Recent stints playing celebrity sticksman with Queens Of The Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails, or marshalling a regiment of extreme metalโs great and good in 2004โs Probot project have confirmed Dave Grohlโs reputation as one of rockโs great dilettantes. Faintly flabbergasting, then, to realise that Foo Fighters โ usually billed as โDave Grohlโs post-Nirvana outfitโ, or something equally short on fanfare โ is this year celebrating its tenth anniversary. Grohl, however, is aware of the Foosโ vintage. In Your Honour, he claims, is intended as a career landmark of the stripe of Led Zeppelinโs Physical Graffiti: an eclectic, heavyweight double-album, a โdefinitiveโ work. Sporting a concept (one โrockโ disc, one โacousticโ), a vague theme (the US Presidential Election), and a guestlist that should befuddle any attendant mosher kids (the Zepโs John Paul Jones plays piano and mandolin on โMiracleโ and โAnother Roundโ respectively, Norah Jones turns up for โVirginia Moonโ, a sweet duet borne along on jazzy, brushed drums), itโs unquestionably the work of a band with ambitions rekindled. While the opening salvo of In Your Honour is clearly inspired by Grohlโs experiences supporting John Kerry on the trail, not even the souring of the Democrat dream has sullied its triumphalist edge. Such is the Foosโ talent for breezy, one-size-fits-all optimism that even the unambiguous likes of โNo Way Backโ (โPleased to meet you, shake my hand/There is no way back from hereโ) work outside their original context. Grohlโs dogged pleasantness, however, occasionally proves his Achillesโ Heel. โHellโ and โFree Meโ do the Hรผsker Dรผ with entertaining vigour, but by the close of Disc One, youโre hunkering for some light and shade. Luckily, Disc Two mostly delivers. โFriend Of A Friendโ, penned on a Nirvana tour back in 1992, is an uncharacteristically spiked critique of slackerdom that bears an eerie Cobain influence. Meanwhile, the chiming โCold Day In The Sunโ, fronted by drummer Taylor Hawkins, is a Ringo moment thatโs pretty enough not to knock matters off course. And given the potential perils and pitfalls of the double-album, thatโs surely enough to chalk this one up as a success. By Louis Pattison
Recent stints playing celebrity sticksman with Queens Of The Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails, or marshalling a regiment of extreme metalโs great and good in 2004โs Probot project have confirmed Dave Grohlโs reputation as one of rockโs great dilettantes. Faintly flabbergasting, then, to realise that Foo Fighters โ usually billed as โDave Grohlโs post-Nirvana outfitโ, or something equally short on fanfare โ is this year celebrating its tenth anniversary.
Grohl, however, is aware of the Foosโ vintage. In Your Honour, he claims, is intended as a career landmark of the stripe of Led Zeppelinโs Physical Graffiti: an eclectic, heavyweight double-album, a โdefinitiveโ work. Sporting a concept (one โrockโ disc, one โacousticโ), a vague theme (the US Presidential Election), and a guestlist that should befuddle any attendant mosher kids (the Zepโs John Paul Jones plays piano and mandolin on โMiracleโ and โAnother Roundโ respectively, Norah Jones turns up for โVirginia Moonโ, a sweet duet borne along on jazzy, brushed drums), itโs unquestionably the work of a band with ambitions rekindled.
While the opening salvo of In Your Honour is clearly inspired by Grohlโs experiences supporting John Kerry on the trail, not even the souring of the Democrat dream has sullied its triumphalist edge. Such is the Foosโ talent for breezy, one-size-fits-all optimism that even the unambiguous likes of โNo Way Backโ (โPleased to meet you, shake my hand/There is no way back from hereโ) work outside their original context. Grohlโs dogged pleasantness, however, occasionally proves his Achillesโ Heel. โHellโ and โFree Meโ do the Hรผsker Dรผ with entertaining vigour, but by the close of Disc One, youโre hunkering for some light and shade.
Luckily, Disc Two mostly delivers. โFriend Of A Friendโ, penned on a Nirvana tour back in 1992, is an uncharacteristically spiked critique of slackerdom that bears an eerie Cobain influence. Meanwhile, the chiming โCold Day In The Sunโ, fronted by drummer Taylor Hawkins, is a Ringo moment thatโs pretty enough not to knock matters off course. And given the potential perils and pitfalls of the double-album, thatโs surely enough to chalk this one up as a success.
By Louis Pattison