As the third album from The Strokes, First Impressions of Earth was the follow-up to Room on Fire. It was released in 2005 and was the first album to significantly break away from the retro sound and image they established with Is This It.
While I thoroughly enjoy Is This It, I feel that the novelty retro sound had run its course, so the greater range of First Impressions is much appreciated. Similarly, the bands image often feels contrived, so some of my favourite moments on this album are when they drop the "cooler than thou" act and cut loose. It's much more enjoyable when they raise a rock'n'roll sweat, at the expense of compromising their meticulously crafted image.
But it doesn't start out well. Clinging to the retro values of previous albums are the lyrics of the opening song, You Only Live Once. I find it "too cool for scool" (a perception not helped by the band looking like punces in the video clip!). And while the verses and chorus are each nice in their own right, they don't fit together very well.
The recording quality is going for that "retro" sound, which... ahem... is not to my cup of tea. (note: yes I have totally back-flipped on this since originally writing this review!) And who on earth thought it was a good idea to put half of the drums in each ear for the song Razorblade? It's really disconcerting, and I'd rather listen to it in mono!
Enough of my whingeing...
Juicebox is uncharacteristically aggressive and unrestrained; and it's brilliant. It is brimming with great hooks, the swirling menace of the guitar and drums works a treat, and the outro injects a great contrast. Finally, the icing on the cake is a huge chorus that any rock band would be proud of.
On The Other Side features a very nice groove and is a highlight for me.
However, Heart in a Cage is similar and even better. This is one of my all-time favourite songs. Great verses, great chorus, nicely contrasting bridge, great lyrics- this song has it all. The drums are a particular highlight, with interesting patterns perfectly complementing the foreground action, and the wonderfully messy crashing cymbals towards the end of each verse creates a great build-up. In fact, the drumming on this album is consistently brilliant. Back to fawning over Heart In A Cage, the unusual approach of a relatively low-key chorus works a treat. For me, this song is always a wonderfully enjoyable way to spend three and a half minutes. Of the lyrics, my favourite (albeit slightly misheard) are:
Your sun will be shining
And my children will burn
Vision of Division starts with a bang, although the drums are disappointingly muffled when it matters. While I find the verses a bit so-so, this is ok because they work well within the structure of the song. The chorus is fantastic, especially the headbanging second half.
At the other end of the intensity spectrum is Ask Me Anything. The contrast provided by this gentle strings-based ballad is wonderful. Although it's best you stop the song at 2:12, because after this it becomes flogging a dead horse.
Starting similarly ballad-esque is 15 Minutes. However this song sucks. Actually, it's not even a song, rather a awkward mish-mash of ideas haphazardly thrown together. Razorblade is similarly disorganised in the verses (too many instruments trying to be too intricate at the same time), although it does have a good chorus. While I'm ranting, Ize of the World and Evening Sun are generic throwbacks to their earlier retro style.
Fear of Sleep has some flaws, but also an ace up its sleeve. I'm not inspired by most of the song, the "quietening down" for the start of the second chorus is awkwardly implemented and it's disappointing that the drums sound muffled during the soaring moments. However said soaring moments are fantastic. The "You're no fun" refrain is wonderfully raw and passionate, and makes for a great singalong. Great times. Finally, Red Light is a nice catchy pop song to go out on, well supported by great lyrics.
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