First Impressions of EarthThe Strokes
RCA, 2006
Numerical Feelings: 7.1
On their third outing the Strokes step out of the compact, self-contained perfection of their prior songs into more open, full-bodied forms. This is hardly surprising; Room on Fire, taking that same small and direct sound, and imbuing it with new subtle brilliance, and hammering out eleven more great songs from it, was surprising: here, the Strokes really didn't have anywhere else to go but out.
And it's not surprising either, I suppose, that they don't really excel in the effort: where Impressions hooks are not devastating, they are dreary: and the band does not seem to take enough interest in the resulting song, to grace it with any particularly interesting ideas. And then on one or two of the songs whose hooks are the shit, the band ponders and deliberates on those hooks for far too long (see 'On the Other Side', in particular).
But otherwise the Strokes take their melodic inspiration and set whole buildings alight with it. Either through a better exercise of restraint, such as with the album's opener and closer (though both feature enough range in tone to distinguish them from any previous work) or through an absolute overabundance of righteous bad-ass-ness, such as with 'Vision of Division's blistering breakdown midway -- or every single moment of 'Ize of the World', which is just about the coolest thing they've done, and so probably the coolest thing anyone has ever done though I would have to double-check on that.
The overall moral of Impressions is that now the Strokes need to be more smart, more of the time, since they've already covered so much melodic territory with their first two albums. But the failure of the album as a whole shouldn't detract from the worth of its better songs; and those songs considered separate from the album are a sort of triumph.
-5.22.2006
First Impressions of Earth is the third album by the Strokes, who used to be better at naming their albums and songs. As well as this they made the best two albums of their new century.
Track Listing:
01. You Only Live Once
02. Juicebox*
03. Heart in a Cage
04. Razorblade*
05. On the Other Side
06. Vision of Division
07. Ask Me Anything
08. Electricityscape
09. Killing Lies
10. Fear of Sleep
11. 15 Minutes
12. Ize of the World*
13. Evening Sun
14. Red Light*
(*: an asterik)
Track Listing:
01. You Only Live Once
02. Juicebox*
03. Heart in a Cage
04. Razorblade*
05. On the Other Side
06. Vision of Division
07. Ask Me Anything
08. Electricityscape
09. Killing Lies
10. Fear of Sleep
11. 15 Minutes
12. Ize of the World*
13. Evening Sun
14. Red Light*
(*: an asterik)