What do you play in the tribute act, mikemangioy?
I am Dave Grohl. I wish. But I kinda look like him, so
Speaking of which:
#47:
Foo Fighters - Sonic HighwaysRock, 2014
This isn't necessarily my favorite FF record, but damn we all have to admit that they went above and beyond the "concept" record.
Sonic Highways is an album that narrates throughout 8 songs, the musical history of 8 cities in the USA. Now, the songs aren't that different from the usual Foo Fighters tunes, but there's just this
thing about them. They sound very important, because they carry the weight of an entire history of musicians, songs, bands, records of their respective city. And when you look at the documentary that came with the record, you really understand how big of a thing this is. I really understood that in the end, music is the thing that unites us humans the most (well, more art in general, but still) and when each episode of the documentary ended, I just had this big grin on my face.
At the end of the last episode for the song I Am A River (it aired at New Year's Eve in Italy, so it was even
more sappy for me) I think I cried a bit. Because it's just that overwhelming to me.
Eight cities, eight rock-as-hell tunes, the Foos even had some experimentation in structure and composition in songs as Something From Nothing, which starts off very quiet and builds throughout its 5 minutes up until Dave's scream which ignites a headbanging fest, Congregation with some devil pickin' provided by Zach Brown (a guest musician featured on this track), a two part song: What Did I Do?/God As My Witness but most of all, the two ending tracks which are just beautiful. Subterranean is about starting over after Nirvana for Dave (this was recorded in Seattle), and it has ambient patches, acoustic guitars, e-bows and all that ethereal stuff, and I Am A River, a very anthemic close to this album.
98% of the time, I always say that it's just about the music, in the end. This is not the case. It's about the whole thing.
Recommended tunes: Something From Nothing Outside Subterranean