Түс және форма: Foo Fighters тобының альбомы

1997 studio album by Foo Fighters

The Colour and the Shape is the second studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on May 20, 1997, by Roswell and Capitol Records. It was the first album by the Foo Fighters to be recorded as a full band, as the previous self titled album was both written and recorded entirely by frontman Dave Grohl. The Colour and the Shape is widely considered a defining album of the post grunge genre, with its three singles becoming staples of rock oriented radio in the United States. It was among the highest selling rock albums of 1997 and 1998, and was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards. After the debut became an international success, Grohl recruited guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Nate Mendel, and drummer William Goldsmith to form the band's full lineup. The group convened in the fall of 1996 for pre production on a second album, and brought in Gil Norton as producer to establish a pop sensibility for the tracks. The band strived to create a full fledged rock record, contrary to music press predictions that it would be another grunge offshoot. Primarily inspired by Grohl's divorce from photographer Jennifer Youngblood in 1996, The Colour and the Shape is more lyrically introspective and musically developed than the Foo Fighters' debut. The album's track listing was designed to resemble a therapy session, splitting the album between uptempo tracks and ballads to reflect conflicting emotions. Early sessions at the Bear Creek Studio in Washington went poorly and the band discarded most of those recordings. The band regrouped without Goldsmith in early 1997 to record at Hollywood's Grandmaster Recordings studio, with Grohl sitting in on drums instead. Goldsmith was offended and disgruntled that most of his material had been re recorded, and he left the band shortly thereafter. The singles "Monkey Wrench", "Everlong", and "My Hero" peaked within the top ten of US rock radio charts, and the album charted at number ten on the Billboard 200. The album was also a commercial success on an international level, peaking at number three in the United Kingdom. Critics deemed the album a significant American rock release of its era, and it continues to be viewed as a seminal modern rock album in retrospective assessments. The Colour and the Shape remains the Foo Fighters' biggest seller in the U. S., having sold more than two million copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album was remastered and reissued in 2007 with several bonus tracks for its tenth anniversary. The Colour and the Shape was Foo Fighters' last album to be released and marketed by Capitol Records. After the band, along with their label Roswell Records, signed to RCA Records, its distribution, along with their eponymous debut album, has switched to RCA.

The album was the debut of Foo Fighters as a full band. On the first album under the Foo Fighters name, frontman Dave Grohl had performed and recorded all of the parts by himself, with the exception of one guitar part played by Greg Dulli. The band's original lineup assembled for their exhaustive touring schedule throughout 1995 and 1996, during which the band became an international sensation on the strength of singles "This Is a Call", "I'll Stick Around", and "Big Me". Although the music press generally speculated the band's sophomore record would showcase grunge inspired garage rock, the band's intention was to make a more straightforward rock record. Grohl recruited producer Gil Norton to provide additional pop polish to the material. He especially wanted to hear guitar overdubs and harmonies with significant clarity. Norton was highly demanding of the band's performance, prompting bassist Nate Mendel to practice and improve his musical skill.

