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The COOLEST Games Ever Made
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Album/Singles Reviews
Welcome to The Strokes... Reviews on the albums and singles as well as live gig reviews.
Here's my chance to introduce my first impressions after hearing the music or seeing the band live. More gig reports to continue as the tour continues...
Is This It? (Album)
Well it is. This is it. This is the debut LP from The Strokes. It was always going to work wasn't it? Take five extremely pretty boys, give them one hundred and two musical references, give them guitars and give them skinny ties. Lastly hype them to hell: And thus good music is made.
It starts off with a strange unexpected twist an electronic "twist-down" into the opening chord of the first, title track. The track will make heads turn not least because of the ironically self-deprecating title but also because of the lo-fi nature of it that has not been heard from the six tracks on the LP that have previously appeared on the triple A singles. It's simple chord sequence makes for easy listening but it is an inspired way to start the album. Just make sure you roll out the best track second: The Modern Age rages in.
From hence on the album meanders on through the middle decades of pop- music history sorting references from almost everyone that picked up a guitar and wrote songs about sex and youth. (for the record I've listed the supposed 'influences' below as quoted in the media) The tunes range from the pop-punk of age to the one-chord 'down' numbers. The former, such as Last Night and Hard to Explain, are defiantly the better and these are the ones that have been teasing everyone since the start of the year or so. Because these are weighted towards the second half of the LP this half comes across as much more enjoyable and more uplifting- more of the "shagging music" they have been quoted as saying they want it to be.
And that is it. The review is short because the music is simple. Is the LP good? Yes it is. Is it the LP of the year? I don't know- Mercers Cocker, Pierce and Yorke might have something to say about that, so we'll see. Should you believe the hype? Yes. Should you worship The Strokes? Yes, - their music is too exciting for them to release only one LP. And if you're disappointed? Well they send you off with a fast and furious "Take It Or Leave It."
9/10
...And those references in full.
Iggy and The Stooges
Iggy Pop (solo material)
Velvet Underground
John Cale (solo material)
New York Dolls
Blondie
Television
The Fall (er...!)
The Kinks (bizarre because of the very American nature of the Strokes, and the very English nature of the Kinks, but you can see it in there.)
Last Nite (single)
Little known five piece from New York release third single
You know 'Last Nite'. You've probably heard it a zillion times at any live music venue in Britain, or any club. Anyway, in the rather unlikely event that you're yet to hear the song, it's a good'un. Julian does his best 'singing in the club style' attempt, whilst the bassline and guitar riffs are unashamedly old-school. Anyway, the big draw here is the fact that there's a new song, called 'When It Started', involved. It's considerably more weird than you'd expect, a bit like 'Take It Or Leave It' for about ten seconds, with added stop/start bits. It's probably the weakest song they've released yet, but the quality of the A-Side more than makes up for it.
Perhaps they're the best band to have walked the planet since the dinosaurs, they make me smile.
8/10
The Strokes: Brixton Academy 22/3/2002
I have never seen so many touts in the same place. Especially no touts willing to pay reasonable prices for spare tickets. Still, everybody wants to be at this gig, the first of the tour, and I expect there is a killing to be made by those that want to. Personally, I can't imagine how anyone could SELL a ticket for this one, and not yearn to be inside.
having said that, stereo-total were almost enough to send many people back out again. I admire them for the way they carried on through the stream of whistles and beer being thrown at them, but I also wish they'd taken the hint and left sooner. think all the fake exuberance of Carter usm, but without the decent tunes.
they left the stage eventually, and in fairness they'd won some of the crowd over by the end, but the silence that followed them was more to my taste.
the Academy is deceptively big and can hold the best part of 4000 people, but it's also intimate enough to feel kind of small. the place was, however, completely rammed.
the crowd was incredibly buoyant, not at all like gig crowds often are. everybody was there to see the band and everybody had waited for months for this day to come around. I got the impression that the diff'rent strokes could have turned up with their casio remakes and people would have been almost as happy.
the drum technician had afro-like hair, which entitled him to an incredibly loud cheer everytime he walked across the stage. how many people thought he was Fab the drummer, and how many people knew he wasn't but cheered anyway, is impossible to tell.
eventually, the lights went out, and came back on again very dim and different colours. the strokes came on from the left, which is very clever because the dressing rooms are on the right. Julian was last on, and not surprisingly got the biggest cheer.
the first riff was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. we knew we hadn't heard it before, but it was 100% a strokes riff, and people could bounce along happily knowing exactly how the song was going. meet me in the bathroom is, as you might expect, a classic strokes song that could have come straight off of Is This It, and shows they don't appear to be losing their magic just yet.
the strokes play all of their songs absolutely as they appear on the record. no wild solos or flamboyant vocal deviations for them. occasionally, Julian changes the words, but the rhythm remains exactly the same. the songs are however, not only incredibly good, but incredibly familiar and I don' think anybody needs me to describe them here.
the other new song in the set was superb, but lacked any coherent lyrics so can't really be described in too much detail. I imagine it was about people in new york though.
if there was any criticism of the set it was that it was far too short at fifty minutes and I don't care if they don't know anymore songs because they're all so bloody good they could make new ones up as they went along and I for one would be delighted.
sometimes I did feel that the strokes lacked the raw punkish quality to their sound that they had in the "old" days. that punkishness is what makes the white stripes such a fantastic live band, and possibly gives them the edge over the strokes in terms of live shows, but the strokes undoubtedly are the better band overall.
the best thing about the gig, for me, was the fact that all five members looked so much as though they were enjoying themselves, Julian especially as he bounced around the stage trying to knock the various other members over as they were playing. the other best thing is the t-shirts with lego men on. but they're an optional extra.
after 47 and half minutes or so of absolutely storming music, the strokes informed us that we'd been great, they were off now and that "we don't fuckin' do encores" and then told us to take it or leave it.
on this evidence, i'll take it.
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