Foo Fighters

A Double Review

"A Kinder, Gentler State of Bliss"

One of the hottest releases of the year is the Foo Fighters self- titled debut release. One of the main reasons that this album is so highly anticipated is that it is the first major release by former Nirvana members since the death of Kurt Cobain. The Nirvana members are Dave Grohl and Pat Smear. Foo Fighters also has two former members of the now defunct Sunny Day Real Estate. What is often overlooked in all the post-Nirvana/Sunny Day hype is that this album actually kicks ass.

The band name refers to fighter pilots at the end of World War II who saw flying fire-balls which were later written off as UFOs. Enough of that, the album was actually recorded with Dave Grohl performing all instruments with Barrett Jones on the production boards during a one-week period of time in October of 1994. Dave describes himself as literally running from instrument to instrument to get the whole thing recorded in one week, and using the first take for everything unless he absolutely can't use it.

It was after the recording session that Dave actually went out and put the band together per se. This is really incredible...Dave Grohl really deserves a lot of credit for his work. Every song is very likeable and in very few places is there any hint of a hastily-cut record. I suppose Barrett gets a lot of credit here, too.

If you've heard songs like "This is a Call," "I'll Stick Around," or "Alone + Easy Target" and wondered if the rest of the CD is worth anything, I can clearly say that it is. I consider most of the CD a happier Nirvana and I think most people will really enjoy it.

The Concert Review

With everything that has been said about the debut Foo Fighters album, I must say that after seeing them live I am highly concerned about their future. There was a lot of energy particularly from Dave and Pat, but Dave Grohl needs to take the same advice that every major singer from Mick Jagger to Liz Frazier has had to take --get some vocal lessons and put them into every-day practice or you will loose your voice and your carreer.

Basically, the concert was horrendous. Sure you can write off the fact that the only instruments that could be heard was a cranked up bass guitar and some drums to exceptionally poor mixing board work that night, but you can only attest the terrible quality of Dave's voice to his nightly scream-fests that this tour has turned into. There was neither intonation nor melody there.

The debut Foo Fighters album is so wonderful to listen to it was a true disappointment to hear them in concert. I truly hope that Dave saves his voice so there can be lots more Foo Fighters albums (and concerts) to come in the future.

Jeff Jolley