Customer Reviews

Colour & the Shape

5 star:		(241)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Colour and The Shape

In my opinion, the finest work by the group and best writing by Grohl before or since. The CD that truly turned me onto the Foos, eventually earning them the spot of favorite. The debut was great, yet a little repetitive; This one is perfect in all ways.

Every song hits an individual chord with the soul, and each selection sounds genuinely heart felt. A concept album (of sorts), the order of songs is perfect as well, creating a great finished UNIT which deserves to be listened to straight through:

A little breakdown...

1)Doll - Great opener. Short and sweet, it portrays Grohl's timid and overwhelmed feeling at the beginning of the story. Each passing song is filled with more and more confidence until the triumphant end.

2)Monkey Wrench - One of the more publicly recognizable tunes on the platter, it has an awesome beat and is one of the better songs on a CD without a weak spot.

3)Hey, Johnny Park! - My second favorite song and one which, for some reason, always seems to be overlooked. Great intro, terrific lyrics, and a very unique aura qualify this one as an A+.

4)My Poor Brain - The song that took me the longest to open up to; after listening to it enough it really starts to stick. Very powerful sound, after a peculiar start.

5)Wind Up - Another hidden gem everyone tends to pass over. Somewhat bitter and vengeful, it definitely deserves a listen.

6)Up In Arms - Cool little song. Changes from slow to fast halfway through, it really becomes quite uplifting.

7)My Hero - Gets quite a bit of radio play, still. Many interperatations exist concerning its lyrics, making it very intersesting. Great drum opening, cathcy riff, and POWERFUL lyrics.

8)See You - One of the more innocent and laid back songs. Fun to listen to and it is reported that Grohl joked that it was his "favorite" on the album.

9)Enough Space - Strange song, but like everything else, it fits. Loud sound and fast pace keep things moving in a good direction.

10)February Stars - Slow, emotional lyrics for the first half, followed up by a second half containing strictly the chorus, set to an awesome distorted sound.

11)Everlong - This is it. The most famous Foo song, most widely played, and my personal fav song by anyone. Horribly infectous da-da-da-dada-da sound, poigniant and beautifully vocalized lyrics, and an almost haunting quality all serve to leave an indelible impression on the mind.

12)Walking After You - Slow, acoustic love(?) song. Very interesting and thought provoking lyrics. A good one.

13)New Way Home - Simply brilliant ending. Caps off the concept in an ingenious fashion. Ends with Grohl's shouting of the lyric "I'm not scared" (whereas in "Doll" he claims, "I've never been so scared"), completing the whole confidently re-born motif. One of the best 6 minute songs I've ever heard.

Overall Rating: A+ (a MUST have)

Probably the best album to ever be released by the Foo Fighters, "The Colour & The Shape" further solidified Dave Grohl stepping out of grunge's shadow and making peace with the ghost of Kurt Cobain. Just about all the songs here on this album are catchy and seem made for radio friendly, but underneath that surface is a demonically comical feel combined with a lot of emotion. On songs like the short opener "Doll", "February Stars", and the classic single "Everlong" you can hear the raw emotion in Grohl's voice, and that is something that no one can fake. "Monkey Wrench" is still a great song, no matter how much it got overplayed, although another session of "My Hero" may prove nerve wracking considering it can be heard just about anywhere. Other great songs like "Hey! Johnny Park", "My Poor Brain", "See You", and "Walking After You" (featured on the X-Files film soundtrack) are all great songs as well, and the band's tight musicianship rounds out this excellent package. All in all, "The Colour & The Shape" is in my opinion the best Foo Fighters album yet, and is undoubtadly one of the finest albums of the 90's.

This album is awesome. The first time I heard it, the headphones just about exploded with all the energy that was coming out of them. When you hear Doll, you'll probably think "What have the Foo Fighters become? What happened to I'll Stick Around and This Is A Call?" but nothing has happened. It's just a slow song appropriately placed in the mix of hard songs. Then comes the big radio hit Monkey Wrench. It's a nice song with a neat "no-breath" effect in the last verse. It's even cooler live, but I guess you can't buy that on CD. Hey, Johnny Park!, the next song, is my personal favorite. It's just something about the riff itself that's catchy. It follows the soft-verse loud-chorus format set by Nirvana. My Poor Brain starts out with a bunch of random noise (I think it's in 7/4) and then goes into a nice acoustic verse with Dave singing falsetto. The chorus is appropriately loud and powerful. The next song, Wind Up, starts out at about mezzo-forte (that's moderately loud for all those who aren't musicians) and goes to fortissimo (very loud) for the chorus. The last verse is fortissississississimo (really really loud) with the chorus returning to the aforementioned dynamic. Man, that guy has an amazing vocal range. Up In Arms starts slow and ballad-y. It sounds a lot like a fifty's ballad. Then it gets fast sort of like a fifty's pop song. Then My Hero comes on with those cannon drums. It's obviously Dave's tribute to Kurt song. The mostly-acoustic See You is a nice jazzy departure to the screaming electric guitars. Enough Space (in 6/4) is basically the I-drank-too-much-Jolt-and-now-I'm-really-hyper-and-I'm-going-to-scream-until-I-turn-blue song. February Stars is the big long loud slow ballad and it's wonderful. Everlong (yer another radio hit) is probably the most serious sounding song they've done and it still gives me shivers. Walking After You is a great balling song >:), enough said. And they top it all off with the powerful New Way Home. I'm not saying any more, buy this CD!

