Foo Fighters
One By One
RCA
One By One, the latest album from the Foo Fighters, rocks. Problem is, that is about all it does. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a decent enough album, maybe even a good one on some days – but it took this listener several listens and more than a couple of weeks to finally enjoy all that I was hearing. And in my mind, that’s just working too hard.
The album is chockful of rock, from start to finish. Whereas previous Foo Fighters work focused primarily on rocking your socks off, there were always the occasional moments of slowed down beauty (“Big Me,” from their debut album, for example). Grohl and company made sure to mix it up just a bit here and there, and by doing so, kept their previous albums a bit more engaging than this current effort. I do like rock – I hope I’m not too old to dislike the genre any more – but I don’t particularly care for the Puddle Of Mudd/Staind/Limp Bizkit state of things. One By One definitely stands heads and shoulders above the aforementioned bands, and for that fact alone, I’m glad they released this album – if for no other reason than to remind today’s “rock stars” what real, true, pulsing rock n’ roll is all about.
Grohl can be a talented songwriter, if not always the best lyricist, and here the surrounding players in the Foo Fighters are more than capable of handling their musical duties. But in the end, it’s all just a bit too repetitive to sustain an entire album, especially in one listen. Here’s to hoping that on their next album, Grohl remembers his Beatles and Big Star influences once and awhile – and the band goes back to changing things up a bit.
Foo Fighters: http://www.foofighters.com
