Product Description

'First Impressions Of Earth' is the third album from New York art-rockers The Strokes. Whilst the previous two albums have been similar in both sound and style, this time around the band have refined their sound and experimented with it, making for a refreshing and diverse selection of songs. Includes the single 'Juicebox'.

Track Listing

1. You Only Live Once
2. Juicebox
3. Heart in a Cage
4. Razor Blade
5. On The Other Side
6. Vision of Division
7. Ask Me Anything
8. Electricityscape
9. Killing Lies
10. Fear of Sleep
11. 15 Minutes
12. Ize of the World
13. Evening Sun
14. Red Light

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12103 in Music
• Released on: 2006-01-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.co.uk Review
This album comes in luxury packaging for a limited period: a six panel digi-pack, die-cut front with three inserts and a 32 page booklet.

The Strokes have taken to fame with a cheer most politely described as grudging, but not even front-cover adulation and celebrity girlfriends can crack these New Yorkers' mojo. On their third album, First Impressions Of Earth, Casablancas and company turn heel on the bristly, familiar feel of 2003's Room On Fire, and concentrate on evolving their sound.

The album's lead single--the prowling, Cramps-inspired rock'n'roll number "Juicebox"--is something of a red herring. However, songs like the triumphant "You Only Live Once" or "On The Other Side", are born in the crisp, synthetic spirit of the early `80s new wave. Two particular moments stand out: "Heart In A Cage" is a drifting, melancholy proto-punk number in the spirit of Berlin-era Iggy Pop, while "Ask Me Anything" unfurls as something of a solo piece, frontman Julian Casablancas emoting over a restrained backdrop of synth and strings. The album sags a little towards the end (with the building, passionate "Fear Of Sleep" a definite exception), but as a whole, First Impressions Of Earth finds The Strokes fulfilling all that early promise and displaying a slow-evolving longevity that few would have ascribed to them.--Louis Pattison

More of The Strokes

Is This It?

Room on Fire

This Is It

Customer Reviews

More Or Less
The first two Strokes albums exhibited a conciseness not heard since the Pixies: both featured tightly arranged songs and a quality control rare in modern popular music. This immaculate economy begins to unravel on 'First Impressions Of Earth' which is three tracks and twenty minutes longer than either of their previous albums. Four songs in and the tight arrangements are clearly in evidence. But 'On The Other Side' sees the group's mastery of arrangement beginning to lose its grip. The song goes on too long and the relentlesness is apparent at the point when Casablancas sings "I'm tired of being...". There are more of these lesser songs clogging up the middle of the album. 'Vision Of Division' is not as exciting as it thinks; 'Ask Me Anything' eschews the guitars but the song simply isn't up to scratch; 'Electricityscape' sounds like FM radio at drive-time; 'Fear Of Sleep' sounds like a U2 out-take. Though these songs are fine, they are simply not up to the high standard of songwriting so fully realised on their earlier records. Fortunately, the highlights are still to come. 'Killing Lies' has a heart-breaking melody, while '15 Minutes' is a reasonable impression of The Pogues, despite some unfinished-sounding lyrics. 'Ize Of The World' is interesting for suddenly cutting out (causing apoplexy in illegal downloaders). It's as if the group failed to tighten the arrangement and the producer had a rule on how long the song should be. This track gives way to the sublime 'Evening Sun', one of their most beautiful compositions, and the album closes with another highlight, 'Red Light'.

All in all, five of the songs could well have been outed (Lord knows they could do with more real b-sides) while 'Hawaii', the only flip-side from the period, should have been included. With a couple more of the songs tightened up the album could've been another masterpiece. There is a similar amount of content as that found on the first two records but this content is diluted with songs of a lower standard. And surely The Strokes music is too high-energy for such a long album anyway. But this high volume of more varied songs may well be a more accurate impression of the greatest band of the decade. More or less.

Their second best album
Like many other Stroke fans "is this it?" has to be my favourite of their three albums. But this album is still pretty good, the songs are more varied than on other albums.

Songs to watch out for are heart in a cage with its amazing guitar riff and catchy lyrics, Vision of division which has one of Albert hammond Jr's best solo's to date.

The not so good from the album are songs such as 'ask me anything' and 'fear of sleep' which shows bands as awesome as the strokes can still make poor songs

Over all a fantastic album!

:)
This album is amazing. The first time I heard it, i fell in love. Some of the songs took a couple of listens to get me into them but they are incredible!
Julian Casablancas is such a talented musician, the lyrics are stunning and his voice is gorgeous. Also, all of the songs have a lush bass line. They're a bunch of talented guys who deserve a lot of praise for this album :)