If The Strokes suffered from an excess of hype when they first burst onto the music scene in the dawn of this decade, inciting near-Radiohead levels of rock critic hyperbole, they seem to be having quite the opposite problem by the time of their third record, First Impressions Of Earth . It is now little more than a month before its projected release date, January 3rd, and the media response has been nothing but tepid. No NME covers, no round-the-clock MTV, or even MTVHits, play for their video “Juicebox,” not even a good mention from Pitchfork (who, despite what you might think, have always been strong Strokes supporters). The tide, it seems, has turned against them. Only good music (and savvy marketing) can sustain a band once it’s been cast out of the “hip” community and is forced to fend for itself in the pop wilderness.
So, it was with great anticipation that I crowded into New York City bar Black White recently, along with the other shining lights of dot com journalism, for an advance listen of First Impressions Of Earth. Would it be the record to overturn the tide of negative whispers? I was prepared to like this record as much as any of their others, to relive those heady days of 2001, and, most importantly, to tell all my friends that what they had heard was wrong and, yes, the new Strokes record is good.
I don’t think I’ll be able to tell them that.
It’s not that the CD is horrible. Or (overly) embarrassing. Despite their dogmatically simple songwriting formula, The Strokes haven’t exactly run out of ideas, either, and simply begun to repeat themselves. It sounds a lot more like Julian Casablancas et al have realized the potentially shallow pool of musicality they’ve claimed for their own, and are searching for somewhere deeper to move. They just haven’t gotten there yet.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark Sahm
What was the rest of the crowd response to the album preview? Or did you feel they were impartial?
Outside of a couple of songs, I didn't think either of the other two Strokes albums was an instant high when I gave them a first listen. But both kind of grew on me to prove their worth.
Nothing lasts forever though. Just ask the Vines or the Hives!
2 - Lovestruck
The rest of the crowd, honestly, was much more concerned with the free Harp and Guiness than the album. I didn't even see more than 3 or 4 other people taking notes.
As to other matters, there weren't really even those couple of standout songs on this one. It was all filler, no killer.
3 - visualsimplicity
"Nothing lasts forever though. Just ask the Vines or the Hives!"
And good riddance to them I say, but I always hoped for more from The Strokes. Oh well.
4 - george
it sucks when a band or artist won't cooperate with your efforts to champion them amidst a backlash. take tricky. everything he has put out this decade makes it harder for people to take me seriously when i insist that maxinquaye, pre millenium tension, and angels with dirty faces are three of the finest albums of the 90s. juxtapose was easy to take as a mis-step, and had plenty of great songs that stand up fine outside of that iffy album. but it seems cruel that his next record was called blowback. i mean, the packaging was great, featuring a black and white cover with a beautiful photograph of a topless woman blowing smoke towards a receptive tricky. which was a perfect illustration of the title. but the album made it too easy to look to blowback as the point where all the bad music bad idea pollutants created in the process of making his masterpieces blew back into a spectacularly mediocre album. and when he decided to make the move into releasing an emotionally naked album that sucked, he called it vulnerable. so sad and pitiful i wish i could say that album was any good. but i can't. this is all a tangeant, but i recommend the strokes look to tricky's career as a cautionary tale. it would be a shame if they followed this up with a terrible sensitive album called trepidation.
5 - Craig
Actually, the Hives are doing a lot better than the Strokes as of late. They were toiling in obscurity for years before the Strokes and probably won't mind doing so for the rest of their careers in the USA, seeing as they are huge in Europe. I was really hoping the Strokes could pull this one off - I just got an advance copy and will see what I think.
6 - Max
Hmm...
I don't know what album you listened to but it wasn't "FIOH" that's for sure.
The way you end your article just goes to show your unsure of what you had just said. And we can all agree you were taking a step back.
Listen to the album properly and I'm sure you'll hear a totally different band then what you say you heard. Heart in a Cage, On the Otherside, Razorblade, Ize of the World, Ask me Anything...have really impressed me on the album...
Juicebox is ok and it is catchy. Great Solo but at the end of the day none of the songs on the album sound like it.
In all honesty you have jumped the gun in giving your opinion.
7 - Daniel
Hey
First Impressions of Earth is just so good! I can't understand the criticism??!! Try to listen to the album a couple of times before judging if it's good or bad. Every Strokes LP sucks when you listen to it for the first time, but fortunately they all get better everytime you here 'em
8 - Richard
It always winds me up when a great band gets massive hype and is then damned by the critics on all subsequent releases. The Strokes were a breath of fresh air in 2001 and rather than mutating into some abstract ambient jazz improv troupe they've stuck about the business of creating impassioned, hook laden rock 'n' roll with great success. First Impressions is bigger, bolder and ballsier than ever and it's really lame to suggest that they're creatively limited. They never promised to be anything other than a rock band and thankfully they have progressed with each album.
Chin scratching, avant garde experiments, and creative excursions into musical extremes are great but that's not what the Strokes are about. They take a well worn genre and inject more genuine passion and style into it than half the pretenders out there put together. Take your nose out of the air, forget the previous hype and enjoy having the hairs on your neck tickled by a great rock band, no more and certainly no less.
