THE STROKES – First Impressions Of Earth (Rough Trade)
The Strokes third album was always going to be something of an event, following on from the relative disappointment of ‘Room On Fire’, struggling as it did to live up to the masterpiece that was ‘Is This It’. Preceding single ‘Juice Box’ heralded great things, from its Batman intro to its angular guitar and impassioned vocals. The bad news is that this is far and away the best track on here, and although the rest of the songs struggle gamely to keep up, it is a hard job. ‘Heart In A Cage’ almost makes it, with its great descending guitar figure and energetic performance, ‘Vision Of Division’ starts of as another worthy contender, but loses it slightly after the great opening flurry of guitars, although the chorus does picks up a few points for including a mock sitar solo. ‘Ask Me Anything’ is something of a departure for the band, being Julian Casablancas and a synth and nothing else, but it works in its odd little way. ‘Electricityscape’ brings the band firmly back into the rock spectrum, being another of their punky little rockers, but ‘Killing Lies’ seems a bit heavyhanded on the drums, and lacks any real bite. ‘Fear Of Sleep’, on the other hand, has it in spades. After a slow start which augers badly for the song, when the chorus appears it blows you away with its sheer ferocity. ‘15 Minutes’ then destroys all that good work with a slurred vocal from Casablancas over a three chord slog from the band. They close the album with the most overt attempt at a pop song, with jaunty singalong verses and a catchy chorus, but it is too little too late. Although it might seem a bit premature to say that the Strokes will never equal ‘Is This It’, it is unfortunately beginning to seem as if that will be the case.