Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
In 1997, Foo Fighters teamed with alt-rock production cornerstone Gil Norton to make their best album, The Colour and the Shape. Ten years later, they've regrouped with Norton for a disc that's more sophisticated and diverse, if a tad less rockin'. The curveballs include "Stranger Things Have Happened," a solo soul-searcher where leader Dave Grohl's accompanied by just his acoustic guitar and a ticking metronome, and "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners," an acoustic guitar duet for Grohl and guest virtuoso Kaki King. Plus "Summers End" tickles the Foos' classic-rock fetish with a dead-on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young arrangement. There's still enough of the intense, snarling power-pop that's Foo Fighters' longtime forte. "The Pretender," "Erase/Replace," and "Long Road to Ruin" combine sheer thrust, zeal, and melody like no other group currently on the charts. Yet the finale, "Home," makes its clear that this is a changed band--or, at least, that Grohl's a changed man. With only his piano for company, Grohl's pleading voice reveals fragile layers of insecurity and loneliness as he sings "all I want is to be home." Seems this rock & roll road warrior's mellowed some, albeit without compromising Foo Fighters' vitality. --Ted Drozdowski

Amazon.com
Having commemorated their tenth anniversary with a year-plus run commencing with In Your Honor (a double album the New York Times called an "unexpected magnum opus"), sold out rock arena shows and a toned down intimate theater trek, and a headlining gig at London's Hyde Park for a crowd of 85,000, the question looms larger than any in the Foo Fighters' career to date: What do they do for an encore?!? The answer comes in the form of "The Pretender," the first single from the band's sixth studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, out on Roswell/RCA. Produced by Gil Norton, who last worked with the band on 1997's double-platinum The Colour and The Shape (recently reissued in deluxe 10th anniversary form), Dave Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, drummer Taylor Hawkins and guitarist Chris Shiflett have crafted a 12-track milestone that showcases and reconciles the band's every strength and sensibility in the most complex and confident Foo Fighters album to date.

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Album Description
Japanese pressing of the 2007 album from Dave Grohl and his Foo mates features two bonus tracks: 'Once & For All' (Demo) and 'Seda'. .Having commemorated their tenth anniversary with a year-plus run commencing with In Your Honor, sold out Rock arena shows and a toned down intimate theater trek, and a headlining gig at London's Hyde Park for a crowd of 85,000, the question looms larger than any in the Foo Fighters' career to date: What do they do for an encore?!? The answer comes in the form of the band's sixth studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Produced by Gil Norton, who last worked with the band on 1997's double-platinum The Colour and The Shape (recently reissued in deluxe 10th anniversary form), Dave Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, drummer Taylor Hawkins and guitarist Chris Shiflett have crafted a 12-track milestone that showcases and reconciles the band's every strength and sensibility in the most complex and confident Foo Fighters album to date.

Customer Reviews: Read 122 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

4 1/2 Stars September 25, 2007
38 out of 44 found this review helpful

This isn't a perfect album, or even the best Foo Fighters album in my opinion, but it is a damn good rock album. The Foo Fighters usually change things up from album to album. Some people like the balls out rock, while others like them when they lean toward pop, and still others like the acoustic Foos. This album has a little of everything. So if you like Dave screaming his voice out, then there is a song or two for you. A number of really catchy songs, I really enjoyed the album all the way through. The only exception was the last track "Home", which is just Dave and a piano. That one kind of dragged for me. Other than that, terrific classic rock album. One quick note is that if you buy the album from iTunes you will get a bonus track "Once & for All".

4 out of 5 stars

Their best in a long time. September 25, 2007
31 out of 39 found this review helpful

Perhaps we've all accepted the cold, hard fact that the Foo Fighters' best days are behind them. Afterall, their last two albums -- 2005's "In Your Honor" and 2002's "One By One" -- were a bit lopsided, unimaginitive and appeared to be incomplete. Despite the fact that they haven't completely lost their knack for making great music, as those albums contain some real nuggets, it has become apparent that they may never recapture the magic of the beloved sophmore album, "The Colour And The Shape," or even 1999's slightly underrated "There Is Nothing Left To Lose." Maybe Dave Grohl and company have come to realize this as well, and that's why they reteamed with Gil Norton (who produced "The Colour And The Shape") and have crafted their broadest and most "classic" album since the turn of the century: "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace."

Opening with "The Pretender," which is possibly their most instantly gratifying single since "Monkey Wrench," Foo Fighters get this album off to a rocking start, engaging the listener and getting them primed for what is perhaps the most experimental of their material. One can't help but notice the classic rock influence on the album, and it's quite obvious that while making the album, they wanted something that will live on past it's time. An album that future generations can discover and relate to. On that end, they succeed. Thankfully, the band pries it's sound wide open enough that portions of the album, such as "Stranger Things Have Happened," "Statues" and "Home," fall under the Foo umbrella, yet sound unlike anything the band has done before, making this perhaps the farthest reaching album of their career, appealing to fans both young and old. It's unfortunate, then, that the band can't help but slip into autopilot as they sometimes do, and in turn, songs like "Erase/Replace" and -- gotta love this song title -- "Cheer Up Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)" are just standard b-side tunes that don't do much to help the album. But for the most part, the album is a smashing success. It retains the core Foo sound while broadening it's range and crafting some timeless tunes. For sure, this is the album that "In Your Honor" could have been, had they not chosen to seperate the two different styles on two different discs.

While not being quite the perfect album or the massive creative comeback, it's definitely the best thing they have done in a good long while. Those expecting the arena-rock of Foo Fighters' past might be disappointed to find a more mature sound, but anyone willing to give it a few solid spins will see it's brilliance.

5 out of 5 stars

Good News From the Foos December 14, 2007
27 out of 28 found this review helpful

In the mid-90's, I saw the Foo Fighters on the "Color and Shape" tour. At the time, I was particularly discouraged by the state of live music. I genuinely felt that the time for drums and guitars had ended, and that I should "gird my loins" for the next wave of musical expression, as previously exemplified by early `90s bands such as EMF and Jesus Jones.

Attending this show singlehandedly reinvigorated my belief in rock and roll. Eloquently enough, nearly a decade later I still find the Foos engaging. The Foo Fighters are a band that has inexplicably stood the test of time in the same way that U2 and Peter Gabriel did in the early 90s. While their reinvention may not be as obvious as their predecessors, it still situates them as one of the great and longlasting bands in the increasingly fickle musical landscape of today.

The beauty in the new Foo album lies in the way in which it navigates dynamics, songwriting, and energy. Even in its mellower moments, the "Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace" brims with a subdued tension that is only relieved by explosive energy. The way in which Grohl and his cohorts navigate the dichotomy between soothing lullaby and devastating intensity within song form (in the micro) and the overall album (in the macro) expresses a compositional maturity that belies the "rock" format within which they are categorized

For the careful listener, "Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace" is driven by subtle melodic polyphony. We're not talking counterpoint here, but the interplay between bass and lead vocal on "Erase/Replace" and rhythm guitar and vocal on "The Pretender" exhibit a certain compositional depth. To get much more complex would question the Foo's status as "rock" music.

And undeniably, The Foo Fighters' new album is, to its core, rock music. Who would have thought that, out of the ashes of the band that defined the `90s, a band that defines "rock" music through the strength of their vision would continue to be both relevant and eloquent? Perhaps the one criticism that can be leveled is their use of repetition and dynamic build-up for climax. Several songs on the album use this technique. However, there are also songs that are just loud, and others that are just, well, less loud (read: guitars are not distorted). Overall, it creates a relatively diverse acoustic environment.

The lowdown: Here's where melody, songwriting, and raw energy meet. I have had this album in my car for almost a month now, and I'm to the point of feeling guilty about removing it. I seem to enjoy it every time.

3 out of 5 stars

Satisfying sixth album but little more September 25, 2007
9 out of 15 found this review helpful

The cover art of Foo's ESP&G reminds one of their 1995 self-titled debut: muted background, centered layout, a weapon overwhelming the space. But if you go in hoping for some of the old Foo magic, you'll be sadly disappointed. We've come to accept the fact that the Foo of old is gone, which is surprising considering how little the band seems to evolve anymore. They try new tricks each time out, sure, but it's all in the same framework as ever. Everything is primed for mass consumption. It's arena-friendly in the sort of way that would make bands like Kansas and Foreginer proud. The productions are slick and uncorrupted. There's so little breathing room in each radio-friendly nugget because they're designed with the same sort of affection we would hope for, but not in the way that we would hope for. Even the softest and gentlest ballads sound like little more than very subdued anthems.

But if you're going to depend on any band earning major airplay to fill an arena, you might as well go with Foo Fighters. After all, they do it better than almost any of their peers by a long shot, and even while we wish for more, the resulting product is almost always satisfying. Grohl and company are older and wiser now; can we really expect the same sort of energy and aggression as before? But to play it so safe is still a deflating realization. The songs are built to be sung along to, packaged for commercial success, and we swallow each pill without choking. It's very easy to like this album. It's near impossible to be passionate about it.

Like most Foo records, this one opens the gates with thrust and gusto as first single "The Pretender" builds up steam and charges full-speed ahead. "Let It Die" comes next, following the patented method of a story of two halves: one slowly building but spare and simple, the other galloping and loud, letting the freak flag of rawk fly. "Erase/Replace" is the standard issue Foo rocker, fun but forgettable and easy going down. They can do appealing acoustic ditties well, too, though. "Stranger Things Have Happened" moves surprisingly quickly for a five-minute plus ballad. "Home" is a pretty piano ballad that recalls Jackson Browne in a good way. The problems come when they want heavy guitars rolling along on creaky and derivative melodies that would feel more at home in the hands of the Goo Goo Dolls. "Long Road to Ruin," "Cheer Up Boys, Your Makeup Is Running," and "Statues" are the prime offenders of these crimes, and they're easily the weakest tracks of an already uneven batch. Even "Summer's End," which has an undeniable folk heart sprinkled with good-ol-boy 70s rock flourishes, is a tale of two cities, both at odds, neither happy to share space. Buffalo Springfield could have made it work; Foo just look lost.

That they would try an eclectic collection like this is heartening, though. Their other albums were distinctively marked in niches. Even when early Foo tried to change things up by going the mellow pop route with songs like "Big Me" and "Walking After You," they followed the distinctive patterns of the surrounding material. And In Your Honor had two very divergent styles, but they were separated on opposing sides, each of which were almost TOO "samey" on either end. But if they think they're doing Led Zeppelin's III by loading the disc with nearly as many mid-tempo numbers as zippy hard rockers, they have to figure out how to do the music in between the extremes. Grohl alone with an acoustic guitar and simple but heartfelt lyrics is fine. The whole band playing fast and heavy with slick but fun gate-chargers is quite good as well. Trying to coast along in the middle ground is a tough mission, one that I wonder if Grohl and the boys are capable of succeeding. I wish it were different--Grohl seems an affable and fun guy, he's a hell of a drummer and no slouch on the guitar, and the rest of the band offers solid support and better--but it's tough to think otherwise anymore.

Best cuts: "Stranger Things Have Happened," "The Pretender," "Home," "Let It Die," "The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners," "Erase/Replace," "Come Alive"

5 out of 5 stars

Another Landmark; Beyond "In Your Honor" September 25, 2007
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

"In Your Honor", the album released in 2005, was a two-disc, 20-track, landmark for the Foo Fighters. The album featured 10 "loud" tracks and 10 "not-so-loud" tracks. And together, all 20 tracks showcased the Foo Fighters' talent (with a little help from a few others).

Now, two years later, "Echos, Silence, Patience, and Grace" hits the streets and prooves that Dave and company are still on top of the game. These boys have talent. This album is both "loud" and "not-so-loud" and all 12 tracks flow nicely. Nothing is out of place. "The Pretender" is a breath-taking beginning and "Home" is an astonishing conclusion.

If you love the Foo Fighters, you will love this album. The signature sound is here: double barrel guitars, drums that attack, and Dave yelling at full volume. Aside from the signature sound, the album features acoustic guitars, pianos, and strings; Dave also sings.

This album: breath-taking and astonishing. This album is epic (albeit 12 tracks). Long live the Foo Fighters!

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