TINLTL is my go-to on the rare occasion I choose to listen to them. There's an uncontrived lightness to that album that I don't think they've hit too many times since.
It was the band at their most pared down, just recording in a house and it feels like it. After that, there was the drama with OBO, Taylor’s overdose and the band blowing all the way up.
Yes, that “lightness” you talk about is what sets this album apart from the others. The middle part where it’s got Generator, Aurora, Next Year, and some others is bliss. I really get moved or some shit by the lyrics and spacey feeling. I don’t even know how to describe it. I love how they get their two heavy tracks out of the way and the rest is almost like a pop rock album.
My rankings of the Foo Fighters Discography 1. The Colour And The Shape 2. Wasting Light 3. There's Nothing Left To Lose 4. But Here We Are 5. In Your Honor 6. Foo Fighters 7. One By One 8. Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace 9. Medicine at Midnight 10. Sonic Highways 11. Concrete and Gold
When I was 15 and that album came out, I was so pissed that it wasn’t as rockin’ as TCATS. Eventually came around to how laid back it is. It’s like the Foo Fighters’ equivalent of Green Day’s “Warning” - a singular album in their discography. Went total arena rock after.
1. TCATS 2. S/T 3. TINLTL 4. Wasting Light 5. But Here We Are 6. One By One 7. In Your Honor 8. ESP&G 9. M@M 10. C&G 11. SH
There is Nothing Left to Lose S/T The Colour and the Shape In Your Honor Sonic Highways ...But Here We Are Wasting Light Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace Concrete and Gold Medicine at Midnight One By One ...something like that. the One By One singles are top-tier but the rest of that album is a snooze-fest.
OK, FINE. There Is Nothing Left to Lose The Colour and the Shape Wasting Light But Here We Are In Your Honor Self-Titled Echoes Medicine at Midnight One by One Sonic Highways Concrete & Gold
1. TCATS 2. TINLTL 3. Wasting Light gap 4. S/T 5. But Here We Are gap 6. One By One 7. In Your Honor 8. ESP&G gap 9. M@M 10. C&G 11. SH
As someone who got to experience every release in real time (got the self titled right around when it was released in '95) The Colour & The SHape There Is Nothing Left To Lose Foo Fighters Wasting Light But Here We Are One By One Medicine At Midnight In Your Honor Sonic Highways Echoes, Silence Patience and Grace Concrete And Gold
My contrarian Foo Fighters opinion is that I really like One By One and feel that it was the last of any Foo Fighters album to have a distinct personality. Everything after, while sometimes song-for-song better that OBO, just feels like them refueling for world tours.
Most of y'alls rankings look about right to me, although I think you all have But Here We Are a bit too high
But Here We Are is the only one that, to me, feels like more than the sum of its parts. Hence the high ranking.
The Colour and the Shape There Is Nothing Left to Lose Self Titled Wasting Light But Here We Are Echoes One by One In Your Honor Medicine at Midnight Sonic Highways Concrete & Gold
In Your Honor is a weird one where most of the rock songs don’t rock as much as they should and most of the acoustic songs are just kind of boring. There’s a solid 12-track album on there somewhere.