Concrete and Gold
by Foo Fighters
  • Record Label: RCA
  • Release Date: Sep 15, 2017
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 123 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 94 out of 123
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 123
  3. Negative: 7 out of 123
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  1. Musketball
    Sep 15, 2017
    4
    This album is WAY too polished. The band was headed in the right direction when they turned back to tape, this new direction is totally wrong. I love the Foo, I love the music, the attitude and the humanity of it all, but if we're ending up on the glitz bus, I'll get off here thanks. Guys, record the next album live, no overdubs, no fancy trickery. Get the sound right, then record oneThis album is WAY too polished. The band was headed in the right direction when they turned back to tape, this new direction is totally wrong. I love the Foo, I love the music, the attitude and the humanity of it all, but if we're ending up on the glitz bus, I'll get off here thanks. Guys, record the next album live, no overdubs, no fancy trickery. Get the sound right, then record one good take live. Print - master - wrap it in a bow. The only song you can say has real energy is Run, and it sure sounds like you wanted to add another "All My Life" to get the audiences bouncing, and I'm all for that. The clue is there, your live show, and live energy, is where it's at.… Expand
  2. Snowdog84
    Sep 15, 2017
    4
    On one hand I appreciate the fact that the band is enriching its sound and exploring a new genre that integrates influences straight from the roots of American music, on the other hand I miss so much the simplicity and impact of their most known hits. I personally don't like the path this band has taken and I hardly like any of the songs of this new album. In my opinion, since SonicOn one hand I appreciate the fact that the band is enriching its sound and exploring a new genre that integrates influences straight from the roots of American music, on the other hand I miss so much the simplicity and impact of their most known hits. I personally don't like the path this band has taken and I hardly like any of the songs of this new album. In my opinion, since Sonic Highways, they are no longer making post grunge but something different. These new songs surely sound more mature and fancy, but also really uninspired and sometimes a little pretentious. Don't get me wrong, I still love the band...I just feel like they don't need to prove anything.… Expand
  3. DavidWasHere
    Sep 22, 2017
    5
    Foo Fighters are a singles band more than an albums band. It's not hard to see that. I mean okay, to be fair, the band does have great records under their belt, like the Colour and the Shape and Wasting Lights, but they do put out better singles than they do with albums. And this album is no exception, although this is still a little dissapointing. Unlike their last album, Sonic Highways,Foo Fighters are a singles band more than an albums band. It's not hard to see that. I mean okay, to be fair, the band does have great records under their belt, like the Colour and the Shape and Wasting Lights, but they do put out better singles than they do with albums. And this album is no exception, although this is still a little dissapointing. Unlike their last album, Sonic Highways, which promised more with it's concept of recording in different studios and taking different styles into their sound only to put out another Foo Fighters album but without the excitement, Concrete and Gold is different. They do go for different sounds and styles, however it cannot help but feel like the band is playing it safe yet failing when they take risks. Greg Kurstin was the wrong choice to produce this album! He's most known for working with pop artists like Adele, Sia, and Kelly Clarkson, and you can tell he has no idea what he's doing with the Foos! Hell the closest he has to "rock" are Foster the People and producing the last two Tegan and Sara albums (a.k.a. the ones where the duo went from a catchy indie pop duo to making sterile 80s pop leftovers). The rocks songs are way too fuzzed out to be exciting, with the exception of Run, and the different styles feel so polished and passe. Not to mention artists like Justin Timberlake, Paul McCartney, and Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men fame, who contribute to songs, are super underutilized! I get the band changing their sound, Dave Grohl can do that at this point, but unfortunately not all the experiments work (although these experiments feel as daring as switching a brand of toothpaste) and instead of sounding exciting they just sound like they're grasping for relevance. It's not all bad as the band puts in effort to make this album works, but it's not among their best and there isn't a song as good as Run on here either.… Expand
  4. awholenother
    Sep 16, 2017
    4
    this is probably me being dramatic, but i was very fortunate to watch the foo fighters in 2001, when the band was 7 years old. now they have more than tripled their age, and what a ride it's been... i've always thought of dave as me but with unlimited talented. we seem to have just about the same taste in music, like he's inside my head, and the foo fighters is THAT band for me -- the bandthis is probably me being dramatic, but i was very fortunate to watch the foo fighters in 2001, when the band was 7 years old. now they have more than tripled their age, and what a ride it's been... i've always thought of dave as me but with unlimited talented. we seem to have just about the same taste in music, like he's inside my head, and the foo fighters is THAT band for me -- the band i am always in the mood for. it just feels like very raw, very real music but with complete mastery underneath. the screams are always there, never too far away -- they're under the surface even in the quiet songs. it's just rock -- brutal and melodious.

    but this here is none of that. there is no edge in any of the songs. it seems like they finally got tired of giving us what we love, and decided deliberately to withhold it as some sort of device to be unpredictable.

    and just in the month where my other perennial love -- south park -- kicks off a season i'm feeling is gonna be pretty boring. so 2017 may become the year where my taste freezes, and i never enjoy anything i haven't seen before. i mean, i don't wanna stand in the way of a musician trying to change things up, but i hope this is a one-off. starwipe.com made a joke once about bob dylan: "He lost some fans in the ’60s after transitioning from folk-driven protest songs to straight blues-rock, then lost more when he later transitioned to music nobody likes." i imagine being a dylan fan in the 70s and then going, "whoa!" i hope this isn't that hapenning to me.    … Expand
  5. Cabepasto666
    Nov 25, 2018
    6
    Concrete and Gold is a good album, but the problem is precisely that, it is just good, it does not transcend in any way, this album brings Foo Fighters another identity, brings to the band a much ore pop vibe and although that might be something good for some, i think is something that affects the position of FF as one of the greatest rock bands that are still active in the 2010s, it stillConcrete and Gold is a good album, but the problem is precisely that, it is just good, it does not transcend in any way, this album brings Foo Fighters another identity, brings to the band a much ore pop vibe and although that might be something good for some, i think is something that affects the position of FF as one of the greatest rock bands that are still active in the 2010s, it still has some great songs such as "The sky is a neighborhood", "Run" and "Make it right", but just as Sonic Highways, people will forget everything about this album in a couple years. This album is the perfect description of mñeh.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

47
#47 Most Discussed Album of 2017
72
#72 Most Shared Album of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. Magnet
    Nov 21, 2017
    80
    The Foo sextet has made its hardest, yet most curvaceous and warm-blooded record to date. [No. 148, p.54]
  2. Exclaim
    Sep 26, 2017
    60
    For the most part of Concrete and Gold, it's the same anthemic, meat 'n' potatoes arena rock we've come to expect; a little more punk or metal aggression here, a little more acoustic balladry there, but the mould is the same.
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  3. Uncut
    Sep 22, 2017
    70
    It packs plenty of the expected, full-throttle thrills, but there's more interesting, atypical action on winding, low-slung jam "The Sky Is A Neighborhood" and the six-minutes-plus of "Sunday Rain." [Nov 2017, p.26]
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