Foo Fighters - One By One

There's a certain sameness to the spiky, percussive bursts of punk-pop tabled by the Foo Fighters. Yet it's pretty hard to fault players as palpably enthusiastic as Dave Grohl and his gang. Every Foos record, up to and including their fourth studio disc, One by One, fluently merges rock menace with unabashedly cheery melody and thoughtful if cryptic lyrics. (And those videos!) So while insistent, guiterrorized tracks like "All My Life" and "Times Like These (One-Way Motorway)" don't expand the Foos' oeuvre, they're catchy as hell and well worth the price of admission. Those searching for veiled Nirvana/Courtney references will no doubt unearth them (or unearth what seem like veiled references), while longtime fans can relax in the knowledge that a seasoned pro like Grohl knows better than to muck with a winning formula. --Kim Hughes