First Impressions of Earth — The Strokes
RCA
2006
Rating:


For the first time in the band's history, The Strokes defused its own hype before "First Impressions of Earth" could disappoint fans of "Is This It?" and the underrated "Room on Fire."

The anti-buzz campaign began with the leak of first single "Juicebox," a song that may in fact be the worst addition to the garage band repertory since The Strokes reignited the movement back in 2001. Frontman Julian Casablancas, apparently annoyed by criticisms that the band's sound was too simplistic (which has always been part of The Strokes' charm), composed a song with barely connected movements in an apparent attempt to compete with Franz Ferdinand's complexity. Instead, the result sounds slapdash and painful to listen to as bassist Nicolai Fraiture puts an ill-advised effect on his guitar to, in a supremely juvenile act, riff on "Peter Gunn." When Julian Casablancas roars, "Why don't you come over here? / We've got a city to love," the song gets its only burst of energy because the "Peter Gunn" doodling has momentarily been dropped, though the feeling is diminished by the generic nature of the lyrics.

Phase two of lowering the bar came with the decision to release the album after Christmas, a dead zone that generally assures an album's low quality.

Considering all this, it comes as a surprise when, upon putting "First Impressions of Earth" into the CD player, a classic-sounding Strokes song comes through the speakers. "You Only Live Once" is laid back and practically loungey, sounding every bit like The Cars. Skipping past "Juicebox" to track three, "Heart in a Cage," the band ups the intensity like it has something to prove. Whatever it is, The Strokes fully prove it. Fraiture and drummer Fab Moretti are in a perfect lockstep and guitarists Albert Hammond and Nic Valensi squawk and squeal through fantastic riffs, and the guitars brilliantly drive the "Mandy"-swiping "Razorblade."

At this point, one begins to wonder if the anti-buzz was actually a disinformation campaign.

"On the Other Side," though too long and hurt by another wrong-headed bass line, at least has Casablancas at his most melancholically confessional: "I hate them all / And I hate myself for hating them all." Half of "Vision of Division" is the greatest song The Strokes have written while the other half is sleepy time dub that gets the Pixies' soft-loud-soft formula all wrong. The verse may be weak, but the bridges and chorus are, respectively, beautifully forceful and a pure shot of adrenaline. The Eastern-influenced mid-song guitar solo, however, is up for debate. "Ask Me Anything" finds the band trying to hard to try new things. In some respects it's The Strokes' "Eleanor Rigby" moment, with Casablancas only singing non sequiturs ("Harmless children / We named our soldiers after you / Don't be a coconut / God is trying to talk to you") over melotron strings.

Trying too hard is preferable to not trying at all (except in the case of "Juicebox"), and the rest of the album finds The Strokes settling for competence rather than greatness. Mere competence is something The Strokes — and garage bands in general really — has never been able to get away with because it's the band's combination of freshness and cool that has always been its signature. On "First Impressions," that signature is barely legible.

Posted Thursday, February 16, 2006

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/music/the.strokes/first.impressions.of.earth