After recording 2011's Wasting Light in Dave Grohl's garage using analogue equipment, Foo Fighters have gone to the other extreme for their latest: eight songs recorded in eight iconic studios in eight different US cities featuring eight local guest stars, each tied to an episode of their HBO documentary series examining the musical history of said cities.
So does the setting, the heritage, the neighbourhood talent bleed into each track? Can we hear a twang of country on Congregation, recorded in Nashville with Zac Brown, or a Dixieland vibe on In The Clear, courtesy of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans? Not a bit of it. This is a brilliant concept, but it wears a Foo Fighters straitjacket that doesn't give the supposed influences any room to breathe.
There is, I suppose, a Washington DC hardcore element within the sharp edges of the guitar parts on The Feast And The Famine (featuring Bad Brains) and a Californian west-coast openness to the guitar solo on Outside (featuring Joe Walsh of The Eagles) but you have to consciously listen for this stuff to hear it. Thankfully, though, none of this matters. Sonic Highways is a superior Foo Fighters album that showcases Grohl's ability to clothe pop hooks in power chords and a full-throttle scream.
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