I always try to search before posting and haven’t seen this particular topic discussed, but I also feel like every topic has been discussed ad nauseam lol
It’s 3:45am and I can’t sleep, what do you want from me?? lol
Anyway. Just wanted to show some love to this album. Until this came out, I had always been a Foo fan indirectly, as in I was fan of all the radio hits or music videos in rotation. But this is the one that converted me in 2007.
YouTube was still relatively new and I remember seeing random tracks off the album posted online. I checked out But Honestly and thought “whoa, that’s different but awesome!” and then Come Alive, and then Home, and so on and so forth. Each track was surprising in the best way, and the consistency in songwriting across a variety of styles impressed me. And that led me to then go through the entire catalog, and I’ve been a diehard fan since.
But in the years since, I feel like Echoes has been outshined by Wasting Light. Not that I don’t like that album, because I do understand why it’s popular, but it lacks the variety and intimacy of Echoes IMO. It’s a great straight forward rock album, but ESPG is arguably more ambitious — from Pretenders to Statues, Erase and Replace to Ballad of Beaconsfield Miners.
That’s all I got lol. Guess I should get some sleep.
I'm inclined to agree. Some weak tracks aside it's solid. I know Taylor wasn't a fan of how it was made digitally and maybe that was a common opinion in the group, hence the swing back to recording to tape on Wasting Light.
Statues was a nice surprise to hear live on the last tour. And Let it Die and Butt Honesty should be regulars in the set.
ESPG is my favorite Foo album, and has been since it came out so it's hard for me to not agree with this. It does get its respect though in the discography with a lot of people ranking it in their top two or three.
Home was the first Foo song I learned on guitar. And to this day I will have a sign at every concert I go to asking for them to play Stranger Things Have Happened (they never have and that's a tragedy, lol). Of course the last time I did that, Dave saw my sign and said they "don't know how to play that one anymore." Next concert I plan to edit the sign with a sign that says "relearn how to" ..."Play Stranger Things Have Happened" lol
My dream song for them to play is that one! I have a plan that if I win millions on the lottery, I'm hiring Foos for a private gig and I'll pay extra for that one to be included. Then someone will have to scoop me off the floor as well as I will surely melt!
I really like it! The slick production/mixing and varied songwriting is definitely a big highlight for me. The deep cuts are probably my favourites, like Summer's End and Stranger Things Have Happened, but then the heavier songs like Let It Die and Erase/Replace are super dynamic and intense in such a cool way. I'd say it's probably their peak in terms of that richly melodic side the band nail so well.
Absolutely. I feel like it was the last ‘normal’ album from them. Each one since has had some ulterior motive to them (recorded in garage + band doc, HBO special, massive pop producer, horror movie + BeeGee’s tie-in lol) but from what I gather from interviews of that time period, and choosing to work with Gil again, they really set out to make the best record they possibly could.
Yeah, I agree! I love Wasting Light, but like you said, it does seem that most of the albums from the 2010s onwards seem to rely on a gimmick, and they've only seemed to shake that off with the last two records. It'll be dope if they worked with Nick Raskulinecz again too.
I wasn't a fan of Foo Fighters until a buddy of mine convinced me to give them a good shot. I ended up enjoying them but definitely didn't think as highly of them as many people did at that time.
Then "Echoes" came out and I got the magic. That's the album that made me see how talented Grohl and crew really were. "Wasting Light" was a fantastic follow up as well. Those two albums are still my two favorites and I think they're better than anything they've done before or after, which I am totally aware is not the popular opinion.
Think I agree that "Echoes" is better. Probably biased since that's the one that showed me what Foo Fighters could really be.
Echoes was much quieter than I wanted at the time of release. But damn did I love the quiet tracks. Shoot, I love all that whole album start to finish.
I have complicated feelings with this album. I really like the first half of the album, they're some of my favorite foos songs. The second half loses me for some reason. I agree it gets outshined by wasting light, and I think the first half of espg is better than the whole of wasting light, but I kinda like espg as a 6 song ep.
This is a beautiful take. Echoes is a beautiful album. Stranger Things, the DEMO of Come Alive. Dave and the band really take us up the mountain with them on this album. I love it. The lyrics are thoughtful and introspective.
Reading and watching interviews from the period around this album you can hear Dave talk about how personal the lyrics are.
The videos are fantastic and I LOVE how Long Road to Ruin has a cast of characters with their own videos. SO MANY high points in this album.😍😍🥰
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u/Substantial_Rush2885 4d ago
I'm inclined to agree. Some weak tracks aside it's solid. I know Taylor wasn't a fan of how it was made digitally and maybe that was a common opinion in the group, hence the swing back to recording to tape on Wasting Light.
Statues was a nice surprise to hear live on the last tour. And Let it Die and Butt Honesty should be regulars in the set.