UPDATE 1 Jan 8th 2006
New On The Chart
Lauded on arrival, chided for hanging around,
The Strokes find themselves in a curious position in 2006. Not commercial viable enough to truly appeal to the mainstream while, seemingly, chewed up and spat out by the indie cognoscenti after patchy follow up
‘Room On Fire’, the band find themselves racked by uncertainty; an uncertainty that finds its way on to the silicon pits of
‘First Impressions of Earth’.
In an all-to-rare glimpse of humour,
The Strokes third LP launches into an opening near identical to
Queen’s ‘I Want To Break Free’ (almost certainly the albums theme, given Casablanca’s mostly resentful and wearied lyrics) before
‘You Only Live Once’ tangents off into more familiar Strokes territory.
Elsewhere, amongst the generally strong opening tracks, the albums first single
‘Juicebox’ gives up the simple yet effective guitar interplay of Messrs Valenti and Hammond in favour of a heavier, bass tone while
‘Razorblade’s rubberyness evokes the simple pleasure of twanging an elastic band and is perhaps, as such, the album highlight.
Despite featuring Julian Casablanca’s smile raising “Don’t be a coconut”,
‘Ask Me Anything’ marks a mid-album dip in quality that only briefly spikes when the aforementioned Casablanca finally lets rip on
‘Fear of Sleep’ with the impressive rock vocals he generally tries so hard to disguise behind unenthused mumbling. Disappointingly though, the album immediately ebbs off once more with the messy, ill-conceived
Shane McGowanism of
’15 Minutes’.
Any concerns over
First Impressions Of Earth though, are travailed as the album comes to an end.
‘Size of the World’ marks a steep artistic ascent,
‘Evening Sun’ recalls favourably the vulnerability of
‘Trying Your Luck’ from the debut album while closer
‘Red Light’ is classic
Strokes, utilising almost insultingly simple riffs to let loose swirling catchy angst.
In the end any questions on
The Strokes uncertain legacy are neither affirmed or denied by this release. A step down in quality from both their debut and the underated
‘Rooms On Fire’,
‘First Impressions of Earth’ still stands shoulders over most of their competitors and as such gives little impression as to where
The Strokes coasting talent might go from here.
The Strokes ‘First Impressions Of Earth’ scores 7.07 and enters Konstantiranks at no.1
RELATED LINKS
Find out more about
The Strokes here
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http://www.thestrokes.com
KONSTANTIRANKS 2006 (CURRENT STANDINGS)
1. the strokes - FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EARTH 7.07
tbr the high dials - 'THE WAR OF THE WAKING PHANTOMS'