There are some really wonderful things on the Foo Fighters’ eighth record: the jazzy
keyboard bit on ‘Something from Nothing’, the sing-along second half of the
‘What Did I Do?/God as My Witness’ double track, the wonderful bridge towards the end of ‘Congregation’ featuring Zack Brown (such a perfect 70 seconds
or so) and the great riff on album-best ‘The Feast and the Famine’. The Foo
Fighters are, of course, far too good to put out a ‘poor’ record, and
there’s plenty here to enjoy, as ever.
But Sonic Highways is
certainly also a patchy record, even within songs, and the end of the album
really tails off (‘Subterranean’, for example, is just a bit boring). The fact this is all a bit disjointed was
probably inevitable given the way in which the album was made (each track
recorded in a different city). The
failings of Sonic Highways are
probably exaggerated by the fact that predecessor Wasting Light was the Foos’
best since their late-90s heyday – meaning that this inevitably feels a little
like a step backwards. The Foos have never made an album that’s
been unable to find a spot on my list since I starting doing these in 2000, but
it was a close call this year. I’m glad
that it crept in at number 20, as overall I have really liked this record, and
the Foos will always be special to
me. But it’s quite telling that I have
enjoyed the HBO documentary series about making
this album significantly more than the album itself.
sample
track: The Feast and the Famine