I really like that fact there are Dave Grohl’s out there.  I mean, here’s this guy who played in a band where his contribution was overwhelming overshadowed by an icon in Kurt Cobain but, lo and behold, he’s managed to extend his career beyond that.  Heck, the guy even scored some Grammys (but let’s not hold THAT against him).  Throughout all this, he’s become indie-rock’s quintessential journeyman – popping up here and there to play drums with this band, sing backups with that band and so on.  I mean, the guy even popped into a Cheap Trick show I was at in Toronto to sing along on “Surrender”.  Busy busy.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t necessarily translate into great records but it also doesn’t translate into bad ones.  That’s the Foo Fighters – they’re right down a middle road where they’re not doing anything bad, really, but they also fall below the higher echelon sometimes attached to them.  That accounts for what makes In Your Honor both “good” in parts, and “not so good” in others.

This 2-disc set is divided into loud-and-crazy Foo Fighters and kickin’-back Foo Fighters.  Beginning with the guitars turned up to 11, two things become pretty clear on In Your Honor – Grohl has a profound love for power pop and, in trying to achieve the perfect verse-chorus-verse, he ends up re-writing the same few songs over and over.  It’s hard to pick out the point where “Hell” ends and “The Last Song” begins for example.  The guitars kick out similar punchy hooks throughout and they will find their way into your pop-lovin’ psyche (whether or not you admit to having one), but only for a pretty short stay.

Disc 2, the quieter side, has its own problems.  There’s not much in the way of a musical virtuosity normally needed to make the more stripped-down sound work.  Normally, you may not necessarily look for that, but this is a “band” after all.  Songs like “Over And Out” (complete with strings) and “What If I Do” suffer from the same repeated sense of “sameness” as the heavier material.  The most interesting turn here is with “Virginia Moon” featuring Norah Jones on vocals and piano and making the most of a cool bossa-nova-groova.  Grohl gets some hero worship thrown in as well, with John Paul Jones making an appearance on a couple of tracks but, ultimately, we don’t really have anything of note on “Miracle” and “Another Round”.  While disc 1 may not have an extended longevity in you CD player, you might find that you’ll give up on disc 1 before it’s done.

Although I didn’t make it sound like it, there is enough merit on In Your Honor to prevent it from being “bad” music.  The band can indeed play, and when Grohl has something to sing about or shout about he can really convince.  Grohl has stated that this is the band’s “statement”, even alluding to Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti as a band’s defining moment.

Well, I suppose this could be the CD that sums up Foo Fighters…Physical Graffiti it ain’t.