Pitchfork

The melodious grunge of the Foo Fighters' debut record stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. I remember being caught off guard by "This Is a Call" on a local radio station, not even aware of who it was by. The record itself was even better than the single-- the lovesick ballad "Big Me", the full-throttle buzz of "I'll Stick Around", and to my surprise at the time, the charming "For All the Cows".

So how is it that The Colour & The Shape sounds like some other band? Some band that memorized that first album, cut a demo for Capitol and signed a deal to record an overcommercialized imposter lacking all the melody and charisma. This album is slicker than the debut, the emphasis on gloss rather than chords. It's also louder, which is either your thing or it's not. I could go either way, but in the volume they've lost the heart. Which, by the way, is a real achievement when you've got half of Sunny Day Real Estate backing you.

Worse, most of these songs sound virtually identical-- and the three that don't stand out on virtue of melody alone. "Hey, Johnny Park!" does veer from the overdriven digi-guitar, but in the worst possible way: it sounds like the Goo Goo Dolls. The Goo Goo Dolls, you guys! Should I weep or just punch somebody?

Okay, let's talk about the three worthwhile tracks: "Monkey Wrench", for one, isn't that awful, though I could do without the moronic chorus, and "Up in Arms" is reasonably cool, too. But the clear winner-- and by some distance-- is the rich, serene pop brilliance of "Everlong", with its loud/soft dynamics, Pat Smear's blazing guitar, and the tremendous lyrics: "And I wonder/ When I sing along with you/ If everything could ever feel this real forever/ If anything could ever be this good again." It's just that songs like the opening track, "Doll", and the so-boring "Wind Up" are such complete and total bummers. How could a band so great go downhill so quickly?

Maybe it's just me outgrowing this kind of thing, but Dave Grohl's music seems sorely dated. What I'm saying is: The Colour & The Shape is like opening a time capsule from 1992 and realizing that the things you thought would transcend time had just become a bad joke.