Customer Reviews

First Impressions Of Earth

5 star:		(106)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(36)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

The Strokes came on the music scene ablazing with 2001's "Is This It", one of those perfect "once-in-a-blue-moon" debut albums. 2003's "Room on Fire" was a far too predictable sequel to "Is This" and thus a disappointment, while pleasant in its own right at times. But it was clear that the Strokes needed to expand their musical pallet. And that, they have!

"First Impressions of Earth" (14 tracks; 52 min.--and that's not a typo!) feels like the first really full album of the Strokes, and not just because of the length of it. Singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas is not rushing songs, instead taking the time to let them blossom musically. I divide the album in 2 halves: songs 1-7 and 8-14. While many feel that the stronger songs appear on the first half, I actually feel differently. Not that the first half is weak. Songs like "You Only Live Once", "Heart in a Cage", "Razorblade" (with the eye-wink to Barry Manilow's Mandy!) and "On the Other Side" are great songs. "Ask Me Anything" is a curiosity: just Julian and orchestral instrumentation, if you can believe that. But then the album really takes off: "Electricityscape" blasts through your speakers with urgency, and you just want to play it again and again. Same with "Ize of the World", the other truly outstanding track on here. "Fear of Sleep", "Killing Lies" and "Evening Sun" are almost as perfect too. Wow!

If you came looking for a third serving of "Is This It", there is no question you will find this a difficult, if not disappointing, album. I, on the other hand, am excited that the Strokes have matured and expanded musically. "First Impressions of Earth" is a tremedous, almost epical, musical statement. The Strokes have thrown the gaunlet down early for the best album of 2006. It'll be interesting to see who, if anyone, can respond to the challenge...

Am I the only one who is particularly in love with the second half of this record? The whole thing's great, but the "experimental" songs that everyone keeps bitching about and labeling as the chaff of the album are the one's I can't stop listening to. "Killing Lies" is such a handsome little song as it chugs along, and singing along with Julian belting "you're no fun" on the gloriously climactic chorus of "Fear of Sleep" has been some of the best catharsis I've gotten from a recording all year. And then there's "Ize of the World," with it's great, deranged guitar intro and it's perfectly contrasting verse and chorus sections (the verses being calm, poppy crooning while the choruses sound like the band is suddenly performing on the top of a skyscraper watching Armageddon, all the while having their NYC cool intact... and anyone notice how the last line of the song is "cities to vaporize," and the song cuts abruptly before the line is finished as to suggest that the city was literally destroyed during the recording... shut up, it's not cheesy) "15 Minutes" is stupendous as it changes from a drunken swagger to a double-time pep finale on a dime, and "Evening Sun" evokes the soothing sincerity of lullaby while still maintaining the essential energy of a rock song. And "Red Light," wow! What a charming little finish to the album! That drumming is irresistable... I keep finding myself blasting this song before I go out at night. The Strokes aren't going to make 'Is This It' again, and they don't need to! Get over it! Yes, Julian's songwriting is expanding and becoming more adventurous- that's because it has to in order to reach the genuineness he and his band are aiming for (and in my mind, have achieved with this album.)

If you are a fan of the strokes, then you will like this album. If your not, give it a try it just may grow on you. Other reviewers will give you a breakdown of each track, but I think albums have an "overall" feel to them. The overall feel of this album is one of maturity, at least for the band. Each member has grown musically. Casablancas writes lyrics about more than just getting drunk at parties and hooking up with some random girl. Valensi uses chorus on his guitar smartly in this album, not too much, but just enough to give it a slight metal sound. Very artistic. Some say this album is a true display of Fraiture's bass-playing talent and I agree. Although the sound is different is some ways, they still have that signature strokes sound. Also, one other thing that many people have overlooked is that this is the strokes longest album to date. Not quite 55 minutes, but very full length. "Is this It" and "Room on fire" were so short I fit them both on one disc along with a couple of b-sides. In my opinion, the last 2 albums were more EP length than full length but obviously no one complained due to the quality packed in. If you want a bigger, badder, (and longer) strokes, pick this up right now. Oh, and make sure you get the deluxe packaging. It has picture "cards" of the band members (so you can put your favorite in the front display) in the front sleeve and lyrics and other artwork in the back sleeve.

Contrary to what many people are writing about the new Strokes album, it is indeed a different and very welcome addition to the catalog of the best band of the 2000's so far. The album as a whole has a different feel to the previous two albums, which is a very good thing in my opinion. Is This It and Room on Fire are two of my favorite albums but a new sound is more than welcome. People seemed to complain about Room on Fire sounding too much like Is This It (which I didn't agree with) but now on their new album they explored new territories and sounds and people seem to still gripe about it and say it doesn't sound enough like the first two albums. The point of being in a band is to always look for ways to expand your sound and mature as artists. First Impressions of Earth in my opinion shows how they did just that. "You Only Live Once" is now my favorite Strokes song. It is a perfectly crafted work of pop art and is worth the price of the CD alone. Other songs like "Ask Me Anything" and "Fear of Sleep" are a new and radical departure from their previous sounds so "fans" wanting a rehash of the first two albums may be disappointed, but the rest of us true Strokes fans can truly appreciate the album as a step forward in the career of The Strokes. I highly recommend this album to anyone who truly appreciates great music and wants to run as far as possible from the countless so called "musicians" out there. Pick this album up today! You won't be sorry.

