Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

Expectations in the rock fraternity surrounding Wasting Light, the seventh long player from Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters, have been reaching fever pitch. With Nevermind-man Butch Vig twiddling the knobs and a back-to-basics recording technique that saw the band recording the entire thing in Grohl’s garage on analogue tape, fans were hoping for some of the brilliance that made the Foos' debut stand out back in ’95.

Those fans won’t be disappointed, but maybe they won’t be 100 percent satisfied either. There’s a good number of quality tunes here – most notably White Limo, belting out excellent lo-fi screaming and drifting melodies; Rope marries a quintessential groove with an understated vocal turn from the frontman, while These Days showcases some of the emotional staying power that Grohl’s throwaway lyrics have sometimes lacked.

Elsewhere it's journeyman rock fare, as if even in the garage Grohl can’t quite get the glare of the stadium lights out of his eyes. At their 80s commercial peak, critics said The Clash were a garage band playing stadiums; the Foo Fighters are the opposite – a stadium band, slumming it in the garage like when they were kids, but not quite reconnecting in the way they probably hoped. [PJ Meiklem]