Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace : Foo Fighters : Review : Rolling Stone

This is an anthology of strong new songs by a great bunch of bands, all calling themselves Foo Fighters. You get the speed-of-light Foos in "The Pretender," the glam-candy Fighters in "Long Road to Ruin," the Southern-rock stompers who butt in with "Summers End" and the goth folkies on "Stranger Things Have Happened." Singer-guitarist and ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl used to spread this variety across whole albums -- the one-man power pop of 1995's Foo Fighters; the real-band slam of '97's The Colour and the Shape; the unplugged CD in the 2005 set In Your Honor. He has finally figured out how to make one record out of all that leeway.

There are bumps -- "Stranger Things" isn't strange enough (drums and fuzz would have helped) -- and a disappointing finish: "Home," which is just Grohl on vocals, piano and too much melodrama. Grohl, guitarist Chris Shiflett, bassist Nate Mendel and drummer Taylor Hawkins make the same points about loss, defiance and rescue better earlier: in the machine-gun-guitar stutter of "Erase/Replace" (Grohl writes riffs like a drummer) and the shape-shifting "Let It Die," which starts with cautious acoustic questioning ("In too deep and out of time/Why'd you have to go and let it die?"), then blows up into a full-metal cross-examination.

And there is "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners," a fingerpicking ballet with guest guitarist Kaki King that sounds like it dropped in from an old Takoma Records anthology. Grohl wrote the instrumental after meeting a survivor of a 2006 mine collapse in Tasmania (while trapped underground, the miner asked for an iPod loaded with Foo songs to keep him company) and swore to record it. The track makes no sense, even in this eclecticism -- except that Grohl is a man of his word.

DAVID FRICKE

(Posted: Oct 4, 2007)

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Track List

Play All

The Pretender
Let It Die
Erase/Replace
Long Road To Ruin
Come Alive
Stranger Things Have Happened
Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)
Summer's End
Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners
Statues
But, Honestly
Home
Once & For All (Demo) (track not available in Rhapsody)

Your Turn

Give us your review of Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

Review 1 of 30

4of 5 Stars

this record has everything, first time i heard it it seem to strange to go from the pretender to home in only one record. it is complete, all foo fighters have done in their wholr carrier in only one record. rs gives just too low reviews to some great records.

May 24, 2008 20:30:25

Review 2 of 30

3of 5 Stars

I believe the reviewer is sittin on the fence, but I will always be on the otherside, I believe the rightside of FF. 3 Stars for an album that reminds me of home, not Hollywood Blvd.

Remember all of us have emotions that vary, he has to review as a job, where as most of the reviews of this album on this site are made by people who get inspired by the Foos music.

Has Rolling Stone lost its means to inspire its own employees?

Hard to tell these days but I hope not.
Hell I'd love to write for Rolling Stone!:)

The review simply sits and I say for him, fair enough I have no bones to pick with him at all. Good job.

For me this album makes me feel weird(not as much as Skin and Bones thankfully).

And for the person who couldn't decide whether he liked 'Everlong' or 'Skin and Bones' best, thankyou for your support of the FF's, Everlong for me wins, while skin and bones loses with its middle finger in the air!

God Bless
Johnny Go

Apr 28, 2008 04:37:53

Review 3 of 30

4of 5 Stars

Wow. People get vicious about reviews. Everyone relax, take a paxil, and put on disc 2 from "In Your Honor". OK? OK.
Since everyone is a critic, here's my foo cents:
This is the best all-around Foo album yet. I am a "Constant Fighter",(someone who has been there at the store on the Tuesday morning for all the Foo's audio or video discs. Oh, and I believe four cassettes back in the old days.) I would have to say that FF have only gotten better with age. (No fine wine jokes.) I would rate each Foo album as better than the last, with the exception of "Nothing Left to Lose". I would put TINLTL right up with ESP&G. Every single song on these albums destroys my head with awesomeness. I would also add the 6-song "In You Honor" companion EP "Foo Fighters" to that list.(I don't know now if Everlong or Skin & Bones is my favorite Foo song). Echoes deserved to win best rock album at the Grammy's,and it did. For a reason. Now before I respond to a person calling "Home" pretentious, I'm going to go have a Paxil, and listen to some Echoes.

Love, Dan

Mar 29, 2008 00:06:35

Review 4 of 30

5of 5 Stars

The Essential Foo Fighters.

Jan 3, 2008 07:42:29

Review 5 of 30

5of 5 Stars

Excellent album. To the previous foo fan who proclaims his distaste for this album--boo hoo, brother.

"The Pretender" damn near carries this disc by itself; yet, the disc doesn't need the help. "Stranger Things Have Happened" kicks 10 kinds of ass... and it's just an acoustic guitar (well, doubled guitar parts), a voice, and a metronome. "But, Honestly" is pure emotion--expertly molded, shaped, and then released in the most sublime outro Dave or any of the other Foos have blasted onto tape. If that song doesn't become a mega-hit single, someone at RCA is the fool of the century. On the strength of those three songs alone--which could get 10 out of five stars from me, a piece--this album is at least 4.5 stars. As the album art indicates--this is the bomb. There are no duds here.

Dec 27, 2007 20:10:18

Review 6 of 30

4of 5 Stars

It's like a Best of the Foo Fighters...new songs that summarize what they are best at.

Dec 8, 2007 20:16:20

Review 7 of 30

5of 5 Stars

5 stars no dought the have all great songs not like some albums that only have a few good songs, but pretender is the best.

Nov 16, 2007 12:31:36

Review 8 of 30

4of 5 Stars

Most certainly not their best, but definitely atleast 3 to 3.5 stars on a Rollingstone scale. I thoroughly dont appreciate the switchup either - my magazine also has the CD rated as 3.5 stars. That is a very underhanded tactic and unbecoming of a true critic of music. Perhaps we should start relying on people who aren't paid tons of money to listen to music we can appreciate for ourselves.

Nov 13, 2007 20:55:07

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