Customer Reviews

Wasting Light

5 star:		(241)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Hard to say that this is "the best" Foo Fighters album because, after so many years, bands should really be defined by eras. I would consider the Foos first era ending, and second era beginning, with their double album, In Your Honor. Their "classic" album from that first era is The Colour and The Shape. It is considered, and will continue to be considered, a classic album in the rock genre.

Wasting Light is the best album of the Foos second era and, like TCATS, it will be considered a classic album in the rock genre. There is no track that is unlikeable, just a few that aren't as great as the others.

Highlights of the album are the first two tracks, "Bridge Burning" and "Rope", are the best two songs I've heard to open an album since way back to the first tracks of "Vs." by Pearl Jam, "Go" and "Animal." "Dear Rosemary" is solid, the guitar work sounding a bit like "Steady As She Goes" by the Racounteurs, and a chorus that is all Dave Grohl, even with help from Bob Mould.

Thrashy and well-placed "White Limo" is juxtaposed with the ridiculously catchy "Arlandria" ("you and what army? Arlandria!"). "These Days" is such a great, soaring rock song that it is easy to forget that the lyrics are painfully honest and relate-able on a number of levels. "Back and Forth" is cheesy, but in a catchy, good way, and sounds like something of a homage to any number of late-80's rock tracks with it's chug-chug-chug guitar sound (listen to it, you'll get it).

"A Matter of Time" to me is very Foo-sy, that is to say, it could have been on just about any of their other albums and fit right in. "Miss the Misery" is just...fantastic.

In as much as I love the opening two tracks on the album, I've never heard on any other album closing tracks as good as the deeper, more emotional two tracks that end the album. The album is bookended perfectly. "I Should Have Known" is believed to be about a close friend of Dave Grohl's (not named Cobain) that died of an OD within the last two years. It is a tugging, beautiful song that absolutely soars when his old bandmate Krist Novoselic's bass makes its presence felt about 2/3 through the song.

Closer "Walk" is my favorite in an album full of favorites. Perhaps because I'm in my mid-30s, my perspective on the song is that it sounds exactly like the words of a person who sang "My Way Home" from The Colour and The Shape would 14 years later. Someone who was "not scared, I felt like this on my way home" now has responsibilities and children and a fear of death. "Walk" encapsulates that sort of maturity, wisdom, growth, etc. In typical Dave Grohl fashion, the guy who has the rock star credentials and "rock god" status worldwide does the complete opposite in the very un-rock-and-roll like lyric "I never want to die, I never want to die!" He defies the rock-n-roll persona in his words as much as he personifies it in his music. It is as close to a perfect, uplifting and emotional song as I've ever heard.

Someone else mentioned this, and I totally agree: it has been YEARS since I've heard an album and considered it a "new favorite album." This fits the bill perfectly. Over 20 years of collecting music and more than 1,000 albums, this just instantly sat in with the handful I can listen to anytime, anywhere, and love from start to finish.

This is a slightly edited review, as I have now had a few days with this album, and yes, I've listened to it quite a few times. It's striking how much you can see the FF, and Dave Grohl, have grown as artists. Their ability to craft a tight, full sound with impossible-to-resist rock-n-roll hooks is better than ever, and it was never bad. Dave Grohl's lyrics have matured as well, bringing both edginess and depth. I was a bit smitten with the album when I wrote the title to this review the first night I heard it, but I'm going to have to stick with it, because it is, after all, perfectly true from my perspective.

And it's recorded on all-analog equipment in Dave's garage, which adds a whole other level of awesome.

Bridge Burning: sorry, didn't feel this one. Perhaps the picky intro picked at my psyche a little too annoyingly. Good hard rocking tune but ... meh. Not my favorite.

Rope: Early single release for a reason -- one of those things that instantly becomes an ear worm, with catchy melodic hard hooks. Enjoy.

Dear Rosemary: According to the interwebs (a Google search for "Dave Grohl" plus Rosemary), Rosemary Carroll [believed] that Kurt might have been murdered. She was Courtney's divorce lawyer. The lyrics almost suggest it's connected, but have a Google and see what you find. "Truth ain't gonna change the way you lie." hmmmm....

White Limo: Not my favorite track, definitely balls-to-the-wall rock, yes, but ... well, YMMV.

Arlandria: Arlandria is a town in Virginia, which features a Dave Grohl quote on their website. Arlandria was mentioned in a previous FF song, Headwires - this is, apparently, an intense place. Classic Foo Fighters power chord poetry, what can I say? Oh, sweet Virginia.

These Days: best existential thing that's ever rocked me to my core. I can't tell you how this song will affect you, you'll have to meditate with it for yourself. It will be worth the effort.

Back & Forth: Since my first listen happened to be inadvertently in alphabetical order, "is it all this good" was my reaction. (hint: it is) Powerful r&r hooks and Dave Grohl writing words that simply defy gravity. Over the hill and through the ages...

A Matter of Time: Powerful and it would make a perfect anthem for personal change. Put this on your workout playlist, definitely.

Miss The Misery: Opens up with hard, heavy, crunchy melodic rock & roll riff, i.e. it's a Foo Fighters song. This is lyrical stuff here, get literate with it and listen to every. single. word. You will find the album's title in here, meaningful & poignant. Also, it will ROCK you when you find it.

I Should Have Known: haunting, dragging up memories, bliss + agony, perfect like faded photographs ... beautiful if sadness can be considered to have beauty, which I think it does.

Walk: Reflective, brilliant, shiny, melancholy, and will rock you, seriously. Another one to add to that workout playlist, it'll get you moving. Classic Foo Fighters, what can I say?

SUMMARY: this album, like several others in my 50 year history, has changed my life. Great albums do that. This is one of them. I don't mind that Kurt Cobain's ghost haunts Dave, in fact I think it's given him cause to explore some great darknesses and come out on the other side with some unforgettable music.

The reason the music business is in shambles has nothing to do with piracy. The problem is that there is virtually no talent who merits our hard earned money. Seems nowadays, any wasteoid with an Autotune gets a contract and airplay. If there were more talent like The Foo Fighters in the industry, music as a whole would not be the complete crapfest it is today, people would spend their money to buy the music, and the talent would reap the benefits of their hard work. I'm willing to fork over the money for these guys, because I haven't been burned by them yet. They're always good! This CD is great from the first song to the last...absolutely no duds.

I can't really think of any other band that is playing real genuine rock n' roll, outside of the Foo Fighters. Is this their best album? Close, but probably not. Their first two are classics and have their best songs on them. We also hold older music up higher sometimes, too, so it's hard to judge a album that's less than one week old.

Bottom line is, every song on this one is a keeper. These are their most "catchy" songs, by far. Listen to the album maybe three times and you'll have all the songs stuck in your head. I think every song here is above average, but I'm having a hard time liking "Walk". People are gushing over this one, but I'm just not feeling it. It's the final song, which sometimes can be the worst song on a disc, but if that song is their worst then it tells you how solid the disc is.

This is a five star CD, no doubt about it. It's raw, it's from the heart and most of all it rocks. Even the songs that start out slow or quiet, you think it's a ballad and then "BAM" in come the heavy guitars.

Keep rocking and keep making music like this and become the Led Zeppelin of this era!

With the crap music that has been rolling out over the last few years it is so satisfying to have a band like Foo Fighter that continue to produce good rock music, and here on Wasting Light they have finally walked into the saloon with both guns blazing.

I have been waiting for The Foo Fighters to record an album truly worthy of following The Colour and the Shape, and now we have it here with Wasting Light. I have enjoyed all the other albums since The Colour and the Shape and have appreciated the progression of their style, but each album left me wanting something more from Dave and the gang. Maybe it was the line-up changes, maybe it was Dave's side projects...but I felt like even though they were producing solid rock songs that they used as singles the rest of the songs on the albums seemed to falter a bit.

Here with Wasting Light the Foo Fighters have produced a cohesive album that is excellent the entire way through. Each song has some individual touch of magic that makes it unique and viable in its own way, but at the same time they all have an energy that binds them together into an album that is interconnected and solid to its core.

