Review Summary: The Foos' fourth, and to date, worst album.
Following the massively successful There Is Nothing Left to Lose, One by One continues the Foos' more pop direction, but instead of refining it, they dumb it down with bland production and uninspired performances. Whereas TINLTL was slower than their first two albums, it nonetheless moved forth at a brisk pace, propelled forward by some simply excellent songs and the fact that the band seemed to be having a good time. Almost all of the Foos' sense of humor is erased from this album, rendering it equally unenjoyable to listen to. Is it a horrible album? No, admittedly, there are a couple of gems, but for the most part, there isn't much to go back to on a second listen.
The album starts off promising with "All My Life," a rampaging rocker (and first single), that earned them much hype and radioplay prior to the release of the album. Indeed, it is a very good hard rock track, but is not indicative of the rest of the album, both musically and lyrically.
"Low" is a rather dull hard rock song. Whle it is below the 5 minute mark, it seems much longer, and it overstays its welcome. The song would have been much better had the band decided it cut it about a minute and a half, as it features an interesting riff, but as it stands, the song is rather drab. Another poor decision ruins the next track, "Have It All," which begins on an excellent note, with some great guitarwork, but the band decided to put in a chorus that completely ruins the entire flow of the song. The band picks it up with ending, but the damage is already done.
"Times Like These" is the other famous single from the album, and it's also the best song on the album. While the lyrics during the chorus may seem like nothing special on paper, they simply soar during the song. Marrying the Foos' classic rock fixation with their recent pop appeal, the song is one of the masterstrokes of their career.
"Disenchanted Lullaby" is a good song in its own right, with some spacey guitar featured throughout leading into the harder rocking chorus. It's catchy, and while it isn't amazing, it's pretty darn good, and one of the better ones on the disc. "Tired of You" is as lifeless as the Foos ever were, and while the song features guitar from Queen guitarist Brian May, it goes absolutely nowhere, as you're waiting for the entire band to break out during the middle of the song, but it never happens. "Halo" is an interesting song, featuring a pretty good guitar riff, but the bridge bogs the entire song down. Admittedly, it doesn't ruin the song, as it's still pretty enjoyable to listen to, but it turns what could have been great into merely good.
"Lonely as You" is a rather boring pop-rock song with lifeless vocals from Grohl, "Overdrive", with its fuzz-guitar riff, wears itself thin about halfway through and goes nowhere, and "Burn Away" is perhaps Grohl's most annoying, worst sung song of his career.
The band redeems itself a tad with the closer "Come Back," which seems like a middle-of-the-road FF rock song until the great instrumental buildup, sending the song over the 7 minute mark.
Quite frankly, it seems the Foos may have run out of ideas at this point in their career (thankfully, they were brought back to life by 2005's In Your Honor, a major step-up from One by One), which seems odd, especially coming after TINLTL, a rather stylistically varied album. The production didn't help, giving everything a drab, poppy sheen. Though if they had to have a low point, at least they made it here, and at least it yielded a couple of good tracks.