Quote box |quoted=true |salign=center|quote=While recording this record two marriages fell apart, we lost a drummer, someone nearly went to jail, and we discovered late in the day that record making is hellishly expensive and best done with a budget prepared beforehand.|source=–Nate Mendel, May 2007 His role in production taught the band the importance of self editing and gave them confidence to see "the larger picture in a song." In February 1997, the band—minus drummer William Goldsmith—relocated to Hollywood's Grandmaster Recorders, which Mendel said was "a small studio that sometimes moonlighted as a porn set, and looked the part." According to Grohl, Goldsmith's drumming had good moments, but his performances mostly did not fit what Grohl had conceived for the drum track, so the frontman decided to redo them himself. Goldsmith even asked if he should go to Los Angeles, but Grohl declined and said he was only performing overdubs. Eventually, Mendel told Goldsmith the situation. Grohl said that he still wanted Goldsmith as a member of the band, despite replacing his tracks, but the disgruntled drummer decided to leave the Foo Fighters instead. After the move to Los Angeles, the album's budget ballooned and deadlines became a more pressing concern. However, the pressure never adversely affected the band members, whose main priorities were to make "music for its own sake [ ] and let the commercial concerns take care of themselves." The group found the phrase arbitrary and hilarious and decided to use it as the title rather than trying to choose a title based on the music's themes or moods. A title track was written and recorded for The Colour and the Shape during the Bear Creek sessions, but like most of the other songs attempted there, it did not reach the album's final track list. Noted as "rawer, noisier and thrashier" than the rest of the songs on the album by Louder Sounds Paul Brannigan, it later became a b side to the album's eventual lead single, "Monkey Wrench". After settling on a track sequence, Grohl was struck by the impression that the album's flow from start to finish resembled a therapy session, moving from fear and anxiety at the start to self assurance and resolve by the end. grunge, and hard rock. Writing in Melody Maker, Victoria Segal said the album was more cohesive than the debut and was unified by a theme of "battered romanticism". The album's track sequence reflects this sentiment, chronicling his change from chaos to newfound happiness. Grohl admitted the lyrics of the previous album had been "obscure" and "nonsense," but Norton challenged Grohl to write lyrics that were more meaningful and comprehensible. Regarding "Monkey Wrench", Grohl stated that it was "a song about realizing that you are the source of all of the problems in a relationship and you love the other person so much, you want to free them of the problem, which is actually yourself. It was a riff that turned into another riff that turned into another riff and ended up being a nice little power punk song." The song was released as the first single from the album in 1997. The lyrics to "Hey, Johnny Park!" song follow a series of different themes ("about 15 different things", according to Grohl). Johnny Park is the name of one of Grohl's childhood friends; he noted, "we were like brothers from the age of 5 to 12" and that he named the song after Park in hopes that he might restore contact with him. Grohl described "Up in Arms" as "A typical love song. It's almost like a Knack song, just a simple pop song." "My Hero" criticizes idolatry and instead extolls friends who are ordinary heroes, which has been considered a statement on fame and partially inspired by former bandmate Kurt Cobain. In Grohl's own words, the song is, "(his) way of saying that when I was young, I didn't have big rock heroes, I didn't want to grow up and be some big sporting hero. My heroes were ordinary people and the people that I have a lot of respect for are just solid everyday people—people you can rely on." The lyrics of "February Stars" are said to be about "hanging on by the tips of your fingers and hoping you don't slip and fall." "Everlong" was written when the band took a break from recording after the initial sessions. Grohl reworked "Everlong" by himself at his home in Virginia. It is considered to be one of the best songs by the band and is highly acclaimed. In 2000, David Letterman revealed that it is his favorite song. "Walking After You" was written and recorded by Grohl on his own in a studio in Washington. This version appears on the album. The band would later re record the song with all the members for The X Files soundtrack, and this version was released as a single. Grohl stated that "Walking After You" was "an emotional, sappy song about getting dumped." Smear remained with the group until September 4, the night of the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. After playing "Monkey Wrench" during the "pregame show" to the event, Smear announced that it was the final song he would play with the band, introducing Franz Stahl as the band's new guitarist before the band began playing "Everlong" later that evening. "My Hero" was released as the third and final single from the album in 1998. All three singles peaked inside the top ten of the Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock charts. To commemorate The Colour and the Shapes tenth anniversary, it was reissued on July 10, 2007, with six additional tracks: the B sides "Dear Lover" and "The Colour and the Shape", plus covers of Killing Joke's "Requiem", Gary Numan's "Down in the Park", Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" and Vanity 6's "Drive Me Wild".

Critical response to the record was generally positive. Victoria Segal at the UK based Melody Maker viewed The Colour and the Shape as a significant American rock release, writing that it was "a great rock album at a time when great rock albums are viewed with increasing suspicion." Reviewing the tenth anniversary re release, Pitchfork was mildly more favorable. Scoring the release a 5.8 out of 10, Stuart Berman stated, "The Colour and the Shape presented a true picture of the kind of group Grohl wanted to be in, had he not been sidetracked by the job of drumming for the biggest American rock band of the early 1990s [ ] that band would turn out to be much more formulaically mall punk than the Foos' torn 'n' frayed debut suggested." PopMatters Mike Schiller reviewed the re release with the opposite opinion, citing the self titled record's single "I'll Stick Around" as an example of "Grohl's strikingly non aggressive (read: bland) vocal style" from the 1995 album; he then described "Monkey Wrench" as proof that Grohl "knew how to rock out" by comparison. In 2020, Metal Hammer included it in their list of the top 10 albums of 1997.

The Colour and the Shape peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200, up from a peak of 23 for the 1995 self titled debut. It also managed to reach the top ten in Australia, Canada, Greece, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The album has also been certified Platinum in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Credits adapted from AllMusic.