Customer Reviews
Good not great - By: Marigold, 13 Jun 2008 
I'm glad that I had got The Colour & the Shape & Nothing Left to Lose before I got this. To me is has always sounded rougher & a lot less commercial than the later albums. I like it more now but it took me a while to get into as it isn't as polished & some of the songs sound a bit messy & dated.
One of my favourite songs from this album is `Exhausted'. I thought there was something wrong with my CD when I first heard it! It's made up of static or feedback (something like that I'm not a technical person when it comes to music), & drumming. You really get used to it after a couple of listens & it sounds a lot better but very moody & distant sounding. It was the same with the rest of the album really- at first I wasn't sure, but I like it better now, it just not an album that I play over & over without getting tired of it like The Colour & the Shape.
. - By: Neil, 09 Aug 2007 A lot of reviewers here seem to have come to this first Foo Fighters record quite late on - when there was already an Everlong, a My Hero, a Learn to Fly... well I remember the days when this came out. 1995 it was. Kurt Cobain had not been long gone & Stiltskin were trying to capture the alternate rock crown. All of us that liked Nirvana at the time were well into this. We loved the energy, the shoutyness, the rawness. We didn't think it sounded like Nirvana, & we didn't want it to.
It doesn't really have as many levels as Nirvana's In Utero did, but it does have a little more variety than the two dimensional Nevermind. Anyway, there's no need to compare; they are quite different. This record is more akin to the real underground "grunge" of the late 80s/ early 90s like Mudhoney, than it is to grunge's poster boys.
Before we heard This Is A Call we all knew that Grohl would struggle to shake off Nirvana's overbearing shadow, but somehow he did, & he did it quickly. Unfortunately, as his band got bigger, he seems to have become more & more radio friendly. I respect the Foos, I love Dave Grohl, but I don't want anything to do with anything that came after The Color & the Shape - probably the last great sounding heavy rock record before overproduction took the soul out of the genre. They do a great live show, but their records aren't up to much now.
This first record at least has a uniqueness. Yes, it sounds like demos, the sound is muddy & unpolished - but that's what I like about it. We need records that sound like this, that are unafraid of sounding rough.
As for the songs; highlights for me are This is a Call, Good Grief, & For All the Cows. The others are ok. I think it's more a reflection on my personal taste than on the actual quality of rock. Cos it does rock, & it does so aggressively. The drumsin particular, as you would expect from one of the best drummersin rock, are exemplary.
Now I hope this doesn't seem contradictory, having chided some reviewers who have bought this record late. My issue with them is not with how they rate the quality of the album, but rather with the criteria they have judged it by. I defend this record, but I'm still only going to give it 3 stars. I never really listen to it anymore, but this record has a placein my past. There was a time when this was an important record, & it should be respected for that, not dismissed as a footnotein the history of Foo Fighters.
Grohl's Happy Grunge Album! - By: Lindsey Broad, 27 Nov 2006 
This album beats all the other Foo's albums, I'm sorry but it does. It's so raw & natural, & comes from the heart!. Unlike Nirvana this doesn't put youin a deep depression & wish you were dead, it wants you to jump around, & shout out the lyrics as hard as you fucking can!. In 1995 Grohl was the new boy on the block of music, he was going it alone but he fucking pulled it off with this superb album!. I'm not saying the other five albums suck, I'm just saying this is the best!.
Scortcher Of A Debut - By: RICHARD RAYFIELD, 27 Jan 2006 When I first heard this album I fellin love with it, from the first 2 immediate impact of This Is A Call & I'll Stick Around to the last strains of Exhausted we have Jazz, Punk & Garage rock tracks all over the place. O.k. the production isn't great but originally it's was a batch of demos but to me this only adds to the feel of this fantastic album.
Doesn't even deserve one star... - By: The Fault, 05 Jan 2006 
Until recently I owned every Foo Fighters album apart from their self-titled debut. I finally decided to buy it but really wish I hadn't now. This is one of the worst albums I think I have ever bought (and I've got a few regrettable purchasesin my collection). It has been so poorly produced that it sounds like nothing more than a bunch of demos. None of the songs are memorable.
I've probably bought the albumsin the wrong order - hearing the later & much stronger albums before this has only served to emphasise how poor this debut is. The Foo Fighters made amends with their follow-up at least - Colour & The Shape, one of the very best rock albums money can buy.
