Foo Fighters - Medium Rare
http://www.discogs.com/Foo-Fighters-Medium-Rare/release/2830554
Raw beef. Nothin' better. This album was released on Record Store Day 2011. The Foo do an impressive array of cover songs. The packaging on this album is really well done. The front of the jacket features a t-bone or porterhouse (What is the difference exactly?). Complete with a label displaying weight, price and an amended song listing. The label appears to have been cleaned of blood drippings and denatured protein.
The back of the jacket continues this motif, a butcher's receipt of the song listing complete with a bloody thumbprint. It also came with the record slipped into a plain white sleeve, but also had a custom sleeve included (I love when they do this and loath when the custom sleeves splits during shipping). The labels are custom and faux stamped with cuts of beef.
There are some really great covers on this album, beginning with the first track, Band on the Run - Wings. It starts out as a pretty typical cover version, very similar to the original. Dave kicks in with nice heavy distorted guitar after the first section. They really fucking rock this one out. They also really jam out a cover of Bad Reputation - Thin Lizzy. This one is pretty straight forward, not too much of a departure form the original. Side A concludes with a cover of Darling Nikki - Prince. I really love the original, and this cover does it justice - Foo Fighter style. Dave screams his gat damt lungs, it is pretty painful, almost screamo. I still really dig this track, probably the highlight of the album.
Side 2 begins with Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army - Down in the Park. It is entirely unexpected, but just sounds... right? It is a good lead in to a somewhat unorthodox selection of covers on Side B other than a somewhat obligatory Floyd cover, Have a Cigar. Gerry Rafferty, Husker Du (I got no umlats here bros), The Ramones, Angry Samoans and The Zombies round out side 2.
The Gerry Rafferty cover starts out pretty cheesy, kind of hard not too with that opening lick. The verses are done well and keep it interesting. Danny Says - The Ramones is also done well, but lacks the snottiness of the original, it is a little sickly sweet.
Have a Cigar is is pretty fucking kicking, Dave does starts out with sort of strained impersonation of Roy Harper that slowly transforms into something entirely different. Using some interesting vocal effects, heavily distorted guitar and some unexpected tempo changes they accomplish remarkable interpretation of this song. Probably my favorite cover of Have a Cigar.
The Husker Du (fuck you umlat, I'm not even going to try to find you) cover sounds recorded to live. Dave's vocals are drenched in emotion and really modernize the apathetic loneliness of the original's. I feel this track is somewhat marred by the crowd noise, but I forgive that.
I hadn't heard of the Angry Samoans until listening top this album, but they must be pretty punky. The track is under a minute long, which is about all I can take. I'm just not a punk guy, my bad. I can tolerate it occasionally, and I do appreciate its influence on modern music, but it's just not my thing.
The album concludes with This Will Be Our Year - The Zombies. I really like The Zombies, one of my favorite of the early British Invasion. The cover is done acceptably, nothing to write home about. I do think it was a good choice to end the album on.
This record is a little pricey, not too bad but not really worth the chuck of change unless you are a huge fan. At original retail, I would say it was worth it ($15 or so) but now it is $40 or $50 so...
Just torrent it.
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