Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience Album Art

In 1997, Foo Fighters teamed with alt-rock production cornerstone Gil Norton to make their best album, The Colour and the Shape. Ten years later, they've regrouped with Norton for a disc that's more sophisticated and diverse, if a tad less rockin'. The curveballs include "Stranger Things Have Happened," a solo soul-searcher where leader Dave Grohl's accompanied by just his acoustic guitar and a ticking metronome, and "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners," an acoustic guitar duet for Grohl and guest virtuoso Kaki King. Plus "Summers End" tickles the Foos' classic-rock fetish with a dead-on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young arrangement. There's still enough of the intense, snarling power-pop that's Foo Fighters' longtime forte. "The Pretender," "Erase/Replace," and "Long Road to Ruin" combine sheer thrust, zeal, and melody like no other group currently on the charts. Yet the finale, "Home," makes its clear that this is a changed band--or, at least, that Grohl's a changed man. With only his piano for company, Grohl's pleading voice reveals fragile layers of insecurity and loneliness as he sings "all I want is to be home." Seems this rock & roll road warrior's mellowed some, albeit without compromising Foo Fighters' vitality. --Ted Drozdowski