The post-grunge Foo Fighters

Music, both loud and mellow is what the Foo Fighters offers in its latest release titled In Your Honor. Loud and hell-raising is how it has always been for the Foos, the best known descendant of grunge pioneer Nirvana. Founder Dave Grohl was the drummer for the Kurt Cobain group but now does guitars and vocals for the Foos. The other members of the band are Chris Shiflett on guitars, Nate Mendel on bass and Taylor Hawkins on drums. So as expected, they have lots of hard-rocking tracks in this new album.

But on the other hand, In Your Honor also boasts of the group’s finest acoustic collection, so soulful and melodic. If you find it difficult to think of the Foo Fighters on those terms, please remember that one of this group’s strong points is its ability to come up with hook-filled tunes. Think I Don’t Owe You Anything and Monkey Wrench. Then also, they have already proven themselves expressive artists who can command an attentive audience even when they are not wailing their heads off. Think Times Like These. So, the Foos also get sweet in this new album.

But while In Your Honor presents these two different sides of the Foo Fighters, none of their followers need to feel shortchanged by this new album. And neither are the Foos selling out their grunge tradition. This is because In Your Honor is actually two CDs, in one package. If you like the Foos heavy, grungy or just plain loud, then prepare to be attacked by CD-One.

Then get ready for the honeyed melt-down with CD-Two where the Foos present a light acoustic collection that includes a mandolin and Norah Jones as guest singer and pianist! The Foo Fighters with a mandolin! It does sound incongruous but tastes change. Besides you have vocal cords and eardrums here that have already taken quite a beating for over a decade and doubtless now appreciate a softer sound.

The Foos deliver solid sets on both counts. CD-One has In Your Honor, DOA, Hell, The Last Song, Free Me, Resolve, The Deepest Blues are Black, End Over End and the sure winners of the lot, No Way Back and Best of You. CD-Two has What If I Do? Another Round, Friend of a Friend, Over and Out, On the Mend, Virginia Moon, Cold Day in the Sun, Razor and the best bets here which are the inspirational Miracle and the lyrical Still. Be not afraid. Listen to both. It will be a delightful surprise to find that the Foo Fighters can be soft and hard at the same time.

To get a feel of what the Foo Fighters are like on stage, catch them in Live In Sydney, where they give a truly fantastic performance. The show will be aired at 10 tonight on Channel [V]. It is the highlight of the Foos’ stint as featured artists in Spotlight for the month of July.

Great Songs To Remember

To make up for all those albums you refused to buy because they have only one good track each or that you lost and want to hear again or that would not play anymore, here is Favorites, a two-CD collection of "great songs you will always remember." There are 18 cuts of assorted sounds per CD. Some rock, Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough by Patty Smith & Don Henley, some soul On Bended Knee by Boyz II Men. Some are very familiar, No More Rhyme by Debbie Gibson, while others are rarities you failed to take notice then, If Wishes Come True by Sweet Sensation, but which sound even better with the passing of the years.

Also included are Can’t Fight This Feeling by Reo Speedwagon; Woman in Chains by Tears for Fears; Eye in the Sky by The Alan Parsons Project; Insensitive by Jann Arden; More Than Words Can Say by Alias; Hold Me Now by Thompson Twins; Fixing a Broken Heart by Indecent Obsession; Crying in the Rain by A-Ha; Stay by Shakespears Sister; Toy Soldiers by Martika; Amanda by Boston; Lady in Red by Chris De Burgh; Was It Nothing at All by Michael Damian; I’ll Be Over You by Toto; Always by Atlantic Starr; Keeping the Dream Alive by Fretheit; Four Letter Word by Kim Wilde; The Search is Over by Survivor; Show Me Heaven by Maria McKee; Room in Your Heart by Living in a Box; Missing You by John Waite; and I’ll Stand by You by Pretenders among others.