Foo Fighters- One By One

One by One is Foo Fighters fourth album. Released in 2003, it represents a shift from the light, catchy pop-rock tunes from There Is Nothing Left To Lose to a heavier riff-driven rock style.

On a personal note, I have a fond memory of the Big Day Out music festival they headlined soon after releasing this album. From the first note of All My Life, it was an amazing show by rock megastars at the height of their powers. Therefore I have great memories associated with this album.

...So firing it up in the CD player revealed... severe disappointment. If you like this album, best not read on.

Sorry for the audiophile rant, but it sounds terrible to the point where it's a deal-breaker for many songs. At first, I thought it just didn't suit my stereo system. A lack of bottom end to the vocals and guitars, had me scrambling for the equaliser to boost these frequencies. This improved things, but it still sounded lacking in "size". Eventually I realised that the album is drowning in distortion. Not a subtle distorted edge to give a bit of bite, but painful clipping on the kick drum, bass, guitars, snare, vocals and cymbals. Rock'n'roll should get better the louder it is, but this album just begs to be turned down. What makes it more frustrating is that the flaws aren't due to budget constraints of an unsigned band, but boneheaded choices made for artistic or commercial reasons. And that there are some good songs here which are destroyed in the process.

Trying to ignore this, there are only a few songs on the album I dig, since I've never really been a Foo Fighters fan anyway. Since I've already ranted too much this post, I'll just focus on the songs I like. All My Life is a great song- combining a great guitar riff, interestingly abstract lyrics and an infectious chorus. Times Like These is a nice light pop-friendly singalong tune, while Tired of You is a great simple semi-acoustic tune which reminds me of Nirvana. Overdrive is another catchy singalong, although unfortunately the distortion is even worse than the rest of the album, which makes no sense as it isn't meant to be a heavy song.

As a final insult, I put the CD into my computer to have a look at the distorted waveforms. No cigar, because there's some stupid copy control thing stopping a computer from seeing the audio tracks. So this album is going straight into the bin. Good riddance.

Favourite songs

All My Life, Times Like These, Tired of You, Overdrive

Worthwhile?

A potentially great album completely ruined by the "loudness wars".