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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Review #4 : Foo Fighters Greatest Hits (CD) (Roswell/RCA Records)



I wonder if Dave Grohl ever thought when he got off his drum kit after the untimely demise of Nirvana to strap on a guitar and sing lead vocals in his then new band, the Foo Fighters in 1995, that he would reach the meteoric heights and be a grammy-award winning band? Probably not. 15 years later and three line up changes, the Foos are one of the biggest bands around with platinum albums and selling out venues like Wembley Arena. So after 15 years and 6 studio albums later (not counting the live "Skin And Bones" album, it's now time to release a Greatest Hits package.

I've followed the band ever since I was curious and picked up the self titled debut album in 1995. I couldn't stop listening to it. I actually liked it better than Nirvana. Every album afterwards ended up in constant rotation for me with the exception of their last studio effort, Echoes, Silence, Patience, And, Grace which I thought had too much filler tracks.

So on to the greatest hits package. I have to say, as much as I like this band, I was quite disappointed with this collection. I don't know how much the band was involved with this album, save for the two new unreleased songs, which I'll elaborate on later. There is also a deluxe package with DVD with all of the bands videos and some live performances, but since I only have the stand-alone cd, this review is based off of this.

You get most of the obligatory favorites and singles on this for such as "All My Life", "Everlong" "Best Of You", "Big Me", well you get the idea. And along with the two new tracks, you get the acoustic version of Everlong and the studio version of Skin And Bones. Where's Low? Where's DOA and Resolve? No Stacked Actors? Nothing from the acoustic disc of In Your Honor? What about songs that were on soundtrack albums such as The One and A320? And let's not forget the wealth of unreleased tracks these guys have recorded over the years.

And let's get to the 2 new songs. "Wheels" is an ok song and sounds like a leftover from Echoes. I'm not sure I'm liking the all grown up so let's write more mature sounding songs because we're married and have kids style they seem to be going with. "Word Forward" is a little better, but not by much.

Overall, if you're a fan and already own their albums, this cd alone is not worth the purchase, even the two new songs doesn't warrant it. This is a collection for the casual fan and it's a good start for anyone new to the band but there's so much better material then what's presented here.

I really hate to give this band that I like so much a bad rating, but they could do so much better than this. This compilation seems hastily thrown together and a couple mediocre tracks tossed in there just to justify a purchase. This is no way to treat their fans like this who've stuck with them from the beginning. There's so much that they have recorded that a lot of fans are dying to hear. Unless a box set is in the works, I could think of a much better way to say "thank you" to all who have supported them. Sorry guys.

(1.5 Stacked Actors out of 5)

www.foofighters.com