Happy Friday evening, people.
I wrote about the Foo Fighter's fantastic first album last week. While it is indeed a great piece of rock and roll history, I realize now that I wrote that post solely to facilitate arriving at today's post, which is all about the follow to that album, The Colour And The Shape. It's an amazing album that spawned hit singles and earned the group a Grammy nod. To this day it stands as their highest-selling album with over 2 million copies sold. Another in a series of my favorite albums that come from the 90s, huh? Let's dig in.
The one problem with being in a band with Dave Grohl is that your drumming better be good. The guy is, no exaggeration, one of the best drummers of the last twenty years. You could play any drum track from Nirvana's album Nevermind and stand a good chance at picking it out - he displayed a real musicality to his approach, even if it is ultra-powerful and heavy. He hits hard and fast, accurate with deftness, unlike so many out there. So naturally there would be tensions when William Goldsmith wasn't performing up to Grohl's expectations. Having toured in support of their debut and tracking several new songs in preparation for their next record, Grohl decided he had had enough and moved the sessions to LA from Seattle and re-tracked almost every drum part with his own playing. Understandably Goldsmith was hurt and soon left the band. In his place Dave recruited touring drummer for Alanis Morrisette Taylor Hawkins to fill in on the road work and he proved to be an excellent match; he is still with the band to this day. The finished album was mixed by Grohl and Gil Norton, whose British background is responsible for the spelling of 'Colour' in the title. What they ended up creating is (in my humble opinion) the best work of their career.
Rumored to be a concept album about the life of a relationship (Grohl's marriage to Jennifer Youngblood during the writing and recording of the album, fittingly), the album is a classic piece of energetic rock songs with strong pop sensibilities. The opening track shows the band was heading in a more nuanced direction, 'Doll' being a jangly, strummed piece of angst that clocks in at just under a minute and a half. It sets the precedent for the album both in its tone and brevity - they waste no time on filler and sing of being scared of commitment yet the contrasting need to change to please someone. The first single for the album, the up-tempo 'Monkey Wrench', is fast and poppy, which put it at odds with other things on rock and alt radio at the time. While there were plenty of angsty grunge clones on the radio, here among them was a furious melody that was both upbeat and energetic. Grohl admitted to feeling nervous about the squirrely guitar lick over the main riff of the song, but realized its positive tone made it stand out in the best way possible. The next track, 'Hey Johnny Park!', has a powerful riff that gets its steam from the single notes played through the gaps over heavy, contrasting chords. The verses on this song again show the newfound sensibility of the band, feeling light and chilly, almost like their take on a surf band, before they gear up for the grinding chorus filled with killer harmonies. It's a diverse mix of styles in one song, but it holds together really well. Other songs show this same sense of balance, like the dual-moded 'Up In Arms'. The song's first half is all garage-rock clean chords from the mid-to-late 60s. The second half of the song flips the first on its head, taking the same chord and melody but cranks up the distortion and tempo. It's a credit to the song writing that you can take the same structure and melody and make it work so well in different ways.
That's really the secret of the album (and Grohl's career). You can dress it up in distortion and screaming all you want, but the truth of the matter is that Grohl is a phenomenal writer. His innate sense of hooks and structure make for music that is both engaging and memorable. For example, while there are balls-to-the-wall rockers on the album, one of the best songs on here is the light and breezy 'See You', a stomping acoustic number that has a bright and fun melody, totally at odds with some of the more aggressive tracks. Note, though, that I said one of the tracks. The two real stand outs on the album, and two of my favorite songs in my life, are both on this album. 'Everlong' is one of them. The song is both moving and rocking, a track that builds from drop-d tuned chords that don't quite resolve, creating tensions that rise and rise, until they finally get satisfaction in the immensely powerful chorus. The choices Grohl made in constructing the song really speak for themselves - it's a gorgeous piece of romantic alt-rock that grows and ebbs and grows, getting better with each chorus. I can't really say more than that about it, just listen to it and hear for yourself.
