Band : Foo Fighters
Album Title : Greatest Hits
Label : Roswell Records – RCA - Sony Music
Distribution : Sony Music
Release date : October 2009
Review : CD

Every year, when Christmas and New Year are coming close, the record companies always release numerous compilation albums of celebrated artists; the ideal gift for under the Christmas tree. This year, some big shot at Sony Music must have thought: ‘Why not bring out a “Greatest Hits” of repeated Grammy Award winners Foo Fighters after seven albums in almost fifteen years existence?’. A commercial decision one might say, because singer/guitar player Dave Grohl is unhappy with the release and has revealed that the band had no control over the decision.

Anyway, we have the deluxe edition of Foo Fighters’ “Greatest Hits” before us to review, so here we go. Thirteen well-known songs of the American alternative rock band around Dave Grohl (whose fame already dates back to his days as drummer of Nirvana) have been compiled on this album, with three additional tracks as an extra. These three extra tracks are the catchy new songs “Wheels”, which reminds me of Weezer and is released as a single, and “Word Forward”. Nice to know that the new songs were produced by Butch Vig, marking Dave Grohl's first collaboration with the producer since Nirvana's album “Nevermind”. Last but not least is the splendid acoustic version of the Foo Fighters classic “Everlong”. So, this “Greatest Hits” contains 16 songs and has a playing time of 64 minutes.

“Big Me” and “This Is A Call” come from the album “Foo Fighters” (1995); “Everlong”, “My Hero” and “Monkey Wrench” are taken from the album “The Colour And The Shape” (1997); “Learn To Fly” and “Breakout” appeared on the album “There Is Nothing Left To Lose” (1999); “All My Life” and “Times Like These” come from the album “One By One” (2002); “Best Of You” is the only song from the album “In Your Honor” (2005); “Skin And Bones” is taken from the album “Skin And Bones” (2006) and “The Pretender” and “Long Road To Ruin” appeared on the album “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace” (2007).

Dave Grohl himself has stated that the band has had better songs that could have been included and I can certainly name some successful singles like "I'll Stick Around", “Walking After You”, “Generator”, “DOA” and “Let It Die” that are missing. Another thing that might have spiced up this compilation, was the inclusion of rarities, such as for instance their cover of Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street” and Prince's "Darling Nikki" or popular soundtrack contributions like for instance "The One", “A320” or “Have A Cigar” (with Brian May of Queen as guest musician). The deluxe edition of the compilation also includes a DVD with all 17 video clips of the band and some live performances from Hyde Park, Wembley Stadium and the “Skin And Bones” theater tour.

Foo Fighters are currently taking a long break, which leaves the band members enough time to devote themselves to their families and side projects. Dave Grohl is busy with Them Crooked Vultures, a band he formed with Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin). Guitar player Chris Shiflett has several projects running, for instance Jackson United, Viva Death, The Real McCoy. Drummer Taylor Hawkins plays in the cover band, Chevy Metal, that plays lesser known tracks by ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. And bass player Nate Mendel takes part in the reunion of his former band Sunny Day Real Estate with tour dates scheduled in 2010 and new work possibly on the way. My guess is that Foo Fighters will not release a new album before 2011.

70/100

Erik.