Wasting Light

Description

Produced by Butch Vig and mixed by Alan Moulder, Wasting Light was recorded entirely on analog tape in the garage of Grohl's home in California's San Fernando Valley. The no computers/no software back to basics approach has resulted in arguably the strongest and most cohesive effort of the band s 15-year-plus career: From first single Rope to the frenetic opener Bridge Burning to the beautifully bipolar These Days to stunning guest spots from Bob Mould ( Dear Rosemary") and Krist Novoselic ("I Should Have Known"), Wasting Light is a singular triumph: a band that's headlined arenas, stadiums and festivals the world over stripping itself down to the bare essentials and coming up with a world class band's finest hour.Ensure to be played with turntable speed of 45RPM. Review: Great albums change your life, or at least the way you feel about it. This is one of them. - This is a slightly edited review, as I have now had a few days with this album, and yes, I've listened to it quite a few times. It's striking how much you can see the FF, and Dave Grohl, have grown as artists. Their ability to craft a tight, full sound with impossible-to-resist rock-n-roll hooks is better than ever, and it was never bad. Dave Grohl's lyrics have matured as well, bringing both edginess and depth. I was a bit smitten with the album when I wrote the title to this review the first night I heard it, but I'm going to have to stick with it, because it is, after all, perfectly true from my perspective. And it's recorded on all-analog equipment in Dave's garage, which adds a whole other level of awesome. Bridge Burning: sorry, didn't feel this one. Perhaps the picky intro picked at my psyche a little too annoyingly. Good hard rocking tune but ... meh. Not my favorite. Rope: Early single release for a reason -- one of those things that instantly becomes an ear worm, with catchy melodic hard hooks. Enjoy. Dear Rosemary: According to the interwebs (a Google search for "Dave Grohl" plus Rosemary), Rosemary Carroll [believed] that Kurt might have been murdered. She was Courtney's divorce lawyer. The lyrics almost suggest it's connected, but have a Google and see what you find. "Truth ain't gonna change the way you lie." hmmmm.... White Limo: Not my favorite track, definitely balls-to-the-wall rock, yes, but ... well, YMMV. Arlandria: Arlandria is a town in Virginia, which features a Dave Grohl quote on their website. Arlandria was mentioned in a previous FF song, Headwires - this is, apparently, an intense place. Classic Foo Fighters power chord poetry, what can I say? Oh, sweet Virginia. These Days: best existential thing that's ever rocked me to my core. I can't tell you how this song will affect you, you'll have to meditate with it for yourself. It will be worth the effort. Back & Forth: Since my first listen happened to be inadvertently in alphabetical order, "is it all this good" was my reaction. (hint: it is) Powerful r&r hooks and Dave Grohl writing words that simply defy gravity. Over the hill and through the ages... A Matter of Time: Powerful and it would make a perfect anthem for personal change. Put this on your workout playlist, definitely. Miss The Misery: Opens up with hard, heavy, crunchy melodic rock & roll riff, i.e. it's a Foo Fighters song. This is lyrical stuff here, get literate with it and listen to every. single. word. You will find the album's title in here, meaningful & poignant. Also, it will ROCK you when you find it. I Should Have Known: haunting, dragging up memories, bliss + agony, perfect like faded photographs ... beautiful if sadness can be considered to have beauty, which I think it does. Walk: Reflective, brilliant, shiny, melancholy, and will rock you, seriously. Another one to add to that workout playlist, it'll get you moving. Classic Foo Fighters, what can I say? SUMMARY: this album, like several others in my 50 year history, has changed my life. Great albums do that. This is one of them. I don't mind that Kurt Cobain's ghost haunts Dave, in fact I think it's given him cause to explore some great darknesses and come out on the other side with some unforgettable music. Review: Classic - Hard to say that this is "the best" Foo Fighters album because, after so many years, bands should really be defined by eras. I would consider the Foos first era ending, and second era beginning, with their double album, In Your Honor. Their "classic" album from that first era is The Colour and The Shape. It is considered, and will continue to be considered, a classic album in the rock genre. Wasting Light is the best album of the Foos second era and, like TCATS, it will be considered a classic album in the rock genre. There is no track that is unlikeable, just a few that aren't as great as the others. Highlights of the album are the first two tracks, "Bridge Burning" and "Rope", are the best two songs I've heard to open an album since way back to the first tracks of "Vs." by Pearl Jam, "Go" and "Animal." "Dear Rosemary" is solid, the guitar work sounding a bit like "Steady As She Goes" by the Racounteurs, and a chorus that is all Dave Grohl, even with help from Bob Mould. Thrashy and well-placed "White Limo" is juxtaposed with the ridiculously catchy "Arlandria" ("you and what army? Arlandria!"). "These Days" is such a great, soaring rock song that it is easy to forget that the lyrics are painfully honest and relate-able on a number of levels. "Back and Forth" is cheesy, but in a catchy, good way, and sounds like something of a homage to any number of late-80's rock tracks with it's chug-chug-chug guitar sound (listen to it, you'll get it). "A Matter of Time" to me is very Foo-sy, that is to say, it could have been on just about any of their other albums and fit right in. "Miss the Misery" is just...fantastic. In as much as I love the opening two tracks on the album, I've never heard on any other album closing tracks as good as the deeper, more emotional two tracks that end the album. The album is bookended perfectly. "I Should Have Known" is believed to be about a close friend of Dave Grohl's (not named Cobain) that died of an OD within the last two years. It is a tugging, beautiful song that absolutely soars when his old bandmate Krist Novoselic's bass makes its presence felt about 2/3 through the song. Closer "Walk" is my favorite in an album full of favorites. Perhaps because I'm in my mid-30s, my perspective on the song is that it sounds exactly like the words of a person who sang "My Way Home" from The Colour and The Shape would 14 years later. Someone who was "not scared, I felt like this on my way home" now has responsibilities and children and a fear of death. "Walk" encapsulates that sort of maturity, wisdom, growth, etc. In typical Dave Grohl fashion, the guy who has the rock star credentials and "rock god" status worldwide does the complete opposite in the very un-rock-and-roll like lyric "I never want to die, I never want to die!" He defies the rock-n-roll persona in his words as much as he personifies it in his music. It is as close to a perfect, uplifting and emotional song as I've ever heard. Someone else mentioned this, and I totally agree: it has been YEARS since I've heard an album and considered it a "new favorite album." This fits the bill perfectly. Over 20 years of collecting music and more than 1,000 albums, this just instantly sat in with the handful I can listen to anytime, anywhere, and love from start to finish.