The new album by Foo Fighters entitled “Medicine At Midnight” is a doozy. Heavy moments abound while leaving ample room for something new both for the band and their longtime listeners. Nuanced new originals shed a different side of the band.
Whereas they demonstrated harmonized heaviness on their previous album “Concrete And Gold,” the Foos put their MOR side to the fore here.
A fine example is opening track “Making Fire” in which they demonstrate some tasty pop tinged melodies via their “na-na-na-na” choruses courtesy of Grohl’s teenage daughter Violet.
They put on a driving dance beat on “Cloudspotter,” and some Bowie-esque ravings on “Medicine At Midnight.”
Even the guitar solo on said track echo that of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s tone on Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” An affectionate nod to those late greats no doubt.
Acoustic guitars and strings open “Waiting On A War” that eventually builds up to the usual arena-sized rock band sound of the Foos one-third of the way of the song.
And there’s more of that no-nonsense rocking from Grohl, guitarists Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, bassist Nate Mendell, keyboardist Rami Jaffee and drummer Taylor Hawkins on the overdriven scratch of guitars on “Holding Poison,” thumping anti-war sentiments on “No Son Of Mine,” and the band’s rhythmic play on “Shame Shame” -- the attack on the drums (and arrangement) on the last somehow recall Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire.”
But it’s on fine ballad “Chasing Birds” that we see a really different side of the Foos. Thanks to the synths and keyboard skills of Jaffee and producer Greg Kurstin, the Foos has another mode so to speak other than the default full-on rock. The album ends with anthemic rocker “Love Dies Young.”
And what a feat by the Foo Fighters for being all over TV, social media and online programs as they promote “Medicine At Midnight.” From Howard Stern, to Fallon, "Saturday Night Live," to an Apple Music hits program, to their own Foo Fighters Radio on Sirius XM and every other show that matter, the Foos are on it to spread the word of “Medicine At Midnight.”
Meanwhile, Dua Lipa releases a new track entitled “We’re Good” as part of the “Moonlight Edition” of her most recent album “Future Nostalgia.”
Love takes a beating on said song, and judging by the quirky, pro-sea creature music video, a crustacean will too.
On said video, Dua Lipa is the songbird on a 1920’s-style luxury restaurant on a cruise ship singing about a clean break from a relationship. The video then turns to the perspective of a pair of lobsters.
As fate would have it, the crustaceans were torn apart when one of them was helplessly picked from the aquarium and unceremoniously dumped into a pot and cooked for the enjoyment of the restaurant patrons.
You could almost feel for the guy, er, crustacean when he/it saw his partner served and eaten. Our intrepid crustacean would have met the same fate too if not for a stroke of luck (for him/it).
Turns out said cruise ship was a proverbial Titanic. And guess who survived as he swam underneath the waves away from the sinking ship?
Dua Lipa feels the same way too. Relationship disaster strikes but survival after is key. As she sings “not gonna judge you when you’re with somebody else / as long as you swear you won’t be pissed when I do it myself / let’s end it like we should and say we’re good.”