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First Impressions Of Earth

by

The Strokes

 
First Impressions Of Earth
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Avg: 3.5 (29 ratings)

A transitional Strokes record — layered, frantic, occasionally awkward, and charming

  • We Say...

    Review by Yancey Strickler

    Coming off the world-beating Is This It — a rare Important Record that knew it from conception — the Strokes played it safe with follow-up Room on Fire, a slight commercial and critical disappointment that could never be anything but. In hindsight, the record holds up extremely well — "Under Control" and "You Talk Way Too Much" among their best moments — but the new wave-y lead single "12:51" moved the pin-the-influence-on-the-Strokes game too far into Cars territory and suddenly the rap was that they had lost their edge.

    What then to make of the awful "Juicebox" (save its post-chorus "you're so cold" part), the lead single off album #3, First Impressions of Earth? Like "12:51," was this false advertising? A manufactured, awkward melody masking what would be, yet again, an excellent guitar-pop album? And what about David Cross' appearance in the video? Don't forget this coincided with drummer Fabrizio Moretti's dalliances with Drew Barrymore and Nick Valensi moving out to LA. Were the Strokes, Kings of New York, over?

    That's a lot of questions for what is an unremarkable record. The pressure the band was feeling is palpable — Room on Fire merely proved that they wouldn't fall apart with the world's eyes upon them, but to be the biggest band in the world (their inevitable fate according to the NMEs and Spins of the world) they needed to show us more.

    Instead what we get is a race. Each song is faster than the last, a feeling of franticness that betrays the effortless cool of all that came before. There's a lot here — layers of solos, melodies within melodies — but none of it strong enough to breathe the way "Someday" or "Last Nite" had before. So we rush from verse to pre-chorus to chorus to post-chorus to verse again all the while wondering, "where's the part I get to sing along with?" It's dizzying.

    There are great songs of course — these are the Strokes. "Razorblade" has the album's best chorus (Julian confident and sly), "Heart in the Cage" does the racing thing well, and "Killing Lies" would probably make my list of 15 best Strokes songs ever. But the rest just kinda hangs there — something the Strokes had never done before.

    It's obvious by now that the Strokes have a limited range, and this is at least partially by design. They created a scene with a sound, and it's theirs forever after to define, tweak and expand. But there are solo records to make and wonderful lives to lead and if the music stuff falls by the wayside who's to say that's wrong? They have Is This It forever under the belts.

    Being a Stroke is not like being in any other band. They were the Zeitgeist. They defined a moment. They defined lives. Their cultural importance — however minor in the big picture — could not be more enormous when it comes to New York and hipster culture, both of which redefine the mainstream more and more everyday. The record's a miss with occasional charms, but the rest of the catalogue is so good it's pointless holding it against them.

  • They Say...

    Review by Heather Phares, All Music Guide

    Why would a comeback from one of the most-talked about rock acts of the 2000s arrive just after the holidays, when the music industry is usually still hibernating (or hung over)? Optimistically, they could be taking advantage of holiday money and gift certificates burning holes in the pockets of their fan base. Less charitably, they may be trying to avoid tougher competition later in the year -- or worse, just trying to bury the album altogether. With the Strokes and First Impressions of Earth, it's difficult to tell exactly what the motivation was, but by releasing it so early in 2006, it ends up not being just one of the year's first albums, but one of its first disappointments as well. To be fair, First Impressions starts out strong. "You Only Live Once" is everything a fan could want from a Strokes song, with a joyful melody, skipping rhythm, and cheerfully snotty lyrics. "Juicebox," meanwhile, moves from a bassline nicked from the "Peter Gunn Theme" to ragged grunge before landing on a soaring, plaintive chorus. Love it or hate it, the song has a boldness and creativity that is in short supply elsewhere on First Impressions of Earth. On the other hand, the similarly experimental "15 Minutes," a shambling mess of a ballad that eventually ignites into a rocker, is so odd that it ends up being more surprising than disappointing. That honor goes to the songs that sound like the band is just tracing over its own work -- and not especially well. Waiting for memorable hooks and lyrics to emerge from "Heart in a Cage," "Electricityscape," and other half-formed songs is a lot more depressing than the occasional failed experiment. Indeed, depression is a big theme on First Impressions of Earth; while jaded and bruised lyrical territory is nothing new for the Strokes, now they sound boring instead of just bored with everything around them. On "Ask Me Anything," an otherwise pretty ballad, Casablancas repeats "I've got nothing to say" so often that the listener has no choice but to believe him. There are a few bright moments: "Ize of the World" and "Razorblade" channel the bite of the band's older work without rehashing it entirely. At just under an hour long, First Impressions of Earth is nearly the length of the Strokes' first two albums combined. They used to be impeccable editors, both in the length of their songs and which ones ended up on their albums. Is This It was a debut album so solid that it felt like a greatest-hits comp; hints of reggae, soul, and '80s pop flavored Room on Fire without overwhelming it. Here, the Strokes indulge their every whim, and the result is their weakest album yet. It seems that less really was more with them, and now more is simply too much.

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