sound city
Sound City – The Album

Back in January at the Sundance Film Festival, Rock god [and one of my man crushes] Dave Grohl released his new documentary “Sound City” about the famed and now closed recording studio. The movie is amazing and it’s a great homage to a place where legends like Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young and Tom Petty recorded landmark albums at on analog tape and the Neve sound board.

That board was moved to Mr. Grohl’s Studio 606 and some of these artists got together with Dave to write and record some new music. This would be the soundtrack to the movie.

Track Listing

  1. “Heaven and All”
  2. “Time Slowing Down”
  3. “You Can’t Fix This”
  4. “The Man That Never Was”
  5. “Your Wife Is Calling”
  6. “From Can to Can’t”
  7. “Centipede”
  8. “A Trick With No Sleeve”
  9. “Cut Me Some Slack”
  10. “If I Were Me”
  11. “Mantra”

First off, let me say that I do like this album. While some songs are not ultimate favorites, it’s a good play on each track. The flow of the album is familiar to this Grohl fan. Given that said, there are four songs that stand out as ultra stellar for these rock n roll ears. From the least ultra to the most ultra, in that order.

  • “Heaven and All”
  • – This is Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with just a hint of Grohl. Rocking, slow down for a bit then more rocking.

  • “Cut Me Some Slack”
  • – We all heard this song on the 12-12-12 benefit and the studio version is heads better than the live version. Macca and the three surviving members of Nirvana [yes, I am counting Pat Smear] do well in the studio on this track.

  • “You Can’t Fix This”
  • – Stevie Nicks takes over lead vocals in this brazen and soulful performance that is just full of big sound with that twinge of classic rock.

  • “Mantra”
  • – The final track is the best, says this fan of Trent Reznor. Oh wait, I spoiled the ending surprise. Dave Grohl is on this song too, but holy fucking shit… Trent Reznor takes this song and turns it up to NIN.

    The remaining tracks all have more of a Foo Fighters sound to them, with so many other players and stars like half of Rage Against The Machine [Tim and Brad] and a remarkable lead performance by Rick Springfield.

    Overall, it’s a nice project that cranked out 11 new songs of greatness to keep rock n roll alive that much longer into the 21st century.