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.

Hot sauce, baby

Today sees the (physical) release of the new Beastie Boys album, The Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.  Which many have already heard, after the group pre-leaked it themselves, a trend which is becoming quite the big thing.

Before I get to the album, it's worth giving a nod to the title for two reasons.  The first because I think it is a cool album title (and hot sauce is actually vaguely topical in a music-related way).  The second because there is no Part One, well, not a released version anyway.  It was set for release, but after MCA came down with (fortunately treatable) cancer, it got shelved.  Part Two has the same songs in the same order as Part One (less one), and although the Beasties have said this entirely coincidental, this is coming from a group who certainly know how to take the Michael.  As you can witness in the promo video for the album, which has a two-minute short version, and a full thirty-minute extended version, along with an abundance of guests.





It's actually been seven years since the last Beastie Boys' album with vocals, although the single Too Many Rappers was released back in 2009.  I guess I'd describe the Beasties as one of those groups that I have a bit of an on/off relationship with.  I love Check Your Head, Paul's Boutique, most of Ill Communication and some of Hello Nasty.  The rest I'm not so wild about.  Put this together and the result is pretty vague expectations for this record.

Which it certainly exceeds.  For the most part it sounds like they've trued to make a fairly focused hip-hop album.  This hasn't always been the case with the Beasties; as one moves through their discography there's a definite trend towards experimentation which peaks on Hello Nasty.  And in this case it's definitely a good thing, even if there are (entirely predictable) adventures into punk (Lee Majors Come Again, albeit with some major hip-hop digressions) and instrumental funk (Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament).

But opening track Make Some Noise really does seem to set the tenor - a fun, funky track with occasionally clever and occasionally intentionally dodgy rhymes.  There are nods to some of their older tracks like Say It (think Jimmy James), Nonstop Disco Powerpack (think The Move) and Long Burn the Fire (think The Update). 

But then they pull a few new tricks too - Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win features Santigold and bounces along with some world influences.  Here's a Little Something For Ya is a busy, groovy number that basically screams for a drum and bass remix - although DJ Shadow has already had a really good go at mashing it into a million entertaining pieces:


So, first impressions are pretty positive - this one could well be in my top ten come year-end.

Back to the shed

Right, I haven't used this thing in quite some time. So, in an effort to recapture a vague corner of a blank page somewhere in the endless book that is the internet, here goes.

Lately one album I can't get enough of is Endless Boogie's new record "Full House Head". You can - and should - buy it here.

I first stumbled across the Endless Boogie last year, whilst arbitrarily surfing music sites. I took a punt on Focus Level and loved it. Over-indulgent epic Southern blues-rock jams in abundance. And not, as their name might suggest, even the slightest hint of disco.

These guys came pretty much from leftfield as far as I was concerned, hell at the time of writing they didn't even have a Wikipedia entry (insert sarcastic OMG). And they've got a few genuine quirks - most notably singer/guitarist Top Dollar's extremely idiosyncratic vocal style (mostly random-ish throat noises interspersed with occasional actual singing), but also the fact they've all given themselves silly names (the last band of reasonable quality with that gimmick was probably the Lo Fidelity Allstars), and the fact that they're unafraid of the Dream Theater-esque tendency to put out an album where the songs have an average length of over 7 minutes. I dunno, I just like long songs.

But those quirks are just a side show to their real talent, which is writing kick-ass blues-rock jams. Which gets me back to my original point, which is that "Full House Head" is really, really good.

And what set me on that train of thought was the opening 10 seconds of "Empty Eye", where the rhythm section locks instantly into a tight groove, over the top of which the next 9 minutes sees, variously, gibberish Top Dollar vocals ("riverbed dry.... empty eye"), guitar noodling, but mostly epic guitar solos of varying styles.

And yes, the rest of the album has a lot of great stuff too. God forbid, "Mighty Fine Pie" is the closest thing the Boogie have ever done to a single, with its tight rock and roll vibe. But then elsewhere they deviate into discordant garage ("Top Dollar Speaks His Mind") and full-on psychedelic ramblings ("A Life Worth Leaving").

But it's that opening 10 seconds that just had me. Just from that (and, admittedly, my prior experience with the band), I just knew that this was going to be a kick-ass record. And it is.