Sonic Highways
| Foo Fighters
Sonic Highways
Sonic Highways is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Foo Fighters. It was produced by Butch Vig and was released on November 10, 2014, on RCA Records. In writing the album's eight songs, singer and guitarist Dave Grohl traveled to eight cities across the United States to conduct interviews with musicians, recording engineers, record producers, and other individuals discussing each city's musical history, which he used as inspiration for the songs' lyrics. The band and Vig then traveled to a different recording location in each city to record the songs. Each track features contributions from one or more musicians with ties to that city's musical history. The process was filmed for a companion television series, Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways, which was broadcast on HBO in the months surrounding the album's release-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
It’s hard to distinguish one Foo Fighters album from another
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Consequence of Sound
Foo Fighters wanted to make things new again, but something was lost along the way — their identity.
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NME
They’ve done the most classic rock thing imaginable, recording each track in a different American city,
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Spin
The resulting album is surprisingly deft and engaging.
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Sputnik Music
The Eccentricities and Mannerisms of American Music.
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All Music
They nevertheless know how to make this familiar journey pleasurable
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Music OHM
still capable of chucking out the odd thrilling track.
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Liveforlivemusic
After twenty years the Foo Fighters have demonstrated that have plenty of talent and work ethic going for them.
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Cryptic Rock
bravery and ingenuity
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Digital Spy
But hey, if what you want is more of the same - well, here it is.
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Telegraph UK
The lyrics cleverly incorporate words and ideas from each programme
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The Gaurdian
Diversity of American rock music lost out to the trademark, blustery Foo Fighters sound.
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Clash
The sound of a band stuck on rewind…
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Pop Culture Beast
Utilizing talent and emulating the sound of each city, the Foo Fighters created a sonic history book of music in America.
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The Sound Board
Another highly credible entry to the Foo Fighters discography.
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Bearded Gentleman Music
Rock is alive and well my friends. Alive and well.
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Chicago Tribune
Doesn't lead to anywhere new
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The National A&E
It does display their genuine passion for America’s great rock tradition – and that is certainly something worth saluting.
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Paste Magazine
Demands respect for its impressive collaborations and creative conceptualization and production.
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Loudwire
Craftsmanship is top notch and the disc is well worth your time even if the "highways" don't always make the smoothest of transitions.
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Oxygen
Creates a nostalgia factor, with each song being a love letter to the history of music you can assume that this is not a mistake
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Immortal Reviews
A strong one. This album is nothing short of incredible.
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Drowned in Sound
The band are seemingly eternal, free-flowing and somewhat pure but delve too far for too long
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The Line Of Best Fit
We see flashes of their best and thumping evidence of them at their worst
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The Current
The songs patiently move from guitar driven verses to roaring choruses as if nothing was left on the proverbial editing floor
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EW
As solid as Sonic Highways is, the entertaining making-of stories may ultimately overshadow the album.
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Bol
Good singing, Good lyrics, Wonderful songs
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Alternative Nation
Phenomenal production, but this isn’t one of Foo Fighters’ best album
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Humanity Hallows UK
Sonic Highways shows that sticking to the formula is not always a bad thing
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My Music
Dave Grohl's story is music and it is the love of his life. A song that tells a story moves your mind.
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The Mic Magazine
This album has worked its magic
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State in the Real
The Foo Fighters exposed a bit of themselves with this album and it shows in such a good way
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Relix
The achievement here is in the rare ability to showcase the importance of process over product
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Noisiv
Maybe you, just have to grow on this album.
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Pursuit of Dopeness
The idea is fantastic in theory, but as this album demonstrates, the execution of such a concept is a much more difficult feat to conquer.
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The Quietus
As well-produced as the album is, it also has a pure urgency
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Kill The Music
Another solid Foo Fighters album
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Buffablog
Though I typically don’t enjoy the harder-rock genre, this album threw me for a loop.
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Diffuser
Stays markedly true to the Foo Fighters catalog while pushing Grohl’s songwriting into new ground.
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The Rip
Fall flat with latest lyrical foray
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Johnny Markham
They remain one of the most reliable rock bands on the scene today.
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Music Related Junk
Full of crowd-pleasing choruses and even if some were a little clichéd lyrically, they stuck out more than what’s on offer here.
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The Highlander
The album offers the hard rock genre, with a few twists due to the innovative creation process.
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LA Music
The album should stand alone as a solid compilation of songs without the influence of a documentary,
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Forge Today
Fighters are back and brilliant.
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Exclaim
Don't quite live up to the promise of their big riffs and punchy production — they're barely generic Foo Fighters songs.
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College Tribune
The same bloated and self important road that they have for the past twenty years.
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Exposed Magazine
Even though the album might fall flat conceptually, it still rocks
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WIUX
The eight track effort stands together like a strange, ragtag bunch of misfits that have found some sort of cohesiveness.
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The Lantern
Delivers solid ‘dad rock,’ but not Foo Fighters’ best
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Neon Tommy
Unfortunately, despite all this forethought (or maybe overthought), the album is still boring
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Timeout
Hitch a ride on this soulful soundtrack for the rock giants’ twentieth birthday
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Todd Lyden
As a Dave Grohl vanity project, it absolutely NAILS it.
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Speak IMGE
everyone needs to take at least one ride on Sonic Highways.
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Faint Uproar
Such a middle-of-the-road album certainly isn’t a great argument for why we should make room for them.
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Destroy the Cyborg
Overall, another solid effort for the Foo Fighters
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American Songwriter
It really ain’t too early to call it: Foo Fighters forever.
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The Know
The fact that it’s not particularly fun to listen to, though, is a sign that these guys might be out of ideas
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Spectrum Culture
His frequent journeys into nostalgia have trapped him and the band in complete and utter stasis
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Thre Ithican
An unconventional blend of songs from the Foo Fighters, and once again, they do not disappoint.
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Veritas
A good album that suffers from the preceding reputation of a band that everybody expects to be earth-shattering−or rather, earth-shaking.
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Pretty Much Amazing
And if that’s true, American music was all made in the same, very expensive garage. Why not just own it?
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Mountain Times
Another step in the growth of a band that refuses to slow down and settle for mainstream mediocrity.
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The Howler
One of the few long-standing musical greats, despite playing it a little too safe from time to time.
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Strathclyde Telegraph
There’s five good songs on this album
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The Edge
Credit to the history of rock
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Slug Magazine
It’s an amazing album and fine achievement in recording
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The Tribe
The stand out rock band of the last twenty years, and one overly-ambitious, under achieving aural experiment doesn’t change that.
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The Wanderer
Sonic Highways is picking up what has been lost in the past, and helping preserve it for the future.
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Spectrum Pulse
Fighters bring a consistency to their melodic, hard-rock driven sound, and beyond that, I didn't expect to get much more.
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SMH
A perfectly decent album, but a weirder map would have helped.
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The Up Coming
Unsurprisingly another piece of gold to add to their treasure chest of musical success.
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Live in Limbo
some are quite terrific and have already become fast FOO-rites of mine, namely “Outside”, “Congregation”, and “Something from Nothing”
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McGill Tribune
Band begins to explore various new genres and sounds due to what seems to be a forced adaptation to each city, resulting in lackluster tracks.
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Gigslutz
Any of the songs on Sonic Highways could be successful singles
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Ranting About Music
The Foo Fighters tried to make an honest to God album that mostly, kind of works. Just skip the opener.
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The Heavy Press
A must have for anyone who claims to be into modern rock and roll
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Kinston
There’s no need to write Foo Fighters off, but there’s no reason to buy this album either.
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The AU Review
There is nostalgia here, and some of their finest jams in years
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12th Street Beat
Fighters tried something new and put out a solid record that is not their greatest, but will satisfy fans and new listeners alike.
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Colourless Opinions
Sounds distinctively Foo Fighters, no more no less
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WG
A road trip in a record, Foo Fighters prove they can still reinvent themselves after 20 years on the scene.
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Just Musically Speak
Overall, it’s great to see the Foo Fighters back with new inspiration, doing what they love and what they’re so good at
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Qmunicate Magazine
The brilliant and familiar Foo Fighters sound.
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Liverpool Sound and Vision
Whilst there are no rip-roaring, stand out sonic heavens awaiting the listener, there are some moments in which exploration should be sought,
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Sheilds Gazette
As a soundtrack it serves its purpose well, but as the group’s eighth studio album it feels rather inadequate.
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Thr Metropolist
Is this the most interesting Foo Fighters album to date? Undoubtedly. A superb album Grohl and co. should take a bow
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The Pop Break
good rock ‘n’ roll and that’s all we can hope from Foo Fighters.
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Altmusic Box
Some moments on the LP are so incredible they prevent it from being a total flop.
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Alternative Addiction
This definitely qualifies and it’s tremendous.
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Another Line of Thought
Embrace the band’s new direction along with listening for the elements they know and love.
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Evigshed
Musically, it is certainly not impressive but it contains some epic tracks like Subterranean, Outside, The Feast and the Famine
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Metal Misfit
What you’d expect from the Foo Fighters from this point and it stands as a worthy addition to the band’s catalog
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Saad Hameed
It's just downright boring, no matter how much Grohl yells. So disappointing.
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Eric Mac Attacks
There are some really good tracks on it, like “The Feast and the Famine,” which is easily one of my top ten favorite songs
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Spotlight Report
This album is a monster on its own, it’s something fresh and different,
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QRO Magazine
There is no denying that this is still a classic, and enjoyable, rock n’ roll Foos album.
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USM Free Press
An interesting dynamic, one definitely worth adding to your daily dose of music.
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