The short answer is no. Anyone who has ever been drven anywhere by me or spent pretty much any amount of time with me knows that The Strokes are my favourite band. Upon hearing their new album I am bitterly disappointed.
In 2001 they released their debut album ‘Is This It’ to great critical and public acclaim, and reached number 2 in the UK album chart. Two years later they released ‘Room On Fire’, which received very similar acclaim both critically and publicly, and also reached number 2 in the UK album chart. Come 2005 they were releasing their 14 track album ‘First Impressions of Earth’ [compared to Is This It and Room On Fire‘s 11 tracks each]. First Impressions of Earth entered the UK chart at number 1, however did not stay in the chart as long as it’s predecessors. Although it was the only of the 3 to not reach UK platinum status, it was even more popular critically and publicly than their earlier work.
Following their subsequent tour, the band took a hiatus in order for Julian Casablancas and Albert Hammond Jr to pursue solo careers while the others concentrated on side projects with other bands. Both Casablancas’ and Hammond’s solo projects caught my attention. Neither were even close to the success they had seen with The Strokes, but they felt it was the healthiest thing for them both to do at this point in their careers. At this point I would get technical about why I love these five albums so much, but I doubt most people care so I’m just going to say they had a certain style and edge which I felt set them apart from other artists.
Six years in the wake of First Impressions, the new album ‘Angles’ just doesn’t fill either of these categories. There are [as always] exceptions to this rule. Two songs on this album stood out as shimmering beacons of hope amongst the thick, ebon murk of a very different sound – Under Cover of Darkness and Life Is Simple in the Moonlight. The 10-track album [making it the shortest of their albums to date] is littered with songs which sound as thought they had been thrown together in an afternoon just to fill the space.
Often with bands you expect a good first album, a poor second album, followed by a few years of receeding into obscurity before a glorious comeback with an album to rival their first. This is generally because the first album comes from years of the members playing in their bedrooms, perfecting the songs they’ve been writing since they were 12; the second album is the worst because they have a contract with their record company to release X number of albums in Y number of years, which forces them to write songs in ways and environments that may not be natural to them e.g. writing on the road because they need to, rather than one of them coming up with a genuinely good idea; then comes album 3 – the album made following the members going off and getting married, having kids etc and just getting back to a certain level of normality.
With The Strokes this was not the case. They had 3 amazing albums in the space of 5 years, went their separate ways, and then spent 2 years writing an album full of songs which couldn’t hold a candle to the songs which didn’t make the cut for their previous albums.
Verdict – I genuinely feel a little ill.
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