Album Review - Foo Fighters / Sonic Highway

I love all types of music.  There is nothing better than a pop beat that can make you move your body.  But a song that tells a story moves your mind.

That is what Dave Grohl is doing with the Foo Fighters 8th studio album, Sonic Highways. It is a concept album of a different sorts.  There are 8 songs, each written about and recorded in a different city.  Along with each song is a documentary about the music scene, musicians, and music of each city that the song was written about.  Dave shares his songwriting process and his overall love of music in each episode that he directs.  Many of the songs include a guest performance by one of Dave's idols.

The Foo Fighters are hit or miss for me. There are albums that I love and albums that are meh.  Their last album did nothing for me.  I felt that it was a wall of sound the was indistinguishable from song to song.  I did not really have my hopes up for the first episode of Sonic Highway's that was about Chicago.  Within 5 minutes it completely had my attention.  The stories, the history, the interviews were all so telling and intriguing.  First hand accounts about burgeoning scenes.  By the time they were ready to premiere the song I didn't want the show to end.  But then they hit you with 'Something From Nothing' and I was in love.

The song had new meaning for me.  I got it. I understood it.  Even if they did cover riffs by My Chemical Romance and Dio.  It was sublime.  I felt the same for each of the following episodes.  I almost feel like that they should do every city.  They were doing each scene proud but I wanted more!  That says something right there.

The one problem I had with the album was that I had an immediate connection with the songs that I had seen on TV.  The songs for episodes that I had not seen did not have the same effect.  There was no connection.  They were just songs.  It will be interesting to see what my take is after watching those episodes and then going back to listen.  In an interview they had stated that they have finished 13 songs.  I would love to know what the other 5 cities were and if they will ever see the light of day.

I hope that this is just the beginning of these projects for the Foo Fighters.  It would be a true shame if it was not.  Nothing tells a better story than a man in love.  Dave Grohl's story is music and it is the love of his life.

Just for fun.  See how many infinity symbols you can find on the front cover of the album.

See you when the needle drops!

Fran

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