Although in promo video he glorified all of his collaborators and announced something huge coming up, the spiritus movens of Foo Fighters, David Grohl cemented the respectful status of his band rather than raised it above the milky way. They could have reached some other galaxy If they wanted to, but I applaud them for obtaining their members and being a consistent band over the course of two decades. Sometimes, consistency rules over over-achievement.
Consistency might be a trap for many other bands, but for Foo Fighters ir serves as a platform through which they can perform at their best. As anyone else in the music business, they have to correspond with what is current. On the other hand, people expect Foo Fighters to be leaders, and not followers. Plus, they have to bear the pressure of the grunge curse "they ar not what they used to be". But how can you stay the same when everyone else demands you to change? Grohl and co decided to make a compromise: they have recorded the album that has inner power and pop inclinations. They want to sound modern which is why they employed the producer who worked on Adele's record-breaking 25, Greg Kurstin. Kurstin also has a project with the singer from The Bird and The Bee who is also featured on this album. Inara George is a daughter of Lowell George, brilliant musician and frontman of a project Little Fear who might not be stylistically close to Grohl, but they are both ready for anything to create a good piece of rock n roll.
We have got some generic rock numbers here, so let's get that out of the way. Run and Make It Right are representatives, with the later one featuring Justin Timberlake. The situation is drastically changing for the better as the album moves on, although you will probably not see me driving in my car singing The Sky Is A Neighborhood. It is a classic rock tune on a trace of Tom Petty that was produced to the point that you have a feeling like you are seeing a teenage girl in front of you who dates a biker dude with a giant tribal tattoo on his shoulder. You shake it off, and think this is only a phase.
La Dee Da has spontaneity that other songs don't, while Dirty Water is one of the album's peaks. Arrows and The Line maintain high level of music, while Sunday Rain is simply pleasant. Closing track that sees a guest appearance by Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men ends the album in dignified manner.
j shows that Foo Fighters are still a top-notch stadium rock band. Isn't that enough?
