Monday, 21 October 2002
 A lot has happened to Dave Grohl since the release of the worthy but dull There Is Nothing Left To Lose, the Foos last studio album. Amongst other events to befall the hyperactive frontman in the interim period, he's been sifting through the debris of a messy divorce, started getting down and dirty with Veruca Salt frontwoman Louise Post, engaged in legal wranglings with Courtney Love over the fate of the corporate cash cow that Nirvana has become, and reclaiming drumming duties on the last Queens Of The Stone Age album.
So it's no surprise that on their first studio album for three years, the newly-earnest Foos have a lot to say for themselves. Unfortunately for those of us that believed the band would rekindle interest in a fairly poor year for rock music, they've failed to set the world on fire once more. Their ability as musicians has never been in question. Since the lumpen metal of second album The Colour And The Shape, however, questions have been asked about the calibre of the songwriting.
'All My Life', the opening track, is the perfect power-pop tune - a craftily written pop song, drenched in feedback and distortion. Grohl alternates vocal styles as the dynamics of the tune fall away and then burst back in again. By the time it finishes, with the shouts of "Done! Done! Onto the next one!", you feel elated but exhausted. It is a faultless start to the album and, sadly, sets expectations accordingly.
What follows is a mixed bag of Foos-by-numbers. 'Low' promises much but never quite gets out of second gear. 'Have It All' builds promisingly before lapsing in a chorus that sacrifices the verses' power for a sickly harmony. By the time you reach 'Tired Of You' (an apt title for a song that lasts for over five minutes without paying any mind to such frivolities as dynamics or changes), you are wondering exactly what is happening on planet Foo.
Happily, things pick up a little with 'Halo', and 'Lonely As You' is a well-constructed track with a great shift between verse, bridge and chorus. It does however also contain the cringe-inducing lyric "Wake up, you're dreaming / I can't stand you screaming". The album closes in autopilot mode, 'Overdrive' has some lovely guitar arpeggios but sounds as if it's been taken from the There Is Nothing Left To Lose sessions, while finishing the album with 'Come Back' is remarkably prescient thinking on Grohl's part - he may need to shout this to a few of his more fair-weather fans after they pay top dollar to get their hands on this album.
If you're a die-hard Foos fan, I'm sure you'll buy this, and good luck to you. If you're on the fence then give it a miss. Think of it in terms of raw economics - If you buy 'All My Life' as a single it costs a lot less and you get two 'b' sides. Buy the album and you pay much more for 'All My Life' plus ten 'b' sides. You do the maths.
(2/5)
Release Date: 21 October 2002
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