Foo Fighting

I have been living with the new Foo Fighters album this week (the week delay for Bruce and Steve helped a lot). It is another good record, but my usual disappointment is also present with any new FF record ... you hope it is going to be their classic, but they never really deliver and recently have been a bit flat. On the bright side, this record sees them reunited with producer Gil Norton who helmed what remains, for me, their best work "The Colour And The Shape"

Thinks kick off in fine form, with 'Pretender' (a candidate for single of the year). Cut from the same cloth as 'Monkey Wrench' and 'All my Life', it quite frankly rocks. From that point onwards it is a mixed bag, that arguably never quite lives up to the promise of the opening track. This is not to say there isn't other fine stuff here: 'Summers End' is a cracking CSN/Bryds sounding tune, and 'Long road to Ruin' takes elements from that pedigree too. Acoustic Instrumental, 'The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Minors' is a beautiful piece (about the
Beaconsfield mine collapse in Australia in 2006). Elsewhere, 'Statues' and 'Stranger things have Happened' also provide some nice pop sensibilities.

As for the rest, with the possible exception of album closer, the piano ballad 'Home' , it's a bit - well, you know, perfectly fine, but is really just filler for these ears.

Future of Music Policy Summit

A site that I often look at for IT/Internet news mentioned Todd this week. Arstechnica commenting on the final sessions of the Future of Music Policy Summit , said Pinky Gonzales, speaking for promotional service echomusic , pointed to Todd 'as a precedent for a possible patronage system to support music. Through the PatroNet system in the '90s, Rundgren had funded production of at least one CD through the financial contributions of more than 2,000 fans. Gonzales noted that this kind of model can especially work well for older bands on a "long tail" business model and can be combined with demographic tracking to help a band focus their appeal'.