a disc that's more sophisticated and diverse, if a tad less rockin'. The curveballs include "Stranger Things Have Happened," a solo soul-searcher where leader Dave Grohl's accompanied by just his acoustic guitar and a ticking metronome, and "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners," an acoustic guitar duet for Grohl and guest virtuoso Kaki King. Plus "Summers End" tickles the Foos' classic-rock fetish with a dead-on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young arrangement. There's still enough of the intense, snarling power-pop that's Foo Fighters' longtime forte. "The Pretender," "Erase/Replace," and "Long Road to Ruin" combine sheer thrust, zeal, and melody like no other group currently on the charts. Yet the finale, "Home," makes its clear that this is a changed band--or, at least, that Grohl's a changed man. With only his piano for company, Grohl's pleading voice reveals fragile layers of insecurity and loneliness as he sings "all I want is to be home." Seems this rock & roll road warrior's mellowed some, albeit without compromising Foo Fighters' vitality. --Ted Drozdowski

Having commemorated their tenth anniversary with a year-plus run commencing with In Your Honor (a double album the New York Times called an "unexpected magnum opus"), sold out rock arena shows and a toned down intimate theater trek, and a headlining gig at London's Hyde Park for a crowd of 85,000, the question looms larger than any in the Foo Fighters' career to date: What do they do for an encore?!? The answer comes in the form of "The Pretender," the first single from the band's sixth studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, out on Roswell/RCA. Produced by Gil Norton, who last worked with the band on 1997's double-platinum The Colour and The Shape (recently reissued in deluxe 10th anniversary form), Dave Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, drummer Taylor Hawkins and guitarist Chris Shiflett have crafted a 12-track milestone that showcases and reconciles the band's every strength and sensibility in the most complex and confident Foo Fighters album to date.

Foo Fighters Photo

More from Foo Fighters

Japanese pressing of the 2007 album from Dave Grohl and his Foo mates features two bonus tracks: 'Once & For All' (Demo) and 'Seda'. .Having commemorated their tenth anniversary with a year-plus run commencing with In Your Honor, sold out Rock arena shows and a toned down intimate theater trek, and a headlining gig at London's Hyde Park for a crowd of 85,000, the question looms larger than any in the Foo Fighters' career to date: What do they do for an encore?!? The answer comes in the form of the band's sixth studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Produced by Gil Norton, who last worked with the band on 1997's double-platinum The Colour and The Shape (recently reissued in deluxe 10th anniversary form), Dave Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, drummer Taylor Hawkins and guitarist Chris Shiflett have crafted a 12-track milestone that showcases and reconciles the band's every strength and sensibility in the most complex and confident Foo Fighters album to date.

Foo Fighters in my opinion took a nose dive previously on "In Your Honor". Skip two years to 07' and we have another Foo album to submerge ourselves into. Thankfully I managed to really take a liking to this one.

The variety of songs is much better then 'IYH', avoiding the categorizing process the last album strained and nit picked to the final bits (to the point you got dry hard rock, or dynamic free acoustic). Echoes eases up an intro, The Pretender, suitable to be "Stairway To Heavens" alternate take. Once you're comfortable with the chiming guitar, a wall of bricks is bound to hit you in the Foo's universe. Displaying such tight hard rock driven guitar, and overall fantastic musicianship, it could put a grin on ones face. My personal favorite track is "Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners". Interesting burrowing and bouncing up acoustic sounds, and a good story to mold it with. "Cheer Up Boys" seems like a strike to emos, but in all good humor. "Let It Die" has already made it to the radio, many believe it's about Kurt Cobain (singer of Grohl's past band Nirvana). Whatever it may be about no question about it being emotional, with a rather rewarding build up.


Overall Foo's have managed to progress and mature while taking steps in the right direction. Studio quality is always great, the music can be relentless, and better yet they trimmed the fat and avoided another mixed bag. Musically it echoes to a time when 90's alternative acts ruled the music terrain, seamlessly silenced the band communicates, two years of patients, and an album that wouldn't dare disgrace us again.

The Foo Fighters have shown who and what they are in the last ten years. And they have had success. Their song "My Hero" has been used in the 2008 Presidential election. Interestingly, in 2008, Senator Hillary Clinton earned more Votes than any other Presidential Primary candidate in American history (hillaryclintonforum, the denver group)

Foo Fighters made their big break in the 90's and disappeared for a while. The band resurfaced with some albums but now it seems to have matured a bit. Their songs have been polished and their tunes seem different and better. Some great songs are "Let It Die", "Long Run to Ruin", and "Stranger Things Have Happened" which have been played on the radio. All other songs will take some time to appreciate and later will be favorites.

I was not super impressed with ESPG being a long time FF fan. The fighters showcase a wide range of styles ranging from slow ballads to faster paced rock/grunge sounds but as a whole, the album does not flow well and is difficult to listen to from start to finish. The first single 'The Pretender' is my least favorite after hearing the complete album and listeners may be mislead after listening to that track.

Its worthwhile to long time FF fans, but if this is your first fighters album, look to the early 90's albums instead. This one is just mediocre.

I ordered this CD with Pepsi points. It arrived in exactly seven days. I have ordered CD's through the mail from other compaies like BMG and Columbia House and they usually have cracked jewewl cases on arrival, but this one did not. I plan to order more CD's through Amazon. And ya gotta love the Foo Fighters!