I guess the professional critics have read their instructions and found that we're not to like this record. But being that I haven't gotten into Beefheart or Television yet, I may not be qualified... but if Spoon is considered so dang inventive, then maybe my ears are broke.
Anyhow, sure there's a few so-so tracks here, but mostly this is the best rock album I've heard in a long time from a band that gets any promotion.
I like it better on the whole than their first record.

Like the Strokes' first two efforts, "First Impressions of Earth" is a treasure that avails its gifts upon the third or fourth listen rather than immediate fructose for the ear. Guitarist Nick Valensi continues his impressive trajectory into the stratosphere of modern-rock technical masters with some fearsome and adventurous lead work - while complementing Albert Hammond's Christmas-time chiming chords - and we are treated to the usual slightly off-kilter but rock-solid (and ever-hardening) studio consistency from bassist Nikolai Fraiture and the requisite drum machine-styled rattle from Fab Moretti. The songwriting has been urged up a notch in beauty and quality, and there are some great `70s AM-radio major scale resolutions and particularly phenomenal codas for the tracks. Many songs at first contact appear to be slow and calculated, but they reveal themselves to be just as artful as we have come to expect from the Strokes. Unlike those of their many college-rock imitators, the Strokes' new songs are all sophisticated without being museum pieces; the album consists of 14 living and breathing reptiles that will soon render extinct Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and the other Nu-Wavers. New producer David Kahne has somehow retained much of the band's NYC art-rock aesthetic while adding a welcome veneer of studio polish. Singer Julian Casablancas appears to have been successfully challenged to sing without his walkie-talkie-thru-a-payphone effect and brings out some towering performances that elbow their way up to the front of the mix.

"Juice Box" throbs with its nimble Munsters-theme bass line before giving way to traditional sneery Strokesian sections, a la "Is This It" cleaned up with a mop.

"You Only Live Once" sounds like the second part of a "Room On Fire" double-A side, replete with Cars-styled vocals and guitars.

"Heart In A Cage" rages into being with cascading scales from Valensi, and Casablancas' usual sense of lyrical frustration.

"Razor Blade" swaggers in with its lazy reggae beat, suggesting an even more tuneful sequel to "When It Started" from "Is This It." A fine candidate for the second single after "Juicebox."

"On the Other Side" is a stripped and tripped haunter with a soulful, meandering Sam Cooke chorus that will delight fans of "Under Control" from "Room On Fire."

"Vision of Division" rollicks in with rocking chords that suggest Gomez or Blur.

"Ask Me Anything is a grower" - the usual enigmatic lyrical fare from Julian (read: "Don't be a coconut, God is trying to talk to you") backed by an interesting Mellotron-sounding loop from Valensi in the background. "I've got nothing to say" lament gets a tad stale after the first dozen incantations.

"Electricityscape" is another dark-to-lit puzzler.

"Killing Lies" has the drone of a DVD menu left on by your lazy and asleep roommate, but has that cute video-game affectation that endears us to the Postal Service and Beck's Gameboy remixes.

"Fear of Sleep" feels like it was written with its title afflicting the author, but it really takes off with its "You're no fun" coda.

"15 Minutes" is another slow-burner that goes on for about as long as its title (or so it seems), but displays some nice twinkling arpeggios from the guitars and a NYC subway-paced ending.

"Ize of the World" kicks off with a metal meltdown like "Take It Or Leave It" and "The End Has No End" (from their first two albums, respectively) and then pushes and shoves its way into some friendly and messy CBGBs rock chords and the requisite catchy melodies. In fact, it would be comfortably nestled somewhere in the second half of either of their first two albums. Sounds like Albert stumbling thru the solo.

"Evening Sun" starts off with some old-fashioned Hammond - downstroking rhythm guitar - and hammering hi-hat from Moretti, all with a bit of the Nintendo chord changes we heard on "Killing Lies."

"Red Light" is an uncharacteristically cheerful romp that closes out the album.

I know, there's a lot of reasons to hate the Strokes. Their daddies had the money and connections so they rode the fast track to fame with an obnoxious media blitz touting them as the saviors of rock & roll before they even released an album. And how about the way they dumbed down the sound of uber serious prepunks like the Velvet Underground and Televison to marketable popsongs that those guys would probably hate? And that singer who was trying too hard to sound like Iggy but with a calculated cuteness that would probably make Mr. Popp gag.

