This album is an immediate masterpiece for anyone who likes big loud guitars, tight melodies and harmonies, and ass-kicking rhythms. If you even liked the Foo Fighters before, you will fall in love with this album.  When the eagerly anticipated album leaked to the internet last week, the Foos said “F#$% it! Here you go, internet– streaming for free on our website!” If you don’t already own it, go buy it now!  Ok?  Ok.

Now let’s talk about the story behind the album. If you saw the documentary Back and Forth that premiered at SXSW (my review here) and is currently in rotation on VH1 Classics, you know the story behind the album: Dave Grohl wanted to go back and record an album “the way we used to” in his garage, all on analog tape. As someone who used to mess around with recording on analog 4-tracks back in the day in various drummers’ garages and basements (or certain log cabins on Timpview Drive in Provo….) I remember the analog days well and understand the nostalgia- they were just somehow warmer and more real than the digital approximations with 1s and os. Especially since on some of those 4 track recordings we did covers of old Foo songs Big Me, For All the Cows, I’ll Stick Around, Walking After You…. ah, the 90’s. (And a shout out to anyone who ever came to a show to see me play in The Basement, Roger the Shrubber, Waiting for Godot, or any other bands I was in around various Utah County venues.)

And then came digital recorders. And ProTools. And you could fix everything on your computer or autotune your vocals so Britney Spears had talent, etc. And maybe I’m getting too old and falling into “Kids these days and their music” but I just can’t get as excited about a lot of mainstream music that sounds so overproduced and manufactured. And so I love the idea of Foo Fighters trying something revolutionary by recording how albums used to be recorded.

This also fits well into the oeuvre of Foo Fighters, who have had a history of doing low budget recordings and getting superior results to over-produced albums. The 1995 Foo Fighters album was recorded basically as a demo cassette by Dave Grohl playing all the instruments himself. 2000’s There is Nothing Left to Lose, for which they won 3 Grammys, was recorded in Dave Grohl’s basement. The follow-up, One by One, cost a million dollars to record and was basically unreleasable. Grohl and co re-did it in a week, again with help from his home studio, and it was a hit.

And now enter Butch Vig, he the drummer/songwriter/co-producer of Garbage, he the producer of Nirvana’s Nevermind, Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish and Siamese Dream, Helmet’s Betty, and various awesomeness by Freedy Johnston, Soul Asylum… oh, and he’s also recently produced for Muse and Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown if you need an album produced after 2005.  So Dave Grohl tells him he wants to record on analog tape in his garage- and Butch goes for it. In some ways, this seems very simple: Butch just pointed a mic at the band and they do what they do. The results are pure Foo.

So much of this reminds me of Dethklok complaining that their music sounded “too digital” and so they engineer a way to record on water. But for Foo Fighters, the result is an amazingly warm and personal album. Let’s get to the tracks:

1. “Bridge Burning” The album starts with a bang, the first line a scream, “THESE ARE MY FAMOUS LAST WORDS!!!!!!” Amazing rock track with a chorus hook that if you aren’t singing all day long I may doubt your humanity. Oh yeah, they played this on The Daily Show last night.

2. “Rope” Am I the only one who thinks the opening riff sounds like King Missle’s “Detachable Penis”?  It’s seems so blatant that this has to be an homage of some sort. But another amazing rock track and I would not have picked this for a single over other, more obvious choices.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byDiILrNbM4

3. “Dear Rosemary”  Featuring vocals from Husker Du/Sugar frontman/legend Bob Mould, this is an amazing rock ballad that really takes advantage not only of having three guitars in the band, but each of their individual styles mixed to perfection. The harmonies from Mould also just perfectly make this song, and lead to a bridge with one of the best hooks of an album full of amazing ones.

4. “White Limo” This song and video have been around for a while (Foos released it as a “valentine” to their fans on Feb 12), but it just reminds me so perfectly of earlier, playful Foo songs of balls-to-the-wall punk metal like Watershed, Weenie Beenie, or Nirvana’s Radio Friendly Unit Shifter. Don’t know what it has to do with a white limo since I can’t understand the words, but I’ll bang my head to it regardless.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebJ2brErERQ

5. “Arlandria” Again an incredibly catchy song in the rock ballad realm with a chorus tailor made to be sung along with in a summer stadium tour. I’d say this is a favorite, but it’s hard to pick among these songs because so much of the album is so good. They also played this on The Daily Show where Dave Grohl discusses haircare and how the collective Foo children destroy backstage greenrooms that rival Van Halen.

6. “These Days” This song starts off so innocent and pretty and then RAWKS into a power anthem. Again, this just perfectly showcases the hard edge and soft underside of the essence of what it is to be Foo Fighters.

7. “Back & Forth” This seems so obviously to be a personal reflection by Grohl on his musical career and what he’s looking for now. This song obviously also provided the director of the Foo documentary with a title because of its meaning about the evolution of the band over the last decade and a half.

8. “A Matter of Time” Another uptempo rock number with a prechorus that would rock your sock off if he didn’t punctuate it with a “woo-oo!” to give it a little pop edge. Here’s where the Foos always surprise me- as such an amazing rock band they throw in these little pop punctuations and it’s just amazing.

9. “Miss the Misery” Starting with feedback and a distorted wah-wah pedal, this sounds more like some of Grohl’s other Seattle compatriots (Soundgraden, Alice in Chains) in its melancholy melodies and tight harmonies backed by heavy guitar riffs and screaming choruses. Yes, all of those are good things, especially in an album which tilts towards pop rock. This provides some needed balance and we head into…

10. “I Should Have Known” Featuring Krist Novoselic on bass and accordion (you remember his accordion from Nirvana Unplugged’s Jesus Don’t Want Me for a Sunbeam, right?) Grohl described this a song about a relationship, but as he thought more about it he looked back on all the times in his life he should’ve seen something coming. This song also contains the most powerful and memorable musical phrases of the album in the chorus. This also starts off really unassuming and pretty and ends up a bloody screaming mess. And you can tell Novoselic’s bass as you really hear that grungy, fuzzy bass that permeated Nirvana’s signature sound.

11. “Walk” The perfect chaser to the melancholy portions of the album. You could cobble this together with Learn to Fly and Times Like These into a power trio of songs of rock redemption. And for an album that began with a prophecy of famous last words, Grohl repeats over and over, almost mantra like, I never wanna die, I never wanna die.  Agreed. And if you’re going to keep making music like this, same here.

And that’s Wasting Light. You already bought it– so go listen to it! Enjoy! I haven’t bought an honest to goodness physical CD in… 5, 7 years? It’s been mp3s and ipods for me exclusively. Somehow it seemed right to buy this on an actual CD (and the vinyl version is coming in two weeks for you true analog fiends– I applaud you) – and it now sits in my car’s CD player and is unlikely to leave that place for the rest of the year. Yes, the mp3s will go on my ipod, but this will be enjoyed as a cohesive album and not just in my ADD-laden playlists and random selections.

Thank you Foo Fighters. Thank you Dave Grohl.

5 Stars.

One for Dave, one for Pat, one for Taylor, one for Nate, one for Chris.  Wait. Can I give an extra star to Butch Vig for producing this? 6 stars? Unprecedented. But perhaps worthy.