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Pressure! It takes quite some doing to put together not only a movie but a soundtrack that does justice to a place of legend that has hosted recordings of heroes throughout the ages – from Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and Neil Young to Nirvana, Rancid, Weezer, Slipknot and Arctic Monkeys.
Fortunately, Dave Grohl is Rock’s Mr Nice Guy, so roping in a few famous friends for the ride was always going to be easy. Most notably of all was Sir Paul McCartney who appears on the aptly-titled ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ alongside the surviving members of Nirvana.
Nirvana 2.0 it ain’t, in fact musically it shares a similar territory with early Smashing Pumpkins while Macca does his utmost to growl a Robert Plant howl over the top. While it may not be the Second Coming, it’s more than worthy of two trademark thumbs up and Scouse-drawled “fab”.
The Supergroup hit-list continues. If the partnership of Grohl, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Josh Homme on album highlight ‘Mantra’ is anything to judge their collaboration on the upcoming Queens of the Stone Age record, then you should all be salivating for more. Mantra is by far the most cinematic piece here, as simple piercing drums underlie a looping but playfully brooding Homme bassline and haunting Reznor keys. The tension gradually builds ever-skywards until a squelchy bass solo and a sweet, explosive release. Phwoar.
Other peaks include Fleetwood Mac’s Steve Nicks dripping her molten majesty over the vintage AM radio rock of ‘You Can’t Fix This’, and the deceptively fierce little devil of the slow-burning ‘From Can To Can’t’ with Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Cheap Trick’s Nielsen and Scott Reeder from Kyuss.
Grohl could have compiled a ‘Greatest Hits’ of Sound City’s Hall of Fame, but while Real to Reel may not be quite as essential or classic, he’s certainly captured the magic and depth of over 40 years of shifting styles. This is not a ‘best of’, this is just a tribute.
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