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Foo Fighters
Label: Roswell/Capitol
Genre: Alternative
Rating: 88

'FOO FIGHTERS':

Fear not — Dave Grohl is back. For all those who wondered what the ex-members of Nirvana would do after the untimely death of Kurt Cobain, the verdict is in — at least for Grohl, the drummer who anchored the seminal Seattle band. First of all, he's come out from behind the skins and strapped on a guitar. Better yet, he's taken on the lead vocal assignment, and gone on to make one of the year's best rock records. Although the Foo Fighters are now a full-fledged band — with former Nirvana sideman and punk veteran Pat Smear on guitar, and ex-Sunny Day Real Estate members Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith on bass and drums, respectively — Grohl played all the album's instrumental parts himself, an especially impressive achievement for someone who until now has been known only as a drummer.

Taking Nirvana's now-classic grunge rock a step further, Grohl has streamlined the guitar sound while adding some lighter melodic and harmonic touches. The terrific opening tune, "This Is a Call," starts with a short a cappella intro that brings to mind the clean, post-Beatles pop of Big Star; soon, though, a highly charged guitar kicks in, and we're back in grunge land. The bluesy pop of "Big Me" is winningly reminiscent of early Beatles/Badfinger, while the distorted vocals and thrashy guitar work on "Weenie Beenie" launch it into Nine Inch Nails territory.

Although Grohl's vocals don't approach the depth of feeling that Cobain regularly plumbed, they are nonetheless surprisingly effective on both kick-ass rockers ("Good Grief," "Wattershed") and more plaintive, yet no less potent, numbers such as "Alone + Easy Target." The best cut, "I'll Stick Around," is also the strongest example of his fresh approach. While its chorus features a blazing guitar riff, topped by a furious vocal chant, the verse has a disarmingly breezy quality highlighted by a typically inventive melody line. It's as if Big Star's pop melancholia had merged with Nirvana's fiery intensity to form something both ferocious and bittersweet. Smells like … Green Day and Pearl Jam ought to check their rear-view mirrors. Grohl's back, and he and Foo Fighters are coming on strong.

Foo Fighters
Label: Roswell/Capitol
Genre: Alternative
Rating: 76

'THE COLOUR & THE SHAPE':

On the first song of The Colour and the Shape, first-among-equals Foo Fighter Dave Grohl reveals that he's "never been so scared." Twelve songs later, the former Nirvana drummer bellows, over and over, "I'm not scared!" Although he never definitively reveals the specter that haunts him throughout the Foo Fighters' second album, one can conclude from the remarkably clear lyrics that it's either a) taking the Foo Fighters plunge again in the wake of the first album's multi-million-selling success or, more likely, b) the end of his marriage and the beginning of a reported new relationship with Veruca Salt's Louise Post.

So what we have here is a neo-theme album, a batch of relationship songs whose sweeping, crunchy dynamics shadow Grohl's emotions, which often shift from melodic contemplation to angst-filled screaming within the same song. That's a standard alt-rock technique (its contemporary use arguably originated with Kurt Cobain), and even though it's overused on The Colour, it can be wonderfully evocative. Take "My Poor Brain," the album's best song, which starts with feedback-drenched noise that subsides into a verse with ringing guitars layered under Grohl's rough-hewn falsetto. Then comes the chorus, an explosion of power chords and Grohl's throaty declaration that "This is a blackout!/ I want to detonate!"

But the true defining feature of The Colour and the Shape is its polished, stadium-sized rock sound — something not usually associated with producer Gil Norton (Pixies, Counting Crows). The Foo Fighters' image as a four-piece band was so well defined through its videos that it's easy to forget that the first album was a one-man project for Grohl. This time, in concert with bandmates Pat Smear (guitar), Nate Mendel (bass), and William Goldsmith (drums, recently replaced by Taylor Hawkins, though it is Grohl himself who keeps time on all but two tracks), he has made a loud, crafted record that's more punchy than grungy, more direct than subversive. The first single, "Monkey Wrench," is relentless but smooth, and "My Hero," a disillusioned paean to an idol, kicks off with drum thunder that could stand in for "We Will Rock You" at sporting events. "Up in Arms" employs a Lennon-ish reverb for the vocals, while the moon-eyed "Everlong" has the makings of a down-the-middle radio smash.

But Foo Fighters do more than just bludgeon. Most of the melancholy "February Stars" is gentle and pretty, and the dramatic swell at the end could make it a prom classic for the ages. "Walking After You" brings the album to a cautiously joyous place ("If you walk out on me/ I'm walking after you"), though the song could stand to lose a minute or so. The Colour and the Shape's blatant rawk drive might disarm those who expected Foo Fighters to be modern rock's great new hope. But the fact of the matter is that Kurt Cobain wrote pop songs and just dressed them up in punkier clothes. Grohl — who declares in one song that "I want a song that's indelible" — has a more straightforward bent, but you knew that if you really listened to the first Foo Fighters album. If this is what we're meant to hear in the arenas of the world, we could do far worse, and not a whole lot better.

Foo Fighters
Label: Roswell/RCA
Genre: Alternative
Rating: 90

'There Is Nutthin Left 2 Lose':

Amid this year's onslaught of teen pop, hip-hop, & electronica, guitar rock seemed like it wuz in a (pardon the expression) downward spiral that wuz precipitous & irreversible. But stick around long enough, and sooner or later, everything old in rock is new again, and bands like Creed, Rage Against the Machine, and Bush, for better and worse, have re-emerged in recent months to see to it that six-string heroics aren't a thing of the past.

Leave it to the Foo Fighters, though, to craft the finest, most tuneful blast of guitar rock of the year. Recorded at guitarist-vocalist Dave Grohl's Virginia home with only two other Foos — bassist Nate Mendel and drummer Taylor Hawkins — in attendance, There Is Nothing Left to Lose leaves Grohl's grunge past behind for good in favor of powerful, chart-worthy pop.

That's not to say the album is bereft of some healthy 'tude. The opening track, "Stacked Actors," is a plea for truth amid a culture of showbiz deception (though a careful reading could also make it seem like a shot at Grohl's late bandmate's widow, Courtney Love). On the other hand, it's best not to read too much into these songs. "Breakout," after all, is quite simply about complexion complexities caused by a relationship. Other songs borrow heavily from classic rock of the '70s: "Gimme Stitches" has an opening riff that sounds cribbed from Foghat; "Generator" uses the retro voice-box effect made famous by Peter Frampton and Joe Walsh; "Live-In Skin" sounds worthy of Rush; and "Headwires" seems like a newly excavated tune from the new wave era.

But the album, indeed, the individual songs, are greater than the sum of their parts. And while there is a surprising number of softer songs — "Aurora," "Next Year," "Ain't It the Life," "M.I.A.," even the hit single "Learn to Fly" — it may mean only that Grohl & Co. are learning more about pacing and popcraft. And besides, those slammin' '70s riffs and Grohl's occasional throat-scraping screams keep things rockin', or at the very least, well balanced. They haven't gone soft. After all, these are the Foos, not the Goos, we're talking about.

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Andy Alty

Punk Rock Palace

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Page Updated Thu Apr 19, 2001 1:28pm EDT