Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace CD

ECHOES, SILENCE, PATIENCE & GRACE, the Foo Fighters' sixth effort, upholds the band's allegiance to melody-heavy post-grunge power pop driven by roaring guitars and Dave Grohl's fine songwriting. The Foos are aided by super-producer Gil Norton this time out (Norton also helped craft the group's second, and arguably best, album, THE COLOR AND THE SHAPE). The result is a polished yet powerful outing that proves the Foos have earned their status as one of alternative rock's most reliable acts.

But while tunes like "The Pretender" pack a hard-rock wallop, the real surprises on ECHOES are the softer songs. The breezy, folky "Summer's End," for example, is a standout, as is Grohl's solo acoustic performance on "Stranger Things Have Happened." This isn't to say the Foo Fighters have mellowed--the album contains as much amplified snarl as any of their others--but here the quieter moments rival the rockers, revealing a band whose intimate, earnest moments are as convincing as their head-banging ones.

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.

Liner Note Authors: Hiro Arishima; Hiro Arishima.

Recording information: Studio 606, Northridge, CA.

Photographers: Laura Kleinhenz; Ben Watts.

Personnel: Kaki King, Pat Smear (guitar); Rami Jaffee (accordion, keyboards); Taylor Hawkins (piano, background vocals); Dave Grohl (piano); Drew Hester (percussion).

Audio Mixers: John Lousteau; Rich Costey; Drew Hester.

Rolling Stone (p.116) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "[T]he Foo Fighters deliver winners..."
Spin (p.122) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Grohl has been a model of steady efficiency....'Summer's End' is a breezy blast of California country rock..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.104) - "Like the greats, the Foos have found a way to create their own archetype, with an instinctive feel for what constitutes a killer song." -- Grade: A
Q (p.87) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Each of these tracks makes the case for Foo Fighters' horizons successfully expanding....Similarly, there's a sophistication to the arrangements here, musical and vocal, not previously hinted at."
Uncut (p.88) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he excellent 'Summer's End' is easy on the ear, easier still on the brain..."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.46) - "[T]he Foo Fighters have managed to recapture the magic ingredient which magical music really needs -- the art of sounding effortless."
Q (Magazine) (p.84) - Ranked #12 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2007" -- "[A] big, brash effort that hollered all the way back to the cheap seats without sacrificing its humanity."