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Review Summary: "Dawn at Dusk" The Foos are awesome. The Foos are slightly more awesome. The Foos stay pretty awesome. The Foos suck. The Foos suck not as bad. The Foos are mediocre but somehow with a grammy. This is their life in an opinionated nutshell (and each sentence represents each of their previous 6 albums in chronological order). They've been up, down, left, right, back and forth (pardon the pun), so much that watching their career is like watching a kaleidoscope, where you don't exactly know what you're looking at. They're a band that in a sense that has tried to have too many identities; with each album they brought something different (which, theoretically) is a good thing. They always at least kept a pinky-toe in that vein of modern, driving rock'n'roll though. They found room for ‘Stacked Actors’ on “There is Nothing Left to Lose”, right? They progressively got more experimental as their career went on, and tried to create a new identity for themselves... but the thing that always brought them success... the thing that always kept them on their feet and brought the most people to their shows, was the the driving force of their modern rock singles. That punk-rock spirit is the soul of the band that Dave Grohl fostered in the debut album, and arguably perfected in the band's follow up, The Colour and the Shape. It’s like modern rock was their favorite teddy bear, so they always gave it enough love to keep it happy, while still giving love to the other teddy bears (?). That wasn’t weird sorry (?). But now...
The Foos have arguably created an album that is full of these singles. Literally every single one of these songs could be played on the radio. Imagine taking ‘White Limo’ and slapping that thing in “One by One”? or ‘Walk’ onto “In Your Honor”? They’d be singles for sure. It may be an irrelevant way of thinking about the songs, but an interesting one nonetheless: remove a song from the context of the album and see if it can survive and sell. That’s the whole basis of a single is it not? That hasn't been done since TCATS, but Wasting Light tops even that with respect to the consistency it brings forth. Now, within each of their songs on this album, the Foos keep at least a pinky toe in the mindset of hard, 4 chord, driving guitar riffs, pounding drum solos, thick bass (I CAN ACTUALLY HEAR NATE ON THIS ALBUM! WHOA!) and snarling vocals. Syntactically speaking, this is the most consistent, yet diverse set of songs since TCATS. It's like a tree with many branches that sways beautifully in the wind, but never falls over because it tries to do too many things at once (ESPG, take note).
Emotionally, it’s all there as well. The tension that’s created through Butch Vig’s masterful production, combined with the best musicianship I’ve ever seen in the band, allows them to soar to dynamic heights previously unreachable by them. The stops, the starts, and the slightly revised bridges and choruses, all ring with a sense of freshness, making sure the listener never hears the exact same thing again during the songs themselves. The lyrics are creatively sewn to fit the dynamics of each song, even if you may not think that they’re the best in the world. You can just hear the emotion of every person playing, especially on tracks like ‘I Should Have Known’, where the song swells and crescendo’s to the point of total Foo-gasm ( a term I just coined, thank you), echoing the likes of ‘Come Alive’, ‘February Stars’, and ‘The Pretender’. But…
Even if a band puts out the best album in their catalog, that doesn’t automatically earn them a 5. No… it has to be significant in today’s music industry, while also, to a point, transcending the capitalist, monopolized bureaucracy of the business itself. Only time will tell it this is a classic album: remembered as a staple of the times, while simultaneously giving generations to come, music that even they can relate to. Musically? It’s all there. Emotionally? They have their hearts on their sleeves. Timing? It’s perfect, especially in a world dominated by autotune. There’s a reason that people say rock goes away every 4 years or so… and it’s because that’s the amount of time it takes for the Foo Fighters to release new LP’s. They are the best this day and age has to offer, and Wasting Light is the best that they themselves have to offer.
-STFU :D
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Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
"Foo's" is possessive
"Foos" is plural.
and cut this part out "Thank's for reading my first review! I hope you found it useful. Please let me know what you would improve or add."
it was a pretty good review besides those two gripes though. not great but good for a first.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
After two sentences I thought the review was going to suck, but it's actually really good.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
It's not that good.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
so on a 0 to 5 scale, same as this album, what would you give my review? thanks for the tips btw.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
3.5
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Lose the last sentence..It makes you lose all credibility..and *hint*...look next to your name..everyone already knows
:P
I'll check this out in the morning..looks like a fun read though.
Edit: lose the 90% sentence too..*hint*..look left of your name..into the ratings box...yeah everybody already knows too.
OK, Done giving you a hard time man, sorry :D. I'll come back with non-asshole comments tomorrow.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Fuck, I can't believe "syntactically" is a word.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Solid 3 for the review, which is exceptional for a first. Keep writing, man.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
Thanks I will *thumbs up*!
letsgofishing... where's the non-a**hole comment you promised? lol
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Sorry, classes all morning..it's a bitch.
But yeah, you got some flair in your writing, which is phenomenal. You're not the type of person I'm ever going
to get tired of reading, just because your entertaining. With that said, it needs a lot of polish. Theres a balance
between humor and content you need to strive for, and it differs with each example. With that said you need to
watch out for 2 things in general. 1st: You don't want your wit to get in the way of content, but rather use it to
enhance your presentation of it, because honestly in some places your humor gets in the way of what your '
trying to express. (example: last sentence of the first graph). Second: you don't want it to get in the way of
sentence structure or general cohesiveness. example, in keeping with your casual tone, you let this monster
run-on get on the page
"They progressively got more experimental as their career went on, and tried to create a new identity for
themselves... but the thing that always brought them success... the thing that always
kept them on their feet and brought the most people to their shows, was the the driving force of their modern
rock singles."
(For a disclaimer, just look on my profile, I'm notorious for run-on sentences, so we're in the same boat)
Also you need to watch out for gimmicks, like (?) and ALL CAPS. 90% of a time, a review is better without them.
Just need to conjure a little more creativity to give those points or jokes emphasis. I would recommend that you
check out Downers "Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown" Review. Not only is it the greatest review I've read
on this site, it's also that perfect balance of content and wit.
But this is a great first review, and "foogasm"....that's hilarious. take a POS.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
I'm really happy at the constructive criticism I've received, so thank you everyone! I was worried I'd get a bash off the bat. LOL.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Nice review, good for a first! Return of Smear made this album even more awesome :D
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
Indeed. Everything just sounds thicker.
If this stays above a 4 I'm going to be so happy. The band deserves immense recognition for this achievement.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Definitely the best commercial rock album I have heard all year. My big problem with it is that the majority of
the songs try to pull of an awkward balance between radio-friendly and "foo-gasm" which just gives me that
irking sensation of "hey, this could be better*."
but yeah, I definitely give the band props...this is their best in a long time.
*With the exception of White Limo..that song is a beast.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
Fair point. There were a few points during some songs where I was like "hurry up and get to the freaking awesome part already!" But then I realized that tension of waiting makes the songs memorable/ keeps things interesting. A lot of their songs tend to do that I feel, but the big hits are big hits because the parts that aren't "foo-gasms" are still strong.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
good review!
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