Concrete and Gold is Foo Fighters 9th album. They are one of
the biggest rock bands in the world right now and have been for many years now.
I would say it was their 3rd album “There’s nothing left to lose”
which really took them up to this level. And with this album it is hard to see
them letting up anytime soon.
At the time of writing, even though this album has been out
for a good 3 months. Only two singles have been released from C &G. being “Run”
and “Sky is a neighbourhood”. “Run” sees
them going to new extremes in terms of quiet, loud parts and it really does
work. With Grohl’s rock screeching you may think they are heading into metal territory,
but it is controlled and only done in the main choruses meaning I would say they
are just dabbling in metal and won’t put off people who aren’t into that sort
of thing. But this screeching is also seen on other songs such as “La de da”, which
I think makes this album contain some of the heaviest moments in songs that they
have ever done.
“Sky is a neighbourhood” has such a good beat to it. You can
see why they chose it as a single as it is sure to be an anthem when they go
off on their humungous tour. It is a very shouty song too, so if you are angry
at something in your life, this song will give you a sense of release if you
sing along to it.
One thing I find quite funny about the way this album was
made, was the appearance of special guests on the album. Now I am willing to bet that if I told
someone to listen to this album and they were going in unaware of special
guests on the album; When they listen to it I strongly doubt they would be able
to name any of the special guests on it. The reason for this is because one of
the tracks “Make it right” has got Justin Timberlake on backing vocals and
another track “Sunday Rain” has got Paul McCartney on drums, along with a few
other appearances from other artists on songs. You just can’t tell its them! I
can understand these guys singing lead vocals for a bit on this album to make
it a bit different. But as it is they make no impact on the album whatsoever.
It’s almost like they are bringing them in, more to sell a few more copies and
to brag a little that they know these famous people.
“Dirty water” and “Arrows” are my favourite songs on the
album. Lasting at 5.20 and 4.26 respectively they are both nice length. They
appear back to back on the album for a lethal combination at tracks 6 and 7. “Dirty
water” is what I like to call a build-up track as it starts up mellow for the
first few versus and then about half way through the guitars kick in and it
just gets heavier and heavier. Arrows is just good old Foo Fighters, rocking
the way the Foos do.
There are more mellower moments of on the album with the acoustic
“Happy Ever after (Zero hour)”and album closer Concrete and Gold. “Happy Ever After…” is nicely done and is
just Grohl and his guitar. The album closer on the other hand, I don’t like,
the song just seems to go nowhere and feels like it drags on. It’s disappointing
because the Foos normally have such good album closers. Eg “Walk” off “Wasting
light” and “M.I.A” off “There’s nothing left to lose”.
The other tracks I haven’t mentioned or gone into much depth
on are opener “T-shirt”, “Make it right”, “Sunday Rain” and “The Line” which are
all pretty solid tracks too. “Sunday Rain” sees the appearance of drummer Taylor
Hawkins on vocals for the entire song and is a nice laid-back rock tune.
If you like the Foo Fighters you will not be disappointed
with this. In terms of their sound it has got their footprint all over it. I do
like the way they have tried to make the loud bits louder and the quiet bits
quieter. Making the album have a lot more impact on the listener. Compared to
previous albums I would say it’s not quite up to “Colour and the shape”, “There
is nothing left to lose” or “Wasting light” level, but for me it sits at 4th
and is up there with my favourite albums released in 2017. When you have been
making albums for as long as the Foo Fighters – that ain’t bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment