Foo Fighters: Medium Rare track by track

About a month or so ago, the Foo Fighters released a (mostly) limited vinyl-only compilation for Record Store Day.  Entitled "Medium Rare", this basically throws together a bunch of covers the band have previously released, along with one or two new ones.

I don't think any copies made their way down to the small handful of participating New Zealand stores, so I had to resort to the internet.  For the most part I have a real aversion to downloading albums for free - given the amount of time, effort and money that artists invest in making music they deserve a reward for it, after all it is their livelihood.  I mean, I'd be pretty peeved if my employer told me I wasn't getting paid today.  But I think downloading can be justified where the particular track/album simply isn't commercially available by virtue of being out of print or limited or whatever.  So, basically, if I can't buy it, then I have no qualms about downloading it.

And so it was with Medium Rare, which has a delightfully meaty cover.

Anyway, onto the track-by-track:
1. Band on the Run (originally by Wings)
This originally appeared on a Radio 1 compilation and frankly it's pretty damn good.  It's not a major reinvention - and trying to reinvent a McCartney track might be a bit bold anyway.  But it sounds like the Foo Fighters doing a really good cover of Wings, particularly during the first major dynamic change in the song ("If I ever get out of here...").  Definitely a good track to start with.

2. I Feel Free (originally by Cream)
Originally a b-side to DOA, this one sees Taylor doing most of the singing and Dave doing all of the drumming, which happened on one or two other tracks during the In Your Honor period.  Decent enough and the guitar solos do sound particularly cool.

3. Life of Illusion (originally by Joe Walsh)
You know how there are always 'Japan-only EP's'?  Well this was on the Times Like These Japan-only EP.  Maybe Joe Walsh was in the Eagles but this song is fairly unremarkable and mostly just plods along.  There are a number of covers the Foos have done that would have been more worthy inclusions - Born on the Bayou, Ozone, even their highly-amusing cover of Stairway to Heaven was probably a better option (skip to 3:30 for a Jack Black moment).



4. Young Man Blues (originally by Mose Allison; made famous by The Who)
One of those 'second order' covers (a la Sevendust covering Johnny Cash covering Nine Inch Nails' Hurt), this was from a VH1 Rock Honors show in 2008 and wasn't available on record until now (although apparently they also covered Bargain with Gaz Coombes of Supergrass at the show).  This is a really fun cover because it's much looser than the average Foo Fighters track and the band jams a lot in the middle too.  It's nice to hear them do something a bit less structured and do it really well. 

5. Bad Reputation (originally by Thin Lizzy)
Previously unreleased, and frankly a great choice.  Dave doesn't quite have Phil Lynott's swagger behind the mic but the band more than compensate for that musically.  Rollicking good stuff.

6. Darling Nikki (originally by Prince and the Revolution)
This one dates back to The Colour and the Shape era, appearing on a bonus disc that came with some copies.  An unlikely choice, perhaps, but it's always been a big personal favourite of mine - a little straighter and poppier than the original but the explosion into the chorus with Dave doing his 'big rock scream' is brilliant.  One that they still perform live on special occasions, occasionally with Cee Lo Green.  Definitely a highlight.



7. Down in the Park (originally by Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army)
Originally appeared on Songs in the Key of X, a collection of songs loosely related to the X Files (remember that?!).  It's a pretty straightforward verse-chorus-verse effort which is made special by the dynamic build throughout the song.  The first verse is just Dave singing over the rhythm section, on the second verse the guitars join in (albeit palm-muted), and then in the third version we're in full-on rock mode (complete with moar crash cymbal).  Nothing particularly tricky about it, but it works really well.


8. Baker Street (originally by Gerry Rafferty)
This was a b-side to My Hero and popped up on the same bonus disc as Darling Nikki.  It actually became a minor hit in its own right and it does a good job of taking the track down a much more rock route, most notably by substituting guitar for the distinctive sax solo of the original. 

9. Danny Says (originally by the Ramones)
This one was a bonus track with some versions of One By One.  If you thought a punk cover was most likely to be Chris Shiflett's choice, I'm betting you'd be right because he sings lead vocals on this track.  In the solid-but-unremarkable category.

10. Have A Cigar (originally by Pink Floyd)
Here's a trivia gem - the Foos have actually released two different recordings of this cover, both with Taylor on vocals.  The first was a b-side on Learn to Fly.  The second - featured here and which originally appears on the MI-2 soundtrack - features Brian May on guitar and is also noticeable because Taylor's vocals are a lot more aggressive.  It's essentially a hard-rock take on the track - while it's quite different from the much more spacious Floyd version, impressively the Foos manage to retain the original's groove with bassist Nate Mendel taking an unusually prominent role.

11. Never Talking to You Again (originally by Husker Du)
A live performance - with Dave solo on vocals and guitar - that popped up as a b-side to Low.  Solid but nothing special.

12. Gas Chamber (originally by the Angry Samoans)
An oldie but a goodie that popped up on the Big Me single.  At 0:56, it's the shortest song the Foos have recorded and I'd pick it as a Dave Grohl choice because it sure harkens back to his Scream days.  Rocks hard, doesn't mess around.


13. This Will Be Our Year (originally by the Zombies)
A previously unreleased track to close the album.  In the category of "there were probably better choices than this".  It's not bad, it's just not that interesting.


Overall, there are some absolute stunners, and a few that probably could have been omitted in favour of better alternatives.  But you know, you can probably happily track it down for free without too much moral culpability.  And if you got it on vinyl, well done you.

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light review

Expectations can be a tricky thing. They can weigh down very good albums... and their absence can make above-average albums sound a lot better. New releases by iconic names are held to a much higher standard of account than a random chance discovery of a record by an artist we haven't heard before.

I'm grappling with this a little bit, because - for better or worse - I had a ton of expectations riding on the Foo Fighters' new album Wasting Light. Hard not to, after hearing the lead single Rope, the quasi-single White Limo and the 30-second teaser of Bridge Burning. Combine that with a ton of nostalgia (the self-titled debut was one of the first albums I ever got, and still a huge favourite), and you can hopefully understand how I really hoped the Foos would produce a sensational record.

Don't get me wrong here - I'm not saying that Wasting Light is not a good album. In fact, it is a very good album, with a number of fantastically good tracks. It just falls ever so slightly short of perfection though, for exactly the same reason that every Foo Fighters album post-Colour and the Shape has been an under-performer. Front-loading.

Let's recap. The self-titled debut and The Colour and the Shape are both consistent, balanced, excellent albums. There is Nothing Left to Lose starts with the utterly brilliant Stacked Actors and, aside from Generator and Aurora, never even gets close to those heights subsequently - and then a pretty similar pattern is repeated on the next three albums (substitute All My Life, Best of You, and The Pretender accordingly). There are some amazing songs on all of those later albums, but they're not great albums.

To be fair, the front-loading is a lot less noticeable here than on some of those examples. There are some very good songs on both halves of the album. It's just that on the back half, there's just a teeny-weeny bit of filler that becomes that much more noticeable given how unbelievably awesome the first half is.

And oh how awesome the first half is. It really is. The first two tracks are both incendiary, brilliantly-constructed rock songs. Opener Bridge Burning kicks in with a huge crescendo, dive-bombing riff and Dave Grohl screaming "These are my famous last words" before locking into a tight up-tempo groove a-la Monkey Wrench. Some great use of dynamics and just the right amount of use of the main riff/refrain/call to headbang keep the song incredibly interesting throughout.

Lead single Rope is equally brilliant, albeit for different reasons. Aside from being damn catchy, the use of clever musical counterpoints here is really, really nice. The opening guitar line - and most of the verse - has a slightly melancholy tone to it but then every fourth bar there's a great little twist that adds a real sense of urgency - either a punchy double-time drum/guitar-combination fill, or a slight delay followed by a big power-chord just to keep the headbangers interested. And then on a more macro scale, most of the song has a fairly constructed, radio-friendly vibe to it, but then there is a big rock freak-out mid-song which is a great contrast. If ever one single song has showcased all the many unique, enjoyable facets of the Foo Fighters - this is probably it.

Dear Rosemary changes things up nicely, more of a bluesy, broody mid-tempo number with a bit of help from Bob Mould and some nice stereo guitar interplay. Actually the three-guitar attack (thanks to the return of Pat Smear) is a highlight throughout - there's some really nice guitar layering and detail on a number of the songs.

And then White Limo. Hands up who remembers those great early Foos songs like Wattershed, Weenie Beenie, and The Colour and the Shape (which ironically doesn't appear on the album of the same name)? Well, White Limo is a return to the tradition of 'let's make a really fast, thrashy, rocking song with distorted, nonsensical vocals, which is completely awesome'. All I can say here is that if I was to make a list of my top 10 songs of all time, White Limo would almost certainly be on it. I do my best to headbang along in awe, and sing the only bit I can actually decipher "Go....... limo". Go, you good limo thing.

So how to follow that up? Well with a completely contrasting but almost as excellent track, Arlandria. This one, you can sing along to the whole way, and in fact you'll probably want to (the fact you can actually decipher the words makes it considerably easier, too). Insidiously catchy, with some great dynamic shifts.

And here's where the quality drops ever so slightly. These Days, Back & Forth and A Matter of Time are all decent, catchy tracks, but in contrast to their predecessors which see the band really pushing themselves, they sound just a little bit Foos-by-numbers. You might swear you've heard them before.

But then the closing trio really raise the bar again - Miss the Misery is a great song built around a fantastic main riff, and it's followed by the plaintive, slow-building I Should Have Known. Closing track Walk is ever so slightly reminiscent of New Way Home - albeit with the quiet-loud, slow-fast buildup replaced by some nice guitar interplay and Dave Grohl screaming "I never wanna die!".

Wasting Light is a really good album and one I'm sure will get a lot of repeat listens. If its third quarter was just a little more interesting, it would be a truly exceptional, career-defining album.

But you know, maybe I should just stop prattling on about that, crank it up loud, and enjoy it. Sure does seem like that's how the band intended it.

Foo Fighters, Auckland Town Hall, 22 March 2011

After a few busy days at work, I've finally found the time to write about what was a phenomenal Foo Fighters concert on Tuesday night.

So, this concert was announced at very short notice last week as a fundraiser for the Christchurch Earthquake Relief appeal. The Foos were to come down here and play a one-off show at the Auckland Town Hall, and they would donate all the proceeds to the appeal.

Just to put this in perspective, the Town Hall is 2,300 capacity. I mean, it's a fantastic venue, possibly my favourite. But this is a band that sold out Vector Arena twice (that's about 20,000 punters). So yeah, tickets were going to be in high demand... but seeing one of my favourite bands at a fantastic, intimate venue... well I had to. And I was stoked when I did get tickets - although that's a long and convoluted story in itself (unsurprisingly, it sold out VERY fast).

I have been, and continue to be, a big Foos fan. This was the fifth time I've seen them live - the others being at the Auckland Town Hall in 1998 (on the back of the Colour and the Shape!), Big Day Out 2002, The Mt. Smart Supertop in 2005, and Vector Arena in 2009. They are my most-seen band that isn't Shihad (NZ icons that they are).

And they've been great every time, a consistently excellent live act. Something about their blend of rock and melody just seems to make them a very potent live force, more so than on record. But this show, this was something really special. A one-off, unique piece of rock history. Not part of a tour, a special show for a special cause.

And it was sensational, every bit as good as I expected. Walking out to (predictably) rapturous applause, the Foos were surrounded by fans on all four sides. Even the area behind the stage (which has rows of steps leading up to the organ) had people seated there - which was pretty cool. Dave announced that they were going to start with the new album - which personally I thought was pretty cool. Not many bands have the guts to start a show by playing 11 new songs in a row - but I guess it was a good chance to road-test the material. Highlights here included first single Rope, the brash White Limo (which is a total throwback to Wattershed and The Colour and the Shape), Arlandria, and Walk.

But I was impressed - the whole thing sounded good. If I had a criticism of the Foos, it would be that they haven't produced a great album in quite some time. Every album from There is Nothing Left to Lose onwards starts strong and tapers off in the second half - in fact, aside from the new album there were only two songs in the set that appear on the second half of an album. But this album... well it could change that. I'll reserve judgment until I can properly sit down and listen to it, but I'm optimistic. And bonus points also for the fact that already, they're jamming around with some of these songs, notwithstanding they've barely played them live yet - the Rope outro got a nice little power-chord kicker.

Then it was basically into a greatest hits setlist, with a few extras, starting with the particularly grunty live favourite All My Life.

Dave still has that affecting habit of replacing the occasional lyric with a howl or a 'fuck yeah' when things are going particularly well - we got a lot of that. Lucky the crowd all knew the words.

The crowd erupted into a full-blown singalong on My Hero which the band specifically dedicated to Christchurch - one of the highlights of the evening.



Up in Arms was unexpected but cool - and reflecting on how the drum part to the quieter opening section was about the only Will Goldsmith drum part that Dave Grohl didn't overdub on The Colour and the Shape made me reflect on the current line-up - which I think makes it pretty apparent that there are at least three essential members of the band now: Grohl, Nate Mendel and Taylor Hawkins. Mendel has been there from the start and his basslines contain clever and often underappreciated counter-melodies. Dave referred to Taylor as "the greatest rock drummer in the world"... maybe that's Dave being humble, but Taylor is pretty essential to the band's sound now.

Anyway, I digress again. Cold Day in the Sun saw Taylor singing while playing drums - often him and Dave swap instruments for this song.

And then the biggest highlight of the show: Stacked Actors. I picked it as soon as he changed guitars (which actually didn't happen a lot). There is this distinctive blue guitar Dave uses for this track live - I recall it from the 08 show. Of course the second hint was Dave's intro: "this is a fucking rad song". Because it is a fucking rad song. It might be the best song the Foos have ever written. And it went off. The bridge section had a big improv jam as it normally does these days. The twist was that Dave ran around the entire upper circle of the Town Hall while doing it. At one point he was just a couple of metres away from me - and that was very cool. There was this one great sequence of call and response guitar duels between Dave and Chris Shiflett. Which doesn't sound that unusual - except they were on opposite sides of the venue! There were a couple of minders who had a pretty miserable time chasing Dave around the circle, that was funny too. Eventually he made it back to conclude the song (and complain about being groped on his little expedition).

The video below is not great but gives you some idea of the awesomeness.



They wrapped up the main set with a huge three song blast from TCATS: Monkey Wrench, Hey, Johnny Park!, and Everlong.

And of course there was an encore - in fact there was a 5 song encore. At the start of the night Dave promised to play 30 songs - and they fucking did! First up was The Pretender. This was pretty cool, because the Town Hall has a big-ass pipe organ at the back - which Rami Jaffee used for the song's intro. It was kinda Phantom of the Opera, and very cool.



Then we got Aurora and Breakout - neither of which I expected (but bear in mind I'd assumed a 3-song encore), and the latter was an especially cool surprise.

The last two songs came as no surprise to anyone - Best of You (again, a big singalong) and then they "took us back to where it all began" by finishing with the original Foos single This is a Call. I can still remember hearing this on the radio, at a mate's place, when I was in high school. We thought the line "fingernails are pretty... fingernails are good" was hilarious then. It still is - and that song just always takes me back to those happy, carefree days.

And that was that - barely ten minutes shy of the midnight curfew. We got thirty songs, three hours, and one truly awesome show - thanks in part to an incredibly enthusiastic audience (but hey, we did all pay at least $175 to be there!).

I'll admit to feeling a little guilty that I only got the privilege of going to this show because of the earthquake in Christchurch. But I'll wear my t-shirt from the show ("The power of Christchurch compels you") proudly and I hope the funds raised make a difference to the people down there who have been hit pretty hard.

Full setlist:

Bridge Burning
Rope
Dear Rosemary
White Limo
Arlandria
These Days
Back & Forth
A Matter of Time
Miss The Misery
I Should Have Known
Walk
All My Life
Times Like These
Generator
Learn To Fly
My Hero
Up in Arms
Long Road to Ruin
Big Me
Cold Day in the Sun
Stacked Actors
Skin and Bones
Monkey Wrench
Hey, Johnny Park!
Everlong

Encore:
The Pretender
Aurora
Breakout
Best of You
This is a Call

New Foo Fighters video

So, thanks to MetalSucks I was alerted yesterday morning to the fact that the Foo Fighters have posted a video for one of the songs off their forthcoming new album on YouTube.

There are a huge number of reasons to like this.

Firstly, the song itself is fantastic. It's reminiscent of early Foos - particularly Weenie Beenie from the self-titled album and b-side The Colour and the Shape (which ironically never appeared on the album of the same name). And although they've had some good moments since, their debut still remains my favourite Foos album due to its consistently excellent riff-rock. Pretty excited about the new album after hearing this and the snippet of Bridges Burning.

Secondly, Lemmy! Dude is a legend.

Thirdly, it's a video that manages to be simultaneously spontaneous and clever. It actually looks like they filmed it in one afternoon on a VHS camera. Aside from Lemmy running down Nate Mendel, mostly it is based around shots of the band partying and going crazy in/on the limo. But there are some clever little Foos references in there. The bit where Chris, Dave and Taylor pile into the limo is, I'm sure, a nod to the Big Me video. And the car going off the cliff at the end is lifted straight from Long Road to Ruin.

Fourthly, Dave manages one stunning scream which spans 7 different camera shots.

Finally, it's just incredibly, infectiously likeable. One of the the biggest bands in the world and yet they can still happily fool around like this. Honestly, I would love to have a beer with Dave Grohl.

Anyway, here it is: