Foo Fighters -Band Members
Dave Grohl – lead vocals, guitar
Chris Shiflett – guitar
Pat Smear – guitar
Nate Mendel – bass
Taylor Hawkins – drums, lead vocals on "Sunday Rain"
Rami Jaffee – keyboards
Guest musicians
Justin Timberlake – backing vocals on "Make It Right"
Shawn Stockman – vocals on "Concrete and Gold"
Inara George – vocals on "Dirty Water"
Alison Mosshart – vocals on "La Dee Da" and "The Sky Is a Neighborhood"
Dave Koz – saxophone on "La Dee Da"
Paul McCartney – drums on "Sunday Rain"
Greg Kurstin – production
The full track listing for "Concrete And Gold" is:
01. T-Shirt 02. Run 03. Make It Right 04. The Sky Is A Neighborhood 05. La Dee Da 06. Dirty Water 07. Arrows 08. Happy Ever After (Zero Hour) 09. Sunday Rain 10. The Line 11. Concrete And Gold
The Foo Fighters are back with their ninth studio album, Concrete and Gold. The album is made up of 11 tracks and is available on CD, Vinyl, and most streaming services.
Band leader, Dave Grohl, has described the ninth album from the Foo Fighters as “Motörhead’s version of Sergeant Pepper”. After two decades in the business you must applaud the band’s ambition, but those gimmicky recording concepts are nothing new. Remember the back-to-basics garage recording sessions for 2011’s Wasting Light? Then there was touring America’s most famous music cities and recording a song in each, with support from a celebrated local musician for 2014’s Sonic Highway.Concrete and Gold originally came with another grand concept attached: the idea was to build a complete studio onstage at the Hollywood Bowl and record an album in one night in front of a 20,000-strong audience, a plan ruined by PJ Harvey’s decision to record last year’s Hope Demolition Project in a glass box at Somerset House. Too late!
But, just like Wasting Light and Sonic Highways, no matter how ambitious the recording process, the bottom line is that you’re getting another Foo Fighters record. The band has a knack for creating crowd pleasing rock anthems. It’s what made the Foo Fighters the torchbearers of classic rock in the first place, delivering big choruses, guitars, and of course, Grohls’ trademark rebellious roars. They know what they do best, and they embrace it.
Award winning producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Lilly Allen, Tegan and Sara, Sia) does a fine job in adding some much-needed layered vocals and melodies, à la Beatles, to the band’s already frenetic stomping Motörhead impression. However, unlike their last two releases, their ambitions were never fully realized on this record. Instead of breaking down boundaries, they simply nudge at them.
Don’t get me wrong, I mean no disrespect to the Foo Fighters, their ninth album is still an entertaining listen. I just wish that all this hard work would have finally deliver the Foo Fighters album the fans deserve. Concrete and Gold is an album that won’t frighten the fan base, but provides enough fresh interest to keep the band relevant. It’ll keep the flame of classic rock alive for the masses making this Foo Fighters album a solid release.
