The Strokes
First Impressions of Earth

THE REVIEW

First impressions from planet Earth... awful judging by the place we live! 

And the dear Strokes seem unwilling to leave anything to chance, narrating in their songs, with meticulous details, every scandalous situation, every moment of a youth reduced to sex, alcohol, and drugs in the new millennium, which no longer configures as the "Punk" generation of the past, but rather self-defines as the "Indie Generation," lacking originality but rich in inheritance.

The Strokes, who became the godfathers of this "revolution" with a lowercase 'r,' since it hasn't driven away old air but only brought it back, hit the jackpot with their first album in 2001 "Is this it," offering critics an album that sounded new but was played with the vintage style and instruments indebted to Television, MC5, Stooges, and irremediably to the Velvet Underground.
Scandalous, then, to hear from the singer, Julian Casablancas, the good-looking son of a multi-billionaire designer, in an Italian magazine: "We don't know Television or the Velvet Underground, but we've been told they’re great bands, and many say we resemble them!"
... well, cheers to modesty and falsehood!

But let's leave aside statements made to the press, which apparently don't interest the group, as they instead focused in 2005 on releasing the third album of their brief musical career. "First Impressions Of Planet Heart" an impressive title with a sci-fi aftertaste that, however, with its 14 tracks, turns out to be too heavy to digest for an audience accustomed to the brevity of the two previous albums (each just shy of 30 minutes!)

The album's songs, however, show an undeniable growth in sound, so much so that the album's production differs significantly from their truly Indie first CD, from the rawness of a low-budget production to the sparse yet effective style.
Here, instead, they flaunt solos reminiscent of the 70s, you can hear tracks with voice and moog and nothing more "Ask me Anything" or even driving rhythms with the single "You Only live Once" (blatantly taken from the 00seven's "You Only live Twice") and "Juicebox" with a rather tasteless video and a bass line very similar (go check it out) to "Brand New Cadillac" by the legendary Clash.

Many tracks turn out to be too contrived and boring like "Evening Sun" and "Killing Lies" where Casablancas's lackluster voice really hits rock bottom. On the contrary, "Heart In a Cage" and "Razorblade" emerge as innovative with nice riffs and themes that elevate the album to a pleasant level.

I hoped for something more because I had faith in this group, yet what should have been the album of maturity still proves too immature.