Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters are an American rock band. The members are: Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Taylor Hawkins and Chris Shiflett.

Echoes Silence Patience & Grace - Foo Fighters

With The Pretender

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.

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

1. The Pretender
2. Let It Die
3. Erase/Replace
4. Long Road To Ruin
5. Come Alive
6. Stranger Things Have Happened
7. Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)
8. Summer s End
9. Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners
10. Statues
11. But, Honestly
12. Home

This isn't a perfect album, or even the best Foo Fighters album in my opinion, but it is a damn good rock album. The Foo Fighters usually change things up from album to album. Some people like the balls out rock, while others like them when they lean toward pop, and still others like the acoustic Foos. This album has a little of everything. So if you like Dave screaming his voice out, then there is a song or two for you. A number of really catchy songs, I really enjoyed the album all the way through. The only exception was the last track "Home", which is just Dave and a piano. That one kind of dragged for me. Other than that, terrific classic rock album. - Ron (Jersey)

Perhaps we've all accepted the cold, hard fact that the Foo Fighters' best days are behind them. Afterall, their last two albums -- 2005's "In Your Honor" and 2002's "One By One" -- were a bit lopsided, unimaginitive and appeared to be incomplete. Despite the fact that they haven't completely lost their knack for making great music, as those albums contain some real nuggets, it has become apparent that they may never recapture the magic of the beloved sophmore album, "The Colour And The Shape," or even 1999's slightly underrated "There Is Nothing Left To Lose." Maybe Dave Grohl and company have come to realize this as well, and that's why they reteamed with Gil Norton (who produced "The Colour And The Shape") and have crafted their broadest and most "classic" album since the turn of the century: "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace."

Opening with "The Pretender," which is possibly their most instantly gratifying single since "Monkey Wrench," Foo Fighters get this album off to a rocking start, engaging the listener and getting them primed for what is perhaps the most experimental of their material. One can't help but notice the classic rock influence on the album, and it's quite obvious that while making the album, they wanted something that will live on past it's time. An album that future generations can discover and relate to. On that end, they succeed. Thankfully, the band pries it's sound wide open enough that portions of the album, such as "Stranger Things Have Happened," "Statues" and "Home," fall under the Foo umbrella, yet sound unlike anything the band has done before, making this perhaps the farthest reaching album of their career, appealing to fans both young and old. It's unfortunate, then, that the band can't help but slip into autopilot as they sometimes do, and in turn, songs like "Erase/Replace" and -- gotta love this song title -- "Cheer Up Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)" are just standard b-side tunes that don't do much to help the album. But for the most part, the album is a smashing success. It retains the core Foo sound while broadening it's range and crafting some timeless tunes. For sure, this is the album that "In Your Honor" could have been, had they not chosen to seperate the two different styles on two different discs.

While not being quite the perfect album or the massive creative comeback, it's definitely the best thing they have done in a good long while. Those expecting the arena-rock of Foo Fighters' past might be disappointed to find a more mature sound, but anyone willing to give it a few solid spins will see it's brilliance. - Mr. Censored (Maine)

Amazon Price: $10.99 (as of 07/12/2009)

Foo Fighters at a Glance

Foo Fighters is an American rock band formed by singer/guitarist/drummer Dave Grohl in 1995.Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Biography". Allmusic.com. Retrieved on April 28, 2006. Grohl formed the group as a one-man project after the dissolution of his previous band Nirvana in 1994. Prior to the release of Foo Fighters in 1995, Grohl drafted Nate Mendel (bass), William Goldsmith (drums), and Pat Smear (guitar) to complete the group. Goldsmith left during the recording of the group's second album The Colour and the Shape (1997), soon followed by Smear. They were replaced by Taylor Hawkins and Franz Stahl, respectively, although Stahl left prior to the recording of the group's third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999).

Chris Shiflett joined as the band's second guitarist after the completion of There Is Nothing Left to Lose. The band released its fourth album One by One in 2002. The group followed that release with the two-disc In Your Honor (2005), which was split between acoustic songs and harder-rocking material. Foo Fighters released its sixth album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in 2007. Over the course of the band's career, three of its albums have won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album, and all six have been nominated for Grammys.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article