The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth: Album Review

The Strokes, First Impressions of Earth (Sony, 2006)
People said that The Strokes fell off with Room on Fire, but that was like one of my favorite albums ever. This new one, not so much.

YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE

I love Casablancas' or whatever his name is' delivery on this. If he was a better dancer (no one is), he might go solo, Peter Wolf-style.

JUICEBOX

Again, the part where he goes, "You're so cold, you're so coooooold!" is fantastic, but the rest of this is just kinda grating.

HEART IN A CAGE

This album in general is very down and depressing, which is fine, but I don't think it fits their sound very well.

RAZORBLADE

Does for Manilow's "Mandy" what the Flaming Lips' "Flight Test" did for Cat Stevens' "Father and Son." Seriously.

ON THE OTHER SIDE

A song about why drinking is good for you. It's got a cool stop-start thing between the verses and the chorus.

VISION OF DIVISION

Very Foo Fighters. In a bad way, of course.

ASK ME ANYTHING

Different from the regular Strokes thing (I'm assuming that's a guitar?), but kinda cool.

ELECTRICITYSCAPE

Not unlike some of the stuff on Room on Fire. A relative high point.

KILLING LIES

Starts out week and never really goes anywhere.

FEAR OF SLEEP

Somewhere between the first and second album, but without much of a hook.

EVENING SUN

Probably the absolute low point. Slow, whiny and completely grating.

IZE OF THE WORLD

Muffled-sounding. I like the verses on this, but the chorus is a nightmare.

15 MINUTES

I guess this is him whining about the pressures of being famous, which is usually some kind of sign.

RED LIGHT

Does this mean it's over? Alright!

COMMENTS: Like I said, they go in very whiny and depressing direction here and it really doesn't fit their sound very well at all. I much rather would've preferred an Is This It-style, paint by numbers Strokes album to whatever this is supposed to be.

BEST TRACKS: "You Only Live Once" "On the Other Side"