Foo Fighters – Concrete And Gold

Not my favorite Foo Fighters Album but it definitely does grow on you.

There’s some really good songs and some really forgettable songs on this record….

As far as the pressing itself it’s above average. Minor surface noise and somewhat flat dynamics.

Overall average to BARELY above average

Concrete and Gold has been described by the band as an album where "hard rock extremes and pop sensibilities collide. The album is said to be reflective of the future of the United States against the backdrop of the 2016 Election. The band recruited pop producer Greg Kurstin, who had never worked on a rock album before. Originally, Grohl had wanted to record the album in front of 20,000 fans at the Hollywood Bowl, but upon learning that PJ Harvey already did that, he lost interest in the idea. It has been said that Concrete and Gold is the Foo Fighters trying not to sound like the Foo Fighters, and with few exceptions, that is true. The album lacks a cohesiveness of previous releases, and sounds almost like an afterthought. It is truly one of the Foos weakest efforts, whether that was due to Grohl's extended musical break after his injury, the state of the world, or just disinterest. The album is an altogether forgettable collection of ideas that would be better suited as b-sides, or just dropped completely. Sunday Rain, a collaboration with Paul McCartney and sung by the late Taylor Hawkins, is a standout, as is Run and to some extent Sky, but otherwise, this is not a record that you will be re-visiting very often. Sonically, the record is just as boring. The mix is flat, lacks dynamics, and is just sort of there. It's a clean presentation, but just feels like its lacking something, just like the songs themselves.

The digital version doesn't do this album justice. My copy was clean flat and sounds very dynamic. Not their best album but a solid effort

It's not Wasting Light, it lacks that certain magic. But a very solid vinyl album. There's something great about ALL of the Foo Fighter albums I own: they're all very quiet, with almost zero static at (even in my dry climate).

I'm experiencing some surface noise, but also bought on clearance from Target so it's no that big of a loss. Foo's really need to simplify again as there is sometimes too much going on in the songs that it's hard to connect to the music in the way that we(fans) connected to the first 4 albums.

This particular pressing sounds very very thin on my setup. Feels like there is no depth to the music whatsoever. It's quite disappointing, but considering i bought it on clearance at target for half price, i guess it wasn't that big of a loss. Whomever mastered this particular pressing did not do a very good job.

Not Foo Fighters best album but after a few listens it starts to sound quite good. I do feel however that this is Foo Fighters trying not to sound too much like themselves. For me personally this sounds like foo fighters trying to replicate the sounds of bands such as Beatles, Queen, Pink Floyd etc and failing to bring all the influences in an exceptional way. It's almost the sound of a band trying too hard to sound great when all they really need to do is just be the Foo Fighters in order to do so.

Concrete and Gold does have some great moments and others which leave you slightly underwhelmed and feeling it's all a bit average.

The album is generally produced to the point it almost has too much going on at times and I would recommend listening to it on a descent system to get the best from it. Overall I do like this album but it's definitely not a 5 star album.

The pressing is good. No distortion or surface noise.

This pressing is well done.

Is anyone experiencing repeating/looping on some of the sides (B C)? I'm going to test on another turntable once I can hook it up to a receiver, but I haven't had any problems playing other records on my Crosley player before.

What's about the Black In Black edition? They sold them in their London-based Pub

I can't decide if I like this album or not. The first few listens were from a digital source and I wasn't impressed, but when I played the record for the first time at volume some of the greater moments on the album started to shine. Meh, still I'm I'm unconvinced though. There are some cool moments and good songs, but it's no Wasting Light. I respect the band for what they're attempting to do, but I have one nagging thought, "Are they trying too hard?"
Nice pressing though! If you're going to buy this album on vinyl, buy this one.