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intereact!The Strokes
Retail Price (not our price): $11.98
Release Date: 2001-10-09
Manufacturer: RCA
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...
| Disc 1 |
Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
1) Amazon.com's Best of 2001
With all the media hype that dogged the Strokes before the release of their debut album, it's rather apt that they chose the title Is This It. On the strength of just five songs released on two singles, the Strokes were being hailed as everything from the saviors of rock & roll to the Savior himself. Surely, few bands could live up to the impossibly high standards set for this young five-piece, but the band needn't have worried: Is This It is one of the most exciting and energetic debut albums to spring from New York's long-dormant club scene. In fact, the Strokes are a New York City band through and through; like the Velvet Underground, these are a bunch of uptown artsy types elegantly slumming downtown to the tried and tested themes of sex, drugs, and rock & roll. Their singer-songwriter, the fantastically named Julian Casablancas, delivers his lyrics with a weary nonchalance that belies his age on songs like the title track, "Soma," "Hard to Explain," and the altogether wonderful "Barely Legal." And the band recalls the likes of Television and the Stooges on "Last Nite" and "The Modern Age." Let's hope this sexy, stylish, and undeniably cool band is the future of rock & roll. --Robert Burrow
Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5
1) The Strokes [Rating: 3 out of 5]
This is a good album. A few of the songs don't stick with you, but overall it is good.2) Catchy [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This was the only CD I bough of the Strokes so far, but it was well worth it. Some of the catchiest tunes that I have ever heard, probably a little inappropriate in some, but you can hardly find a CD or movie without language these days unless you want to go pure Gospel and Religious.3) Rip off artists [Rating: 1 out of 5]
You can find all these tunes in better form on old classic rock and R&B recordings from the 50s thru to the 70s. How on earth these guys were ever considered the "saviors of rock" is beyond me other than as a really great marketing ploy. They've added absolutely nothing to rock.Many of the riffs and rhythms are catchy, because they're ripped directly from really cool music from decades ago. Beyond that, it's minimalist boring 'garage' rock that any 16 year old with a guitar could re-create.4) Simply Beautiful [Rating: 5 out of 5]
The Strokes are one of my favorite bands. They keep it real with simple melodies and smooth groove rhythms, backing the humble, incisive lyrics of Julian Casablancas. If you're tired of the overproduced, pandering to the masses mold that encompases the vast majority of todays top 10 lists, give this one a try.5) Overhyped or not, it's good stuff [Rating: 4 out of 5]
Now that they've officially been killed by their own hype (back in the early 2000s (oh, what magical time!) they were dubbed nothing less than the Saviors Of Rock, and that was before their first album even came out), it's become much easier to appraise the Strokes and their music. When Is This It first arrived on the scene in 2001, people were expecting something along the lines of Elvis' second coming. Preferably, an Elvis who had payed careful attention to Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Johnny Rotten, Johnny Ramone, Johnny Thunders, Ian Curtis, and Kurt Cobain. When the album didn't manage to live up to those standards, it was dubbed an overhyped false alarm by some, and a media-victimized classic by others. After that, the Strokes' moment in the sun was over: Their next two albums were all but ignored by the press, and now, a scant seven years later, people talk about this record like it's a period piece. All of which is incredibly stupid. I mean, was the music scene in 2001 so utterly lifeless that people felt the need to get so worked up over (either for or against) this album? No, it's not an absolute masterpiece- the songs are fairly derivative, and a lot of them sound suspiciously similar. If you've digested the Velvet Underground, R.E.M., The Smiths, The Happy Mondays, etc., then this music should all seem pretty familiar to you. It's indie-pop plain and simple, with a bit of detached NYC hipness thrown into the mix, and the Strokes pulled off the neat trick of taking it to the top of the charts. In their wake followed the likes of Franz Ferdinand. It also happens to be a very good indie-pop album, full of catchy hooks and fuzzy guitars and frazzled vocals and clever little lyrics. I mean, how can you not love a song like "Last Nite," with its bubbling 60s pop-style guitar line exuberant vocals? Same goes for the relentless build of "Take it Or Leave It," and the spacey, hypnotic "Hard To Explain." There's also a lot of beauty in songs like "Someday" and "Soma." It really is a great listen. Just don't expect it to knock the earth off its axis.