Maybe it was the fact that Pat Smear came back to the fold? I know that I can hear his influence on a lot of the songs since his distinctness can be found on many of the tracks just like you could hear them back on The Colour and the Shape. It's certain that adding him back to the roster has helped the band once again reach a type of musical concrescence and the fact that he has been touring with them for the past couple of years has allowed the band to become closer. Maybe the band helped magnify that feeling of closeness due to the fact that they recorded in Dave's home studio on analogue, giving all the songs a warmer sound that just can't be produced digitally.

Whatever happened, I'm glad it did because in the short time it's been out Wasting Light has renewed my faith that the Foo Fighters have the ability to produce an album that is both relevant and musically exceptional for its entire length. Thank you Foo Fighter for making and album that I can leave in my stereo and play on repeat a few thousand times without losing its glamour.

I'm not going to go off and claim "this is the best FF album ever." Nor am I going to complain it's not "TCATS" or "TINLTL". Wasting Light is what it is - a great sounding hard rock album, with (to paraphrase Mr. Grohl himself) loud guitars, catchy melodies, crashing cymbals and big drums, because, afterall, it's what he and the rest of his mates do. And, as a rock fan who's seen the musical industry move away from what drew him in for the very same reasons, it is comforting and reassuring to see someone still doing that at such a level of quality. The first thing that struck was the production. I think I saw someone else refer to the sound of the album that listening to it through earbuds does not truly do it justice, and I agree. Play this on a car system, and you get a much fuller feel of the music. The guitars are fierce, and I love how the bass has been pinned to the guitars in the mix. In fact, the bass sound on WL is one of the best I have ever heard. It's thick, but, it's not sludgy. As for the highlights, for me "While Limo" has been played on a regular basis. Yeah, it's been compared by some to Weenie Beenie from the first album, but, really, it's just far more musically menacing. The lyrics are meaningless...it's just being immersed in a wall of noise. (BTW, anyone else think Dave is aping Andrew WK on the video?" "Bridge Burning", "Dear Rosemary" (despite its lyrical clunkiness) and "These Days" are other highlights for me. Someone else made mention of this, but, "Rope" really does sound something Rush of the recent years would have constructed. Intersting to see Arlandria make another appearance in a Foo Fighters' song. (Headwires, anyone?) The cynical type might call this formulaic. I think of it as being reliable. Again, is it the best FF album? (TINLTL is my personal favorite.) I don't think that's even this issue. The fact that, in these days when the music industry is in the state it currently is, and, when as a listener, I personally have never felt more removed from what is supposed to be rock'n'roll, Wasting Light reminds me of what rock music can still achieve in the hands of people who love rock'n'roll who have the talent to match.

Did anyone else cream when Krist Novoselic walked in the room to lay down the bass for "I Should Have Known"?

I was watching the documentary Back and Forth and there's a part towards the end where they're in Dave's garage working on this album and this guy walk in...

I'm thinking to myself who is that? And as he gets closer to the camera I'm like NO FREAKING WAY!

I would give the album 5 stars just for bring back Krist and having all the ex members of Nirvana in one recording space for the first time in years...but the music has to be judged on its own merit

Let's start at the beginning. The first time I heard the first single "Rope" on the radio I wasn't overly impressed. It's not (for me) one of those songs that is an instant classic.
Some past Foo Fighters song have been instant classics and you could tell that from the first listen.
Such as: Times Like These, The Pretender, All My Life, etc.

But the bad thing about a song that is instantly way too appealing is that over time it becomes played out even faster than it would have otherwise. That's not the case with "Rope". The more I listen to it the more I like it...the more I realize why this guitar part is here and that guitar part there and so on

While the album may not be as instantly appealing as some of their past work....you have to understand that the guys are getting back to garage band basics. The hooks are there but they are cleverly layered and sometimes almost seemingly hidden in the rock barrage that the band throws out there

Upon first listen of the album, you might say "Where is the melody?" on a few tracks...but then you listen a few times and you're like there it is...and by then you're sucked in to it

I understand a lot of kids growing up nowadays and they know who the Foo Fighters are but they don't really know who Nirvana was. I think its cool that Dave has opened up about some things and embraced his past in a way that it seems like he never has before. No longer is he trying to get out of the shadow of that band...a lot of kids don't even know who Nirvana was! Maybe they need a history lesson on grunge...I dunno...but I'm loving every second of it

I knew I was going to buy this album when I was watching the documentary and Pat was laying down some guitar parts for the album. He asked Dave jokingly "Is that too Grunge for you?" which Dave responded to by saying "It can never be too grunge." I'm so glad those two think on the same wavelengths that I do :) Bringing Pat back was the best idea Dave has had in a long time

Now they just need to bring back Krist for even more songs next time! Maybe even for a one-off album with Pat featuring Dave as the drummer and vocalist! Probably never happen this side of heaven but one can dream

The Foo Fighters have become one of the biggest rock bands in the world, but still humble enough to make an album in a garage. These guys know where its at. First Foo album I've bought in a long time...highly recommended

Oh my good gravy, this album rocks!!! The first five songs alone are worth the price of admission. The rest of the album could have been campfire songs and I would have been okay with that. Arlandria is my favorite track by far with Rope coming in at number 2. Apparently, Rope has been on the radio for a month or so, but I despise corporate radio so I literally heard it for the first time a few days ago when I purchased the album. If only the Foos had brought back Pat Smear a long time ago. Don't get me wrong, the last few albums have been solid, but the addition of Smear produces a whole new dynamic. And thank God for Dave Grohl! Rock music would be dead without this guy. Yes there are some awesome prog rock acts out there such as Porcupine Tree and Radiohead, but aside from Pearl Jam, the Foos are IT in terms of truly great modern rock! The musical landscape is already dominated by a bunch of pathetic hip hoppers, but at least we have Grohl carrying the flame for all of us rockers!

I had some hesitation towards this album, since I've seen so many albums being overhyped in the past year. But if you like music, real music, you'll love this album. This album reminds me of "The Colour and the Shape" and "There is Nothing Left to Lose". All songs are solid and the sound quality is impressive. "Bridge Burning" and "These Days" are my favorite songs so far.

This album is classic Foo's, strikes all the right chords Foo Fighters fans have come to love and expect from Grohl and his buddies......

1."Burning Bridges" is as good as any hard rock song they have ever done, an instant classic, think "The Pretender" /'All My Life" type of track

2."Rope" is unlike anything in the Foo's cannon. This song grows on you the more you listen and appreciate the power drill like guitars,bass, drums, musical layers etc....:)

3."Dear Rosemary" an anthem of rock radio in waiting, melodic, catchy in the classic Foo's style, one can liken to "Leaarning To Fly"/ "Best Of You" in feel etc....GREAT SONG!

4."White Limo" remind's one of one of the more obscure tracks off the debut album, even "Podunk" like in melody, distorted vox, feel, etc, ("Podunk" is a b-side off the debut, available on the limited edition version). A killer rocker!

5."Arlandria" reminds me a little of "Everclear, the band", in good way though. This is one of my least Fav's, but it's not a bad one by no means, maybe it's because it comes straight after the blistering "White Limo".

6."These Days" a track with a heavy feel, and written to suck you in to the feel. i love the "yeah it's alright......EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!!!!" bit as it reminds me of the way i feel towards my recently separated ex wife at the moment. Yeah thats probably a bit personal but thats what music can be.......right???

7."Back And Forth", ok, my least Fav track on the album, i feel the verse starts off interesting, then the chorus comes along and sounds like it's is about sex, and totally changes the song for the worse, the only song i DONT like, could be just me, but the album could of done without it, but still better than a lot of other rock bands best songs.

8."A Matter Of Time", again the Foo's are in Hard rock super drive and as melodic and feeling as ever, they could do songs like this in their sleep, keeps the album going at knots!

9."Miss The Misery" is a great song with feeling the Foo's way once again, songs like this just click with fans of the band, but thats a preach to the converted, if your not into the band by now your either a youngen, or someone who's been missing out on life for like.......15+years. LOL

10."I Should Have Known" My Fav song on the album, a song i feel like i've been personally experiencing with a likeness to my life currently, really personal song, i almost laugh when the bass comes UP in the mix later in the song as if to say THIS IS KRIST PLAYING THE BASS.....FROM......... N>I>R>V>A>N>A!!!!!!, an AWESOME SONG!!!!!!!!!

11."Walk" starts off sounding a bit cliche but don't be fooled, ends up rocking hardcore, another great song to a career album.

5/5
10/10
100/100,etc
Awesome!!