THE STROKES
First Impressions of Earth
RCA
· The Strokes hope that the third time’s a charm with this straight and steady record.
There’s nothing wrong with The Strokes that more time spent with former tour-mate (and video co-star) Robert "the hardest working man in indie rock" Pollard wouldn’t cure. Too much of First Impressions of Earth finds singer Julian Casablancas telling his audience that he has nothing to say. Pollard maybe has too much to say and when he has nothing, he makes up something about wizards, blowfish or getting drunk. Surely Casablancas has a list of things he enjoys and could do something similar.
What made The Strokes’ first album so great – and first EP even more so – was his sharp and swaggery take on being young, rich and involved in messed-up relationships. Perhaps nowadays he’s afraid of people inspecting his lyrics too closely, but it’s boring to listen to songs that are so insecure. Anyway, the first song, "You Only Live Once," should be the next single. It features Casablancas at his Tom Verlaine-iest and an airtight structure that knocks the "Peter Gun-Big Bang Baby" riff of "Juicebox" out of the ring. Elsewhere, melodies are pinched from Barry Manilow and No Doubt. Unfortunately, First Impressions is top-loaded and really falls off in the second half.
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