The Colour And The Shape- Foo Fighters
by: Ben Siimes
Now, I will be the first one to admit that I jumped on the
Foo Fighters bandwagon really late. Until the fall of 2011, I had never heard a
song by FF outside of Monkey Wrench.
But one fateful day in September I decided to start listening to them by way of
their new album Wasting Light, and I
consider it one of the defining points in my musical life. But this review
isn’t about Wasting Light in all its glory.
I’m talking about The Colour And The Shape from 1997. A lot of good music was hitting the airwaves back in 1997: Radiohead released their opus magnum, OK Computer; Blur and Third Eye Blind both came out with their now classic self-titled albums. But TCATS was, in this humble writer’s opinion, the most rocking album to come out that year, and honestly to come out in a long time. If you look at the album just on the surface, you will find that it could potentially be a Foo Fighters greatest hits album: My Hero, Monkey Wrench, Hey, Johnny Park!, and the immortal Everlong all grace the track listing of this album. But when one listens to the entire album as a whole, not just bit pieces, you will find that Dave Grohl created a masterpiece of rock music, not just a couple of nice radio friendly hits. In many ways, the album progresses like a concept album, primarily sticking to the themes of adolescent rage and confusion (Monkey Wrench, My Poor Brain), the difficulty of dealing with relationships and inner feelings (Everlong, My Hero, Monkey Wrench, See You, Up In Arms) and the bitter resignation following emotional loss (Walking After You, New Way Home). Mechanically, TCATS is a testament to Dave Grohl’s dedication to his craft. After a series of sub par takes on the drum tracks by William Goldsmith, Grohl went through and re-did nearly every take for every song himself, along with singing and playing guitar throughout. This resulted in some of the heaviest and powerful drum tracks this music fan has ever listened to. The drums on Everlong have become the bane of steering wheels everywhere as fans smash and roll their air drums kits to the crashing cymbals and heavy snares of the chorus. Embarrassingly (and slightly dangerously), I have nearly run myself off the road several times because I have been drumming too hard to that track on max volume. To sum it up, TCATS is a flawless album; if you like grunge, if you like alternative rock, if you love music in any way, shape, or colour, go listen to this album and understand what rock and roll truly is.
I’m talking about The Colour And The Shape from 1997. A lot of good music was hitting the airwaves back in 1997: Radiohead released their opus magnum, OK Computer; Blur and Third Eye Blind both came out with their now classic self-titled albums. But TCATS was, in this humble writer’s opinion, the most rocking album to come out that year, and honestly to come out in a long time. If you look at the album just on the surface, you will find that it could potentially be a Foo Fighters greatest hits album: My Hero, Monkey Wrench, Hey, Johnny Park!, and the immortal Everlong all grace the track listing of this album. But when one listens to the entire album as a whole, not just bit pieces, you will find that Dave Grohl created a masterpiece of rock music, not just a couple of nice radio friendly hits. In many ways, the album progresses like a concept album, primarily sticking to the themes of adolescent rage and confusion (Monkey Wrench, My Poor Brain), the difficulty of dealing with relationships and inner feelings (Everlong, My Hero, Monkey Wrench, See You, Up In Arms) and the bitter resignation following emotional loss (Walking After You, New Way Home). Mechanically, TCATS is a testament to Dave Grohl’s dedication to his craft. After a series of sub par takes on the drum tracks by William Goldsmith, Grohl went through and re-did nearly every take for every song himself, along with singing and playing guitar throughout. This resulted in some of the heaviest and powerful drum tracks this music fan has ever listened to. The drums on Everlong have become the bane of steering wheels everywhere as fans smash and roll their air drums kits to the crashing cymbals and heavy snares of the chorus. Embarrassingly (and slightly dangerously), I have nearly run myself off the road several times because I have been drumming too hard to that track on max volume. To sum it up, TCATS is a flawless album; if you like grunge, if you like alternative rock, if you love music in any way, shape, or colour, go listen to this album and understand what rock and roll truly is.
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