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As with other double albums like "The White Album" or Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk," "In Your Honor" takes a few listens to really get into it. The idea of splitting the songs into electric and acoustic is intriguing at first, but it does makes monotony a problem when it wouldn't otherwise. The great thing about "The Colour and the Shape" was the contrast of softer songs when sandwiched between the heavy songs, and vice versa. Now imagine bunching those songs into distinct halves, and it would suffer greatly.
That's the problem with "In Your Honor," but a simple solution would change a lot of initial opinions about the album: Give it a few more listens, decide what the fat is and trim it, then combine and mix up the two discs a bit. Then make a loaner copy... and make sure everyone you know listens to it.
The weaker stuff for me was the title track (the false ending isn't enough to save it), "Free Me" (a screamer song that just strains), "Hell," "Deepest Blues," and "Over and Out." "Friend of a Friend," an old Grohl song that is no doubt personal, just isn't interesting enough musically to warrant repeated listens.
Now onto the good stuff (in my preferred order):
"No Way Back" is a solid up-tempo song; a better intro for the album.
"Still" is a sweet-but-haunting adolescent suicide pact (with a "Mr. Kite"-ish outro).
"Best of You" sounds a little like "Times Lke These" in spots, but ultimately it's one of their best ever mid-tempo rockers.
"What If I Do" is a gentle, lazy-afternoon ditty; the "Ain't It the Life" sort of number we missed on "One by One."
"Miracle" is sheer beauty, the "Aurora" of the bunch. By the time those violins break in, you'll either have a lump in your throat or a moist eye. Maybe one of the band's all-time top five.
"DOA" is a fun, rambunctious rocker with a pseudo-tribal drumbeat. Chorus sounds a bit like a faster "Live-In Skin."
"Another Round" has a waltzy beat and a swell harmonica solo.
"The Last Song" is one of the most infectious breakup songs ever made; a simple, peppy pop-rock gem in the mold of the b-side "Fraternity."
"On the Mend" is a dreamy, ethereal acoustic number.
"Resolve" is a little long and the chorus gets a bit repetitive (problems that aren't as bad on "IYH" as they were on "One by One"). But those harmony vocals are a saving grace. Sounds a bit like a slower "Overdrive."
"Virginia Moon" is the kind of song a few macho hard-rock-types would probably love to make if they could get away with it. It took serious guts for Dave Grohl of "All My Life" fame to create a tongue-in-cheek Bacharach-type duet with Norah Jones (thank God he didn't ask Vanessa Carlton instead!). Some back-and-forth vocals in between the harmonic stuff would've made this perfect.
"Cold Day in the Sun" is something you wished Disc 2 had a lot more of by the time you get around to it. A fun, easy-going, summer song.
"End Over End" is a catchy closer, better served by following it up with the gentle "Razor," an absolutely melancholic song with a lullaby feel (appropriately enough, given Josh Homme's presence).
So, a few inevitable weak spots aside, this is easily the best album since TCATS... and a breath of fresh air amidst all of today's blustery joyless alt-rock, and bland insipid AC-pop. Give this a second chance, and you'll thank the stars these guys are still out there fightin' Foo in your honor.
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