Foo Fighters -- In Your Honor

7/10

After 2002's disappointing One By One, Foo Fighter's decided to do a little something different with 2005's double album, In Your Honor. The album starts off with a very strong opening trio, culminating in the powerful "Best of You."

The rest of disc one just sort of happens. I don't know, for some reason it just doesn't do it for me. I admire the band's decision to make the first disc their most rocking yet, but I'm just not a huge fan of the songs. They aren't bad, they're just there. I mean, I like "Resolve" a lot. I don't know. Anyway, moving on, disc two is something entirely different. It's an album of entirely original acoustic songs. I have to be honest, these songs really hit a sweet spot for me. They are a product of their time in that they are heavily indebted to Beck's Sea Change, which is in turn influenced by the work of Nick Drake, which I guess is beside the point except to say that timeless music can beget timeless music, and does at a few points on In Your Honor's second disc. There are some are really nice, subtle, and sometimes ambient touches to these tracks. I'd also name The Dismemberment Plan's "Automatic" as a point of reference, particularly on disc opener, "Still."

Overall, disc two contains a quite satisfying morning after feeling, and in my opinion, makes up for disc one's shortcomings quite well. This comes from someone who usually enjoys rocking music quite a bit more than acoustic songs. Man, "quite" is such a lazy word.
On a personal note, I've referenced my interesting 2005 exile many times in these reviews, and you can get a good idea of my states of mind just by reading the eighty-six remaining posts from that year. In Your Honor came out that summer, during a short-lived period of time where MTV2 earnestly attempted to rededicate itself to music. Shortly before In Your Honor's release, the channel gave itself over to Foo Fighter's four members for an entire twenty-four hour period. Having nothing at all better to do, and not sleeping, I watched the majority of this. Hey, if Dave Grohl didn't need sleep, neither did I. This broadcast became a surprisingly entertaining twenty-four hours, with the band growing nuttier as the time wore on. Sometimes, I really miss that summer.


2005 RCA
Disc One
1. In Your Honor 3:50
2. No Way Back 3:17
3. Best of You 4:16
4. DOA 4:12
5. Hell 1:57
6. The Last Song 3:19
7. Free Me 4:39
8. Resolve 4:49
9. The Deepest Blues Are Black 3:58
10. End Over End 5:52

Disc Two
1. Still 5:15
2. What If I Do? 5:02
3. Miracle 3:29
4. Another Round 4:25
5. Friend of a Friend 3:13
6. Over and Out 5:16
7. On the Mend 4:31
8. Virginia Moon 3:49
9. Cold Day in the Sun 3:20
10. Razor 4:53