The other song that moves me really breaks my heart each time. 'My Hero' was written not about Kurt Cobain, as many have suspected, but about normal, everyday people in Grohl's life when he was young. It's about looking up to people you can depend on and wanting them to get the recognition they deserve. It's also a phenomenal example of space in a sound scape. The driving force of the song is the drum and bass combo, Grohl's insanely heavy drumming giving gravitas and momentum, while the bass sets the tone for the whole song. The bass notes, repeating E and C#, have served as the basis for countless songs that equally rock and move people. I would guess its from the depth of their range and the affect they have on the ear - its amazing how just two notes on a bass can conjure a feeling of nostalgia or saudade. The guitar lick that is played on top of it just adds to its beauty, the light and airy notes creating a tension that keeps rising and falling. It stays in the foreground when the rhythm guitars finally kick in, and it's here that the sense of space really shines - all the elements compliment each other amazingly well and nothing feels crowded or overlapping. The low, middle and high ends are all playing in wonderful relation to each other, with Grohl's voice fitting in the pocket wonderfully. The fresh, rising riff in the chorus shifts the whole song into new gear, from E to A. The octave chords the guitars play stagger along with the drums, creating a sound that moves the air in an astounding way. In line with what I said earlier about song craft, acoustic versions have shown that it works just as well when stripped down. 'My Hero' is really just a phenomenal song, through and through.
'The Colour And The Shape' is a fantastic album that shows just what these musicians are capable of. The Foo Fighter's first album was them getting their feet wet - here we have them jumping right into the deep end and swimming laps. Grohl's fantastic songwriting drives them to create amazing songs that still sound fresh and vibrant almost fifteen years later.
I wrote about the Foo Fighter's fantastic first album last week. While it is indeed a great piece of rock and roll history, I realize now that I wrote that post solely to facilitate arriving at today's post, which is all about the follow to that album, The Colour And The Shape. It's an amazing album that spawned hit singles and earned the group a Grammy nod. To this day it stands as their highest-selling album with over 2 million copies sold. Another in a series of my favorite albums that come from the 90s, huh? Let's dig in.
The one problem with being in a band with Dave Grohl is that your drumming better be good. The guy is, no exaggeration, one of the best drummers of the last twenty years. You could play any drum track from Nirvana's album Nevermind and stand a good chance at picking it out - he displayed a real musicality to his approach, even if it is ultra-powerful and heavy. He hits hard and fast, accurate with deftness, unlike so many out there. So naturally there would be tensions when William Goldsmith wasn't performing up to Grohl's expectations. Having toured in support of their debut and tracking several new songs in preparation for their next record, Grohl decided he had had enough and moved the sessions to LA from Seattle and re-tracked almost every drum part with his own playing. Understandably Goldsmith was hurt and soon left the band. In his place Dave recruited touring drummer for Alanis Morrisette Taylor Hawkins to fill in on the road work and he proved to be an excellent match; he is still with the band to this day. The finished album was mixed by Grohl and Gil Norton, whose British background is responsible for the spelling of 'Colour' in the title. What they ended up creating is (in my humble opinion) the best work of their career.
That's really the secret of the album (and Grohl's career). You can dress it up in distortion and screaming all you want, but the truth of the matter is that Grohl is a phenomenal writer. His innate sense of hooks and structure make for music that is both engaging and memorable. For example, while there are balls-to-the-wall rockers on the album, one of the best songs on here is the light and breezy 'See You', a stomping acoustic number that has a bright and fun melody, totally at odds with some of the more aggressive tracks. Note, though, that I said one of the tracks. The two real stand outs on the album, and two of my favorite songs in my life, are both on this album. 'Everlong' is one of them. The song is both moving and rocking, a track that builds from drop-d tuned chords that don't quite resolve, creating tensions that rise and rise, until they finally get satisfaction in the immensely powerful chorus. The choices Grohl made in constructing the song really speak for themselves - it's a gorgeous piece of romantic alt-rock that grows and ebbs and grows, getting better with each chorus. I can't really say more than that about it, just listen to it and hear for yourself.