I've been a long time fan of Foo Fighters (since around 1995), and out of all the CD's that they have released as of 2003, The Colour and the Shape has proved to be the best one of all. Whoever said that in order for something to be catchy, it has to be cliche obviously missed the purchase of this album. Every song hooks you, and unlike most new rock bands, the hook isn't cheesy, overdone, or stolen from someone else. This CD blends the best of the old with the best of the new, giving hard rockers a delightful CD to rock out to (Monkey Wrench, Hey Johnny Park, My Poor Brain, Wind Up, My Hero, Enough Space, Everlong, New Way Home), and the fans of the new mellow sound of Foo Fighters a few songs to sit back and relax to (Doll, February Stars, Walking After You, See You, Up In Arms). Here are my reviews for the individual tracks:

DOLL (A)--The shortest song on the album, but probably the most overlooked. While it doesn't really feel like it belongs on the album, if it were taken off, the album would lose a great introductory song. A great short ballad.

MONKEY WRENCH (A+)--If you've been listening to the radio at all since 1997, you've probably heard this song. The first single off of the album, this song hooked listeners with it's catchy verses and chorus. Great proof that a song can have catchy verses and chorus. The song's style is similar to that of "All My Life" (One By One), it's more upbeat, a little less dark, and a little more fun. Great song to listen to when you're flying down the expressway in the summer with all the window's down.

HEY, JOHNNY PARK! (A+)--This song is a bit slower than the rest of the songs on the album, but it rocks. With it's hard rock intro, to the transition to a very soft guitar part, highlighting a very vulnerable, yet confident sounding Dave Grohl, this song will send you on a rollercoaster that is Dave Grohl's subconscience. I get goosebumps when Dave screams at the end of the song: "Now that I've found my reward, I'd throw it away long before I'd share a piece of mine with you."

MY POOR BRAIN (A+)--The intro to this song will throw you. It's confusing, loud, almost obnoxious, and right when you're about to skip to track 5, the noise ceases and all that's left is a very tight and simple drum beat, with a quieted simple guitar line. It remains somewhat quiet with a slightly uneasy feel to it, until the distortion pedal is hit, bringing all of the hard rock that the Foo's could muster up to a tremendous climactic chorus.

WIND UP (A)--Your typical hard rock song, with your untypical typicalness that is Foo Fighters. Hard all the way through, good til the last note.

UP IN ARMS (A+)--This song starts off nice and mellow, bringing to your ears a very 60's sounding guitar, drum, and base line. The intro ends about 50 seconds into the song, with it's last chord ringing out. Then the drums kick you in the [...] and your pushed into a fantastic poppy love song. A Foo Fighters classic.

MY HERO (A)--Probably the Foo Fighters most overplayed tune on the radio, you had to have been born yesterday to not have ever heard this song before.

SEE YOU (A)--This song has a very jazzy feel to it, and is done with an acoustic guitar with a drum-line that is so recessive, that the Foo's released an "acoustic-only" version of this song as a B-Side. You can't help but snap your fingers or clap your hands to this one.

ENOUGH SPACE (B+)--An overpowering song that is riding the thin line between hard rock and metal. Second only to the song "The Colour and the Shape" (also released as a B-Side) as far as hard rocking goes, this song is the perfect song for a crappy day.

FEBRUARY STARS (A+)--A very interesting transition from the hardest song on the album to the softest song on the album. This song is an amazing love ballad that soothes you throughout, and has a great build-up at the end which tips its hat to the power ballads of the 80's.

EVERLONG (A+++)--This is Foo Fighters best song ever written. A very dreamy hard rock song that sends chills up my spine every time I hear it. This song has been my favorite song of all time since I heard it the very first time. It's hard to find anyone that doesn't like this song, whether they are a fan of Foo Fighters or not.

