05.
Foo Fighters
Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace

The claim, spattered throughout the reviews of this record, that this is the Foo Fighter’s ‘best album ever’ is taking things a little too far (that honour falls to either 1997’s The Colour And The Shape, or 1999’s There Is Nothing Left To Lose, depending on taste). Still, this is a superb return to form from a band that appeared to have been past it. Unlike most records this year, the Foo Fighters have really surpassed expectations with this one. Whilst there is no such thing as a ‘bad’ Foo Fighters album, I was not particularly keen on their previous overblown effort, In Your Honour. In contrast to that record, Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace is a focused album full of quality rock songs. The figurehead of this resurgence is the unstoppable single ‘The Pretender’ (my single of the year). This is then backed up with track after glorious track. Notably, Dave Grohl has gone for a few deviations from the usual formula, and these ‘grown up’ tracks don’t feel out of place at all. Instead, they improve things considerably: the simple genius of piano ballad ‘Home’ and the Beatles/McCartney-esque ‘Statues’ being my favourite tracks on the record (other than – obviously – ‘The Pretender’). A quality album: I look forward to seeing them (yet again!) in the summer.