In Your Honor

Disc 1
1	In Your Honor 3:50
2	No Way Back 3:16
3	Best of You 4:15
4	Doa 4:12
5	Hell 1:57
6	The Last Song 3:19
7	Free Me 4:38
8	Resolve 4:48
9	The Deepest Blues Are Black 3:58
10	End Over End 8:24
Disc 2
1	Still 5:13
2	What If I Do? 5:02
3	Miracle 3:29
4	Another Round 4:25
5	Friend of a Friend 3:13
6	Over and Out 5:16
7	On the Mend 4:31
8	Virginia Moon 3:49
9	Cold Day in the Sun 3:20
10	Razor 7:25

Barnes & Noble

Since he started the Foo Fighters a decade or so back, Dave Grohl has approached fans with one hand clenched into a power-rock fist and the other proffering a flower of sprightly pop. He and his bandmates perfect that approach on this two-disc offering, which siphons Grohl's dual impulses into two separate discs. Disc 1 sets knobs to 11, from the eerie swoops of the trebly title track right on through to the end. Rather than by-the-book metal -- something Grohl got out of his system on his Probot side project -- the Foos delve into dark, gristly space-rock on tunes like the Hawkwind-styled "D.O.A." and the over-the-top, Rush-meets-Devo freakout "Free Me." It's the mellowed-out, '70s-styled second disc, however, that offers the most surprises -- thanks in large part to a far-flung assortment of guest stars. While none of them out-and-out steals the show from Grohl and company, it's impossible to understate the effect of hearing John Paul Jones pluck out a rustic mandolin line on "Another Round," one of a few tunes redolent of immersion in Led Zeppelin III. Jones pops up again -- this time behind the piano -- on the stately "Miracle," but that song gains most of its buoyancy from Petra Haden's violin playing. The most intriguing collaboration of all is the tune that bears the least resemblance to ghosts of Foos past -- a bossa nova–tinged slink entitled "Virginia Moon," on which Norah Jones beckons the band to lounge territory with sexy aplomb. As with most ambitiously scaled sets, In Your Honor is plumped up a bit, but there's enough meat on its bones to satisfy virtually any Foophile's craving. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Although it was as big a commercial success as Foo Fighters' three previous albums, 2002's One by One seemed flat and tired, as if their leader, Dave Grohl, had reached a songwriting slump or as if the band had exhausted its possibilities. The time was ripe for a reinvention, or at least a risk, and the group responded accordingly with In Your Honor, a double album containing one disc of hard rock and one disc of acoustic material. Splitting music along such a clear dividing line is dangerous: since each disc explores one specific territory, each could sound monochromatic, but instead of falling into this trap, {|Foo Fighters|} benefit from these self-imposed constraints. Both the rock and acoustic albums have their own distinct character -- more so than, say, Guns N' Roses' separately released Use Your Illusion's, which felt like one gigantic sprawling album -- and while each is recognizably the work of Foo Fighters, neither feels as formulaic as One by One. While the acoustic album would seem to be the biggest break from tradition -- not only does it have a hushed, subdued mood, but it's filled with guest stars, including several appearances by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, a duet with Norah Jones on "Virginia Moon," and Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme returning the favor of Grohl's drumming on Songs for the Deaf by laying down guitar on "Razor" -- both albums showcase a reinvigorated band that is eager to stretch out and experiment. As such, the rock album not only hits much harder than One by One -- arguably, it rocks harder than any of their other records -- but its has fluid musicality and a new found sense of drama that gives it a nearly cinematic sense of scope. Naturally, the acoustic album is quieter, but it also has a similar flow and easy grace that makes it a fitting complement to the harder first record. Previous Foo Fighters albums have had the problem of being a little inconsistent, both in terms of material and in terms of maintaining a consistent sound, but here, perhaps because of the focused direction of the two albums, they not only sustain a consistent mood on each record, but the songs on each are strong, hooky, and memorable. Which means that In Your Honor pulls off a neat trick: by stretching out, Foo Fighters not only have expanded their sound, but they've found the core of why their music works, so they now have better songs and deliver them more effectively. It makes for certainly their most consistent, arguably their best album yet. [In Your Honor was released in two editions: a copy-protected CD that will not play on your computer without installing a separate media player, and a DualDisc, containing a CD on one side and a DVD on the other. The DualDisc has a 5.1 mix version of the album on the DVD side, along with a very informative and entertaining documentary about the making of the album, tracing it from pre-production through the construction of a studio and to the recording of the two albums. The CD side of the DualDisc may not register on some computers.] Stephen Thomas Erlewine