Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace LP For Cheap

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.