“Echoes” need “Patience”, for sure.

I can’t take anymore whiny singer-songwriter noise. Maybe I never could. So I had to download some big guitar rock last week after I heard of a new release by the Foo Fighters.
The first few runs through the new Foo Fighters album “Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace” has me wondering one thing: Who keeps breaking Dave Grohl’s poor little rockstar heart? From the first single, “The Pretender”, track two (“Let It Die”), and then track three (“Erase/Replace”), one gets the subtle-as-a-dive-into-the-drum-kit feeling that the speaker in these songs (be it the gum-chewing man or someone else) that there’s just been so much heartache since… well, the euphoria of “Everlong” or sweet sappiness of “Aurora” from “The Colour and the Shape”.
The record is still chock-full of the driving guitar and drum work of everything since their sophomore release. Production is identical to “One by One”, which is working well for them. Though the self-titled first album remains a standout because of its DIY production and the nonsensical lyrics. The B-sides to that record – “Winnebago”, “How I Miss You”, and “Podunk” – were a aural link to the rawness of Grohl’s appearance on vocals with Nirvana’s “Marigold.” Since then, it’s been “Hmm, let me sing my diary to these kids” on half the album.
While note their best release, there are plenty of great songs here, to cure the “where’s the non-Chili Peppers-stadium-rock?” blues in you. Of note is the instrumental “Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners” – Dueling banjoes meets … “Jessica” by the Allman Brothers?

(This review conducted without benefit of reading the liner notes.)