Album Review: Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways (2014 LP)

Ever since the Foo Fighters released Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, Dave Grohl and the group have explored new ways to inspire themselves creatively after it started to seem that the road towards stadium rock was littered with overproduction and fairly uninspired music. Even the band agree that their 2007 record was far from their best work. And they had no intentions of going down the same road when the time came for their next record. In many ways, they embodied the idea that to move forward, you have to go back.

The result – following the release of a Greatest Hits compilation, usually signalling the end of a band’s illustrious career – was an album that is widely regarded as one of their best. Some might see it as a creative re-birth, others as the start of a new era for the band. I would suggest the latter.

Wasting Light brought back producer Butch Vig into the fold, original guitarist Pat Smear and the record featured everyone from fellow Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic to Bob Mould and Rami Jaffe. It was an idea that if they surrounded themselves with the best musicians – notably ones from their past – that better music would come of it. And for the most part, the idea worked.

Then there was that sound board, the classic Neve console from the Sound City recording studio, the one that brought us Nevermind. Dave bought it, put it in his “garage”, and recorded everything on 2″ tape. How could that not sound fucking awesome?

This exploration into collaboration and the power of a “room” and a “console” seems to have overcome Dave and the band ever since. Dave’s debut feature film Sound City soon followed, which told the story of the legendary studio, as well as Dave’s endeavour to put together a collaborative record with some of the world’s greatest musicians.

The film was well received, the album was great fun (I mean it had fucking McCartney on it jamming with Nirvana – think what you will of the song, but it doesn’t get cooler than that) and the all-too-brief collaborative tour they embarked on was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the best musicians in the world hit the stage together. Steve Nicks performing “Landslide” with Dave, as he lent back on some guitar amps, in as much awe as the rest of us, is an experience I’ll never forget.

This brings us to what was most likely a little over a year ago, and as they began work on their new record, Dave took the concept of Sound City to the next level: let’s do a whole record like we did with Wasting Light, except this time we’ll jump between eight of the best studios in the USA and create one song in each city, letting the legendary studio – and the music town in which it sits – embody the lyrics and the spirit of the music. And why not – I’ll do another documentary about it all! Dave, you overachiever you. The result is a 42 minute eclectic album that accompanies an eight hour miniseries on HBO, both going by the title Sonic Highways.

As we write this review, we are halfway through the TV series, which has provided us a great deal of insight into the first four tracks on the album. From the history of the Blues in Chicago and the sentiments of Buddy Guy that inspired the opening track “Something From Nothing”, to the DC punk scene that launched Dave into a new world of music in “The Feast and the Famine”, “Congregation” with the sprinkle of Nashville country and the epic “What Did I Do?/God As My Witness”, a cry to keep Austin weird, with a guitar jam so impressive (courtesy of Gary Clark Jr) they had to fade it out to keep it from taking over the entire disc.

In spite of the speed at which the tracks were created, and the haphazard nature that would have come with jumping from one studio to the next – changing vibes and consoles along the way – there are three things you immediately feel with the recordings. Firstly, it doesn’t have the same “raw” vibe that Wasting Light enjoyed. There’s no Motorhead moment, a la “White Limo”. This is a surprisingly polished record. This sometimes works for, sometimes against the tracks.

Secondly, in that polish comes flow and cohesion to the mix, no doubt thanks to Butch Vig returning and coming along for the entire ride. It’s not a feeling you can take in until you sit down and listen to the record in full – the episodes don’t do it justice. This is very much an album with a start, a middle and an end, which is wholly impressive given the context.

Thirdly, while the rawness may not be there, this is as close to a jam record as you’ll ever hear from the band. There is so much guitar on this record. Up to four at any time. Perhaps unnecessary? Sure. But do we care? Not really. And we know it’ll kick arse live. As they fade out in “What Did I Do/God As My Witness” (which doesn’t really make much sense, honestly) and as “Outside”, their LA number, stops quite suddenly, you get the feeling that they could have jammed for hours, surrounded by the incredible spirit of these studios and the accompaniment of some incredible musicians. Gary Clark Jr no exception in the Austin number.

But then you have the sentimental “I Am A River”, which flows in from the previous track “Subterranean” via a surprising segue way. Recorded in New York, “I Am A River” closes the record with a clear intent: Wasting Light may have been our love letter to rock n’ roll, but Sonic Highways is our love letter to American music of all genres. As you listen to the track, you can see the slow motion shots of New York City Firefighters and Policemen, quietly nodding to the camera as if to say, “Music is pretty cool, guy. Thanks Dave. Thanks Foo Fighters. Keep fighting the Foo. We’ll keep fighting the fires/crime/floods/ebola.”

It’s a strong note to leave on – and it sticks with you, with its emotive tone, some stunning violins and lyrics that envelop you in the world of New York “I found a reason behind a soho door / I sound a reason beneath a subway floor”. Instrumentally, it was like something off Skin and Bones – of which the titular track also seems to be referenced in the first chords of the album’s opening track. In that respect, there are memories of all Foo Fighters eras throughout the record – sometimes quite well articulated through all-too-familiar chord or vocals. Listen to “In The Clear” for some “One By One” memories as another example. Even if it was unintentional, and in spite of the fact that an immediate judgement might call it “lazy” to be leaning to much on your past, it feels fitting on a record that is ultimately a band trying to discover their own place amongst the diverse American music scene.

In Sonic Highways, Butch and the band have created a surprisingly emotive, layered and diverse record that successfully captures the spirit of the American music scene as well as the history of the Foo Fighters themselves. It’s easy to think that the documentary has pushed us to read the album in that way, and maybe so – but for a band who has conceivably “peaked” time and time again, the album continues a line of remarkable consistency to their career. So perhaps it should be of little surprise that the result is a record that fits in comfortably to their discography as a solid release in spite of – perhaps because of – the concept behind it.

The big difference here though is that this is not an album with a hit song on it. There’s no “single” here. This is 42 minutes of musicians exploring a concept and seeing where they can take it. At times this works wonders, and at other times it doesn’t quite hit the mark. And some tracks will take quite a few listens for you to really take it all in. But your first listen will be full of surprises – from Trombone Shorty’s brass appearance in “In The Clear” to the violins of “I Am A River” and that surprising vocal moment that Dave puts out in “God As My Witness” (you’ll know what I mean when you listen to it).

For a band to be surprising us this late into their careers is nothing short of a testament to the band’s doggard commitment to make their music bigger than they are, bowing their heads to the musicians who have come before them in the process. And though some may think it smug, or clever for the sake of it, I can’t help but take away a dedication to – and love for – the world of music. And I can’t imagine they wanted anything else here.

It’s not their best record, but in many regards, it may end up being remembered as their most important. In that respect, it’s hard to imagine what they’ll come up with next. Something tells me though that Dave is already plotting it…

Review Score: 8.0 out of 10

Sonic Highways was released worldwide today.

Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.