It’s a Wonderful Life of Albums: The Colour and the Shape
I’ll never make it to heaven, but if good old St. Pete told me my entrance was contingent upon naming the best rock’n’roll band of my lifetime, it’s Foo Fighters without hesitation. Born from the ashes of Nirvana as the solo project of drummer Dave Grohl there just isn’t another band from 1987 to now that’s both qualitatively and quantifiably massive. This 1997 sophomore effort from Dave was a step away from the grunge era that defined him, toward the more melodic and accessible rock sound they are now known for.
The Colour and the Shape may represent their best album, but I’ll gladly debate you aimlessly until three in the morning because they have two others that are just as good. After the introductory first track, “Monkey Wrench” kicks your front teeth in with a blistering pace of 174 beats per minute. Dave belts out his frustrations over distorted guitars, “Adolescent resident, wasting another night on planning my revenge” and it is so visceral it almost bleeds.
Infamously, Grohl recorded his own drum tracks for nearly the entire album unbeknownst to the drummer in the band. William Goldsmith rightfully didn’t take it well, and the result was him leaving the group, but the rest of us getting the masterclass of Dave on the throne. I can’t imagine, “My Hero” opening with any other drum intro, and I often find myself trying to isolate what the drums are doing on this album, which is something I rarely do as a failed guitarist.
“And I wonder when I sing along with you, if everything could ever feel this real forever.” ‘“Everlong” is’…Frankly, a very difficult sentence to finish. There is the guitar in drop D tuning to maximal effect in the intro, the drums at a pace only Taylor Hawkins could later come close to replicating, everything on this track is turned up to 11. It builds into one of best songs of the decade, and with over a billion streams on Spotify this is the signature Foo Fighters song for the ages.
It’s a really special moment when someone turns exceptional talent and tragedy into something millions can enjoy forever, that is Dave Grohl with Foo Fighters. More specifically, this album was him taking everything he can do musically and putting it on a canvas. There is a level of polish on this record that would serve as the blueprint for most of the rest of the band’s existence in the spotlight. Dave Grohl is a hero in my book, though I wouldn’t say ordinary.
It’s a Wonderful Life of Albums: Odelay
There are certainly sounds on this 1996 classic I hadn’t heard put together before, like turntables and harmonicas. Synthesizers abound and there is a groove a minute. It kicks off with that sacrilegious guitar riff about the devil and never looks back. I feel like I could end it there and it would be enough justification for you to listen to the album if you haven’t already. Beck invites us to his fifth studio album Odelay with, “Devil’s Haircut” and the journey is better than any need for a destination.
Odelay ranks at #306 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 Albums list and has sold 2.3 million copies in the United States, solidifying Beck’s presence on the music scene. I don’t think I’ve ever changed the radio station when the electric piano kicks in on “Where It’s At” and signals five minutes where I can just sway and relax. I haven’t seen Beck live, but I can always get behind the anthemic chorus lyric, “Where it’s at, I’ve got two turn tables and a microphone.” I am always down for that kind of an amateur show in my head.
“Lord Only Knows” gets back into a more traditional acoustic arrangement echoing a bit from 1994’s Mellow Gold that included the breakout hit, “Loser” and received substantial airplay, peaking the album at #13 on the Billboard charts. Beck’s folk background shines on this one with his lovably apathetic finish to the warm chorus, “So don’t, you hesitate to give yourself a call, letcha’ bottom dollars fall, throwin’ your two-bit cares down the drain.”
I’ve always thought that “The New Pollution” would sound perfect in an Austin Powers movie, the driving bluesy British groove hooks you almost immediately. It’s like you can see a cool-looking James Bond caricature moving in slow motion, suavely doing secret agent moves in a montage that will eventually end up coming together with impeccable timing. It also starts with the great line, “She’s got a cigarette on each arm” setting you up for the toxic landscape that she exists in.
In a word, this album has relentless flow. Beck makes some interesting choices and takes some chances, like opening, “Lord Only Knows” with an unintelligible scream, seemingly unrelated to the rest of the song. This derailed an early listen for a friend of mine when I first started loving this album, but they always come around. The listener is introduced to something new with each passing minute on this one, and almost all of it works to perfection. This is one to tune out the world to, it sounds just as great as it used to, and I might need to find a sixer of that, “jigsaw jazz” he mentioned and have another listen.
