With their newest album, Concrete and Gold, releasing on September 15th, PCB would like to take you through the Foo Fighters’ entire recorded history. We are going to go through the catalogue, album by album, giving you some Foo Fighters history, a take on the albums and a few other tracks from that era that are worth checking out. Follow along and please add your comments below. Today’s offering is their sophomore release: The Colour and the Shape.
Soon after the debut album, Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl bands together with current Foo members Nate Mendel (bass) and Pat Smear (lead guitar) to create the follow up. William Goldstein was brought on to play drums on the album, but Grohl wasn’t happy with how they turned out, and re-recorded the drum tracks himself. Grohl stands by this decision, but now regrets how he handled the situation. The Colour and the Shape was released later in 1997.
This album is definitely in my top 2 Foo Fighters’ albums (and stick with me, I’m reviewing the lot)! Grohl has admitted that the lyrics on the previous album were a bit nonsensical, but for this second outing producer Gil Norton forced Grohl to write more meaningful lyrics. The alternating slow paced ballads and heavy songs is perfect on this album, really capturing the turmoil of a breakup.
Album by Album: Foo Fighters
It’s hard to outline which songs are great because I love almost all of them. “Monkey Wrench” (the single from the album, and my absolute favorite Foo Fighters’ song) is a raw, emotional “F-you” song that kicks so much ass! Right in line with this track are the hard rocking tunes: “Hey Johnny Park”, “Wind Up”, “My Hero”, and “Enough Space”. These songs contrast perfectly with the lighter “See You”, “February Stars”, and “Walking After You”. To round things out you have songs that successfully blend the two tones together: “Everlong” and “Up in Arms”, the latter of which starts slow and then kicks into high gear about a third of the way in and gives me goosebumps every single time.
Besides the opening track, “Doll”, I like every song on this album. “Doll” is just a weird way to start the album off (though I think it’s uncomfortable by design), but it does serve to make the opening of “Monkey Wrench” hit even harder.
Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape (1997) is an easy 10 out of 10 stars.
But wait… there’s more!
There are a few more tracks from this era that were left off of the album and were either released as B-Sides or bonus tracks on re-issues.
“The Colour and the Shape” – The title track of the album was left off but available as the B-Side to “Monkey Wrench” making it an extremely heavy single! I highly recommend picking up the 10th Anniversary Edition of this album because it has this song and the three I’ve listed below.
“Dear Lover” – Another soft song that was left off of the album. I agree that the others were stronger choices for the album overall, but this composition is a great bonus track.
“Baker Street” (Gerry Rafferty Cover) – The guitar part on this song is amazing and is changed just enough from the 1978 original to give it that rock/grunge Foo Fighters’ sound.
“Drive Me Wild” (Vanity 6 Cover) – A song originally written by The Purple One, but is not the last Prince song that the Foo Fighters will cover (more on that later). It really kicks ass! A heavy and fun song that will, dare I say it, drive you wild!
In the runup to the release of Concrete and Gold, Kyle Dodson is reviewing the entire Foo Fighters studio catalogue. Follow the series here:
Album by Album: Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
The Colour and the Shape
There Is Nothing Left to Lose
One by One
In Your Honor
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Wasting Light
Sonic Highways
Concrete and Gold
Kyle Dodson is a writer, comedian, Rock Solid Podcast producer, Batman aficionado, facial hair connoisseur, and oxford comma supporter.