The Strokes - First Impressions Of Earth [Digipak] (CD 2006)

First Impressions Of Earth missed the accountant declared prime September/October CD release period, which is a first for a Strokes album on American soil. The question of whether they were just late or no longer thought they could compete come holiday season is still up in the air. By the first chorus of the opening track, the faithful listener is shown why such doubts would be understandable. Raw recorder Raphael has been replaced by long time Sugar Ray man David Kahne, who has taken it upon himself to clean up the signature cheap and fuzzy sound Gordon helped to shape. In this effort, the frailty of Julian Casablancas’ voice, in terms of it being able to carry an album, is exposed and his inadequacy as a lyricist comes glaringly into focus, out from behind the broken mic curtain. I’m not really sure how you’re meant to look at the continually repeated line “I’ve got nothing to say” from “Ask Me Anything” but it’s far too easy to take it at face value. There is nothing challenging here vocally and the instrumentals have pretty much stayed the same, except for the previously mentioned, minimally synthed “Ask Me Anything” and the “Peter Gunn” spy-rock bassline intro to the poorly chosen lead single “Juicebox.” However, instead of the usual brisk thirty minutes, here you get to enjoy nearly a full hour of continual strumming in similar patterns almost the whole time you can hear guitars. None of the people playing on this record have improved themselves much. And so, with the ghost of Mark McGrath hanging over every note, First Impressions sounds like a top notch Strokes pub circuit cover band. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and it sounds like they couldn’t really care either way. It was a good run while it lasted.

Amazing album from the best band ever to walk the planet. Thr guitars are amazing, the singing has gotten even better and it sounds cooler than the north pole.

i liked the fact that this album was in excellent condition when it arrived as described, there was nothing to dislike about the item, i decided to buy this item dues to excellent feedback, a promised excellence.

i have no complaints excellent and thanku my friend wanted the cd so i thought i would it for him.i recieved it in perfect condition.

the last two strokes albums sounded very similiar, in fact the second could be thought as a second disc to the first album, though in this album they have taken a more cleaner recoring process plus a slightly more rock and heavier feel. many tracks could be considered classics such as the well written and chilled out "you only live once" and "heart in a cage", the heavier tracks like "vision of division" and the brilliant but poorly written "ize of the world" have a very old school rock to them that seems to have been introduced by both valensi and casablancas taste in music.

though what really seperates this from the previous albums is the arrival of dissapointing half finished songs such as the lyrics, which though julian casablancas has never been thought of as a great writer, has taken a rather large overall plummet than too previously also there seems to be alot of filler songs on the album, "red light", "15 minutes", "Electricityscape" to name a few that should have rather perhaps been thought to take a b-side trip.

though all in all it is a good album but contains a lot of bumps and hiccups around the edges. if you have never bought a strokes album before make this the last purchase in fact buy them in cronicalogical order that way you get to really appreciate the band and there somewhat evolving sound.

3.5/5

There is no point to to buy music on iTunes etc. if you have great albums cheaper with the artwork, which is great in that case.
That's very good album which brings rock music to 2000s but has a little bit of the '90s melancholy.

I liked the first two tracks and maybe the third i cant remember now becouse it all began to imalgimate into nothing of very much much-ness....
Move on....

A good album but doesn't quite live up to the first one. The lead guitarist seems to think he's Slash now and although it makes for some great guitar lines, the songs sometimes suffer. Still it's a good album, the singles are great and "Visions of Division" featurea a great guitar riff

I loved the first two Strokes albums, they were punchy, witty, absorbing and never boring.For some reason, the band lost its way on this album, because after the first two tracks, the album goes downhill fast. What a shame, as I looked forward so much to this one!