Album Review: Foo Fighters - Medicine At Midnight

Somewhere along the line, I think Dave Grohl got bored of being in Foo Fighters. I'm not sure when it happened, but he's been stuck in a mode where every album needs to have a 'big idea'. He's no longer making music for the sake of making music, letting his songs guide the form the records take. Instead, he says "let's make a record in my garage", or "let's record a different song in every city", and then fits the music to his grand image. Perhaps that's why the band has only put out one album I've really enjoyed ("Wasting Light") in ages. I'm more concerned with the songs than the concept, and Dave hasn't been delivering on both fronts.

With this new album, the conceit isn't at the forefront, so we can finally let the music breathe again. Turns out that's not such a good thing. As we heard from singles "Shame, Shame" and "Waiting For A War", Dave's run of penning fantastic singles has dried up. That knack he once had for writing anthemic pop/rock songs is gone. Foo Fighters have been boring for several album cycles now, but this time they sound both boring and bored. The band themselves don't sound excited by these songs, so how are we as listeners supposed to be?

The album opening "Making A Fire" might have reversed that trend. The almost gospel backing vocals are a new element, but the core of the song is one of the best songs Dave has written in several album cycles. It sounds classic, it has a big hook, and it does the things Foo Fighters are expected to do, but perhaps with a more mature perspective. I get the band wants to explore new territory, but that can be done in the deeper cuts. The singles sell the record, and I feel "Making A Fire" would have generated more interest, and less headlines about them being washed up.

I can't say the singles sound better in the context of the album, because I'm not sure there is any context to take them in. The weird kaleidoscope changes colors when we get to the title track, which sounds like it's trying to be an 80s club song. There's something to the hook I do like, but the road we take to get there doesn't do much for me. I've been vocal about my distaste for 80s nostalgia, and Foo Fighters aren't the band that's going to turn that around.

So here's the truth about "Medicine At Midnight"; it's 36 minutes long, has no clear direction, and in many places is rather tuneless. These are not the glory days when the band was pumping out great singles, and deep cuts to go along with them. The band wanted to do something more fun this time around, and maybe it was a blast for them to make this record, but it strikes me as an album that needed more time in the writing stage. I'm not even complaining about the brevity. I can get over that, but not when a short record has failed experiments and songs I don't care to ever hear again.

With each successive album, the balance of Foo Fighters' career is shifting. Their batting average has come down, and at this point I would be hard-pressed to say they're more than a band that had a short run of making great singles. This album would be a terrible disappointment, if not for the last two. They salvage this project by at least making the failure an interesting one.