Album Details

• Artist: Foo Fighters
• Album: In Your Honor
• Label: RCA
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: MusicCritic on 2011-04-15

Still among the world's most popular rock bands, Foo Fighters return with the long-awaited follow-up to 2002's One By One, the double disc effort In Your Honor. The package is essentially split into two concepts, with the first disc containing the heavy rockers and the second disc containing the softer, though in no way less compelling, acoustic songs. As with nearly all double albums, instead of making two pretty good records the band would have benefited from taking the best songs from each disc and making one fantastic record, thereby not only eliminating some of the unessential songs (DOA, Hell), but also allowing for some sonic juxtaposition, as ten straight songs of one style or the other tends to lessen their overall impact.

Having said this, there are some great songs in this package, including the menacing guitars and guttural vocals of the title track, the dramatic lyric "My head is giving me life or death but I can't choose" from Best Of You, the ambient Still, and the unquestioned highlight of the acoustic disc, Friend Of A Friend. Clearly written about his former bandmate, the late Kurt Cobain, Grohl sings the hauntingly personal requiem, "He’s never been in love / But he knows just what love is / He says never mind / And no one speaks / He plays an old guitar / With a coin found by the phone / It was his friend's guitar that he played / And when he plays / No one speaks." Also appreciated is the versatility of the second disc, with Grohl picking up the sticks on the catchy Cold Day In The Sun, while drummer Taylor Hawkins assumes vocal duties, and Norah Jones also contributes her beautiful jazz subtleties to Virginia Moon. All at once aggressive and vulnerable, In Your Honor isn't a classic, but certainly lives up to its hype.

David Coats

User Reviews and Comments