It’s a Wonderful life of Albums: (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? is a four course album prepared by master chef Noel Gallagher and served to you whether you like it or not by his brother Liam. From the opening chords of, “Hello” to the waves on the beach that introduce, “Champagne Supernova” this album renders the next button obsolete. Ranked #378 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums list and selling over 22 million copies worldwide, Morning Glory is a British rock behemoth.
The sibling rivalry and MTV Unplugged heckling incident overshadowed two Billboard Alternative #1 hits in the United States, but who could forget the songs? “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” took the band to another level in terms of worldwide success, on top of the #1 UK singles, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Some Might Say.” It’s anecdotal, but a friend once told me they met a street musician in Mexico who learned English so they could play, “Wonderwall.”
This sounds entirely plausible to me, because everyone I knew who had an acoustic guitar learned this song at some point. The cynic in me wants to address that cliche and my disdain for it, but in my heart I know that it was just too irresistible to learn the love song of the decade. “I don’t believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now” hits you like a Mike Tyson opening salvo in a song with an acoustic arrangement that is more recognizable than the band itself. Noel Gallagher stopped owning this one as soon as the ink left his pen, it belongs to humanity.
With, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova” you have two of the most enjoyable sing-along songs of my lifetime. I was lucky enough to have a group of friends that cooperated in forming an Oasis singing circle during late nights in college, and how could you not? The nonsensical chorus of, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” is often what Noel chooses to close with, for good reason, the crowd is always with him. As for, “Champagne Supernova” I don’t care if you’ve never done a drug in your whole life, we still wanna know, “Where were you while we were getting high?”
In December of 2008 I saw Oasis in Detroit with my dad, and it will be a lifelong memory. The band split up the following summer, and for over a decade most thought they would never tour again. Last year however they announced a 2025 reunion world tour, I should have known. I say that because my dad likes to tell the story of seeing The Rolling Stones on their, “last tour” in 1981. Since The Rolling Stones tour from last year was one of the most lucrative, it gives me hope for Oasis. This is because I know Noel and Liam still have something other than a mother in common: it’s the tunes, man.
It’s a Wonderful Life of Albums: Make Yourself
Whatever tomorrow brings, I will always love this album. Incubus broke into the mainstream with their second studio album Make Yourself, which I find most interesting because of the albums that came before and after. It was recorded after a tour in support of their debut, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and marks a transition between that harder sound featured at Ozzfest to the surf rock ambiance of Morning View. It’s also a 1990s alternative rock classic with three tent-pole singles that make the speaker dance.
On paper, Incubus makes no sense. The construction of the band was not in the mold of many groups at the time in several ways. They are an alt-rock band with a DJ, people used to talk down on them for that in some music circles but it never bothered me. Gen-Z listeners might see old videos of him on stage and think, what a pioneer, look at him playing the laptop acoustically! In addition, they only had one guitarist for all these loud, wall of sound choruses: Mike Einziger. The man has never met an effect pedal he didn’t like, and you will hear some unfamiliar sounds on Incubus albums, queued by his right foot stomping.
While the previous album was successful in its own right, this one had, “Drive” on it. A song that should be on any nineties playlist worth its salt, and a big part of why the fan base for the band became divided. They definitely went in a more radio friendly direction with this album, but I would never use the term, “sell-out.” The album sold over two million copies, and it wasn’t because they were, to quote Office Space from the same year, “No talent ass-clowns.” You certainly can’t say that about the lyrics of the song or Brandon Boyd’s vocals, I don’t want to imagine anyone else singing it.
As for the other two singles, “Pardon Me” sounds great whether they play it in an acoustic or electric arrangement, from the opening phaser guitar to the line, “I’ve had enough of the world and it’s peoples’ mindless games.” In sticking with that transition theme of the album, “Stellar” is a bit quieter and more melodic. The louder chorus repeatedly insists loving disbelief, “How do you do it? Make me feel like I do.” Boyd’s voice really shines on this one, something the band leaned into throughout their career.
While there is some immaturity in this sophomore effort, it doesn’t detract from a great set of songs. Incubus has adapted their sound over their decades as a group, and this record was the one that paved the way for a lot of great music that came after. The mistake people make with Incubus is trying to figure out what to label them as, so just don’t. Enjoy Incubus for all the joyful noise they make on this one, with open arms and open ears.
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