9 - Lovestruck
I never said the record was bad. I just feel it's lacking something. It shudders and shimmies in all the right ways, but somehow never gets going: it's all "chitty chitty" and no "bang bang." And this is when listening to it in a hip bar in NYC (its natural environment). I can only IMAGINE how it would sound in Oklahoma or Florida or somewhere.
10 - Max
The album certainly doesn't gel together as much as the other 2 previous albums...
They had far more time to do this album...and so it feels less warm and cohesive. But it doesn't take away from the album...Even if you had a year to make an album you would end up with an album that isn't so cohesive.
They have definately come along since Is This It and Room on Fire. They play and sound better.
11 - anthony
reading this i was more upset remembering how much i love Black & White (used to live around the corner), than that the album sucks (which i will hear tonight)
hoist a Rheingold on me next time you're there
12 - Michael
I love this special album ! Come On ! The style and feelings are still in there !!! Michael, Romania.
13 - Frank White
It's dope. Not bad or mediocre. If somethings missing it's cause you cant feel it.
14 - Jodie
I went to their gig in Sydney and it was fucking sweet!!!!!!! They are just 100% perfected magic. Julian is the driving force beside Fab and Albert, Nick and nikoli and they should be expecting to win Grammy's and all sorts of awards for FIoE because it is bloodt fantastic... They are bigger than their predesesors The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground... They deserve every bit of gold dust that comes their way... much love to them and anyone who loves them!!!!!!!!
15 - arthur, uk
THE STROKES ARE ONE OF THE GREATS.
casablancas and his mates have produced a gem of a third album...
just listen to fabs drumming!! or nicks guitaring!!
jules pushes himself throughout the LP too
STROKES RULE
16 - mr. big
Did anyone feel a slight Television influence on some of the tracks. Some of the guitar sounds? I did. The Strokes are still good. People bashed their second Lp but i liked it quite a bit. Critics are fucking kooks anyway.
17 - krojb
apparently some do not understand the real strokes sound. those who do only will understand the criticisms.
18 - Joe
This album is amazing. Its my favorite CD since Morning Glory by Oasis. A trually remarkable album
19 - bingo
First listen and I thought it sounded like a sprawling idiotic muso mess. Two plays and I was getting into it. Three plays and I'm starting to love it. Now I can't live without it. Julian sounds better - he tries a bit of Shane MacGowan, Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash style vocals and it works. Musically it's loads better - there's some interesting techniques and arrangements. It has depth. Still reckon it'll get bad reviews. Most critics only listen to CDs once.
20 - Neil
It's really, really good.
21 - Joshua
Fucking album is rad.
Evening sun and 15 minutes could have been replaced with Hawaii and it would have been an perfect album. But its still awsome. Fear of sleep, heart in a cage, electricityscape, ask me anything, vision of division, razorblade, red light... just great all around. The Strokes have really improved all around musically. the songs dont tie together with a uniform sound like ITI and ROF but is a lack or derrivitive sound a BAD thing?? not to me man.
22 - Nas
SAVE $15 ON 1/3/2006. THIS ALBUM IS ABSOLUTELY AWFUL. They're trying their best to do something new and different from their previous two albums, particularly Is This It but fail miserably. It sounds as though they are begining to lose some creativity musically, and lyrically Jules is right on the money when he says "I've got nothing to say" (Ask Me Anything). What happened to the Strokes who could produce a great basic rock & roll sound yet at the same time sound so fresh? They sounded so promising after Is This It but have proved since then after a mediocre second album and a complete shit third album that the Strokes have quickly gone stale in their brief existence and will never be capable of topping their excellent debut. RIP
23 - Beber
oh gosh Lovestruck come on, " It's not that the CD is horrible " how can you say that ??? this album is the apogee of the strokes it rocks it all. i really don't know how you could have hated it, songs are absolutly awsome, trippin' me out :p and maybe they had a little response of media, we don't care, this record is the best, i'm listening the first one " you only live once " ( in repeat mode :p ) and still it gives me thrill
24 - burnside
Suddenly, people find that a band that lays golden eggs just isn't good enough anymore and expect them to give birth to a new planet made of spice that can fold time and space.
This review sounds more like a review of the critic's disappointment upon finding that his cool New York bar reviewing gig was a rabble of hipsters goofing off rather than an intimate crowd of musos indulging in pseudo-intellectual conversation and fact swapping.
The album is positively fantastic. Ok, so it doesn't make you turn into a supersize space robot or offer instant enlightenment upon listening, but did you really expect it to?
They are just a band, an awesome band and probably the best rock and roll band on the planet and this is a superb third album.
25 - Jeff A
First of all, "you only live once" epitomizes everything that is great aboot a strokes song, and is my personal fave on the whole thing. I'll be damned if one doesnt find that song catchy as all hell- it makes me quite happy. Anyway, the rest of the album kind of seemed weird and unfocused at first, but I kept listening to it and despite many naysaying friends and collegues,I actually dig it alot. Its different, a little wierd, and better than 85% of the so-called "rock music" coming out nowadays. Nice GBV-esque album title too. You know you love them, if not in public, then in the dank recesses of your lonely room. I might actually buy it.