WALKING AFTER YOU (A)--The remix of this song was released as a single, and can be found on the X-Files movie soundtrack. The version of the song on this album, though, is done acoustically with percussion (not a drum kit). In my opinion, the original version of the song that appears on this album sounds much better than the remix that was the 4th single to be released from this album. This song has amazing lyrics, that show just how bittersweet love can be.

NEW WAY HOME (A+++)--If there's one thing that Foo Fighters do well, it's composing an earth-shattering song to close each and every one of their albums with. This song has a build in it that is similar to that of "Come Back" (One By One), except this song rocks so much harder at the end, but it isn't really a hard rock sound...it's more of a very loud pop/rock ending, that just makes you want to jump around. This song is the Foo's best closer, and in my opinion is an even better closer than "Exhausted" (Foo Fighters).

BUY THIS ALBUM, OR MISS OUT ON THE BEST ROCK ALBUM OF THE 1990'S

After one listen to this record, few would doubt the songwriting ability of Foo Fighters frontman, Dave Grohl. Sublte opener "Doll", quickly gives way the the pure adrenaline soaked punk stomp that is "monkeywrench". Another change of tempo brings in the bristling "Hey, Johnny Park" which has a tender verse wrapped around a Godzilla sized riff. "My poor Brain", and "wind up" hark back to the more raw sounds of their self titled debut album. This album is an emotionaly rollercoster right to the end, and one of the most varied and engaging rock albums available. The highlight of this monumental collection of songs is the haunting "Everlong" which combines a low-key melody with an epic chorus and intelligent, emotional lyrics, which make it a truly beautiful love song. It's not often an album this special comes along, and no self respecting fan of the genre should be without it.

The Foo Fighters' second album, their first as a "real band" (the first was just a Grohl solo project, essentially) has stood the test of time remarkably well. It has the all-too-rare combination of hard rock and melody. From the outstanding "Monkey Wrench" to the dramatic closer "New Way Home," the cd works as individual songs and as an album as a whole.

This edition with bonus tracks doesn't really offer anything new, but only enhances an already excellent cd by conveniently gathering together the b-sides from this era. I wouldn't describe the b-sides as necessary for anyone other than the hardcore fans (though, if you don't already own this album, you might as well get this edition.)

For those new to the Foo Fighters, this is a great place to start, but don't let the "special edition" stuff fool you: the real greatness of this cd is the main album itself.

I hadn't bought this CD before, so I didn't already have most of the songs, but even if I had, I would have to rebuy it so I got the covers and b-sides added to the end. They are amazing! Of course I heard "Baker Street" on the radio years ago and enjoyed it, but I didn't discover Foo Fighters' version of Gary Numan's "Down in the Park" and I really think it's right up there in the realm of Gary Numan covers (the St Etienne version of "Stormtrooper in Drag" and Magnetic Fields version of "I Die: You Die" are the best). It is great how they take an electronic song and make it more "rock" by having no keyboards.

But the piece de resistance of this CD is Foo Fighters' cover of ... wait for it ... Vanity 6! I don't know that I've seen any Vanity 6 covers before, but the fact that Foo Fighters loved them enough to do a cover of "Drive Me Wild" is just a testament of what a great band they are.

So you must buy this CD!

I didn't really buy this again for the re-mastering because lets face it, it didn't really need to be re-mastered(you can barely make out the sound difference except for it being a little cleaned up) I bought this again for the six bonus tracks which were all b-sides. I also bought it for the packaging. Foo Fighters are a great band.

Foo Fighters' second album is probably their best one. It's loud, it's quiet in places, it's catchy, it's just brilliant. The Colour And The Shape (TCATS) is basically born out of Dave's divorce, and thus many songs encapsulate his anger, despair, sadness, reluctance to let go. It's really an adventure through a small part of his life, starting with him quietly moping about how he's never been so scared, and ending with him emphatically shouting to the top of his lungs about how he isn't scared anymore.

It's really well put together, showcasing the ups and downs of a relationship that's no longer working out. The only song that doesn't seem to be about the divorce is 'My Hero,' which is also one of the best songs on the CD, but straight away it delves back into Grohl's psyche. The lyrics are vague, but you can tell what the songs are about if you listen carefully. My personal favourite track is 'New Way Home,' Foo Fighters always seem to know how to end an album, and TCATS ends with a bang.

But, anyway, I give this album 5 out of 5 stars. It's perfect in my opinion, my favourite album of all time.

Got this album when it was first released. A mixture of pop/hard rock. Great album every song rocks, a must have.