Those things might be pluses for aspiring popstars but for real artists who want to make good music it's a lot to overcome. Listening to First Impressions of Earth makes me think the Strokes are trying to break out of their own hype and start the process of becoming a very original band. The first two Strokes albums were right on formula, eleven 3 minute songs designed for radio airplay yet there were still moments when you knew these guys actually had something unique that would come out if they could break out of that prison. And that's what First Impressions is about in it's lyrics, music and overall sound.

First Impressions is as long as the first two albums put together and mixed in with the usual popsongs are adventurous bits like "Ask Me Anything", "Fear of Sleep", "15 minutes", "Vision of Division" and the incredible "Electricityscape" that aspiring popstars would never commit to vinyl. Mind you,these adventures don't always but click but I'll take an adventurous failure over a formula success anytime. And even the popsongs like "You Only Live Once", "Heart In a Cage" and "Juicebox" have more muscle, are less cutesy and more intelligent. The Strokes are finally staking out their own sound and I can say for the first time I'm looking forward to what they do next.

I've been a strokes fan for a while and I can say safley that this record is solid. The reason people have harsh critiques about it is that it is diffrent and that it has some so-so tracks.
The first five tracks set up the album to be an epic album for The Strokes, however, in the midst of the tracks between "on the other side" and "redlight" the strokes are burdened with a dull sound that fades into the moaning voice of julian and twangy backround guitars.
It would be wrong, however, to say that all those tracks are terrible.
Electricityscape will grow on you
Fear of sleep is a great track
The rest of the tracks all seem to blend together and come off as a medocre bore unless you give them a hard listen, which shouldn't be necessary.
If the CD had been 9 of their best songs with a little tweaking, I would not hesitate to give it five stars.
It is a good album, and the strokes are only getting started. To those who say the Strokes are done, this album is trash, etc. All I can say is: no. The Strokes are diffrent now, and you don't like them, whatever. Real Strokes fans wont care so go find a new band.

'They love you or they hate you.' It seems the first line in new song, Evening Sun, perfectly depicts the way people are reacting to the long-awaited album from the New York five-piece who emerged in 2001. This album actually takes a few listens to get used to how different it is from Is This It and Room On Fire. When Room on Fire was realeased in '03, the band were bashed in the media for their lack of creativity on their sophomore effort, and this I beleive triggered such a dramatic change in style on First Impressions. For starters, the vocals on this album float over the mix a lot more. The signature distortion of Julian Casablancas' voice has been removed, a detail which I was disappointed with when I first heard about it, but it is for the best. The music is more exciting, more involved, and the lyrics deal with a few big issues this time around.
Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. really shine on this album. The guitar work is stunning. Nikolai on bass gives out some heavy riffs. And Fab on drums is amazing on track, 15 minutes. The music seems to have so many different layers, which, frontman Julian Cadsblancas reported, was due to the fact that the songs took a lot more time and were able to grow a lot more. Songs draw on mid-eastern influence, heavier riffs, even a SOAD-style solo. Also, Julian's voice is pitched a lot lower and higher than previous albums. The chorus from Razorblade even sounds like Barry Manilow's Mandy.
The album standouts are:
You Only Live Once
Juicebox
Ize of the World
Razorblade
Electricityscape
Vision of Division

All in all, the album is a positive advance in the careers of these NYC boys. Is it their best album? No. But there's no chance of it being their last.

While Is This It and Room on Fire were both fine examples of the talent of The Strokes, First Impressions of Earth represents a slight change in style. Don't get me wrong, most critics who don't know the first thing about music are quick to call it a huge change, but thats because they don't know anything about The Strokes. New to this cd is Julians voice. Less mumbling, more singing. I'd say thats a good change. New to this cd are guitar solos. In modern rock the guitar solo is nearly extinct and its nice to hear a band that appreciates what they can say with their music outside the lyrics. Again, a good change.
The Strokes can speak without talking better than most and do a fine job of it on First Impressions. From Juicebox's fierce bass line, to the strings complimenting Julian in Ask Me Anything to the guitar solo in Vision of Division; The Strokes are able to express themselves through their sound.
In a review I read the critic said "gone is that irresistable analog sound where the band seemed to hit your ears all at once." To him I say, have you listened to the cd? Tracks like Heart in a Cage, Razorblade, and Vision of Division are overwhelming to take in all at once. Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. compliment each other better than any other guitar players I've ever heard.
The beauty of this album along with all Strokes music is the different parts to listen to. In order to fully appreciate everything they do I challenge listeners and critics to listen to each instruent seperately. This is goig to take you 5 passes through the cd to cover the vocals, each guitar, the bass, and the drums. Next, listen to the cd one more time as a whole and how the seperate parts compliment each other. The Strokes are musicians first, rock stars second, and above all that is evident on First Impressions. They use complicated subivisions of beats to mix everything together that any musician will truly appreciate.
To the critics of the Strokes: I challenge your musical background. You are journlists who couldn't land a better job than being forced to listen to a band in order to get published. Of course you are going to be bitter... its your job. Thats no way to listen to an album. Sit back, relax, go into it with an open mind, and the Strokes will not fail to impress.