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THE STROKES Room on Fire
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It is impossible to separate the Strokes the band from the Strokes the phenomenon. So let‘s not. Let‘s get wrapped up in the fevered excitement that the release of Is This If caused and hope that they replicate at least some of it for this. their second ‘difficult‘ album.
In a perhaps damming analogy, they appearing to be following the path of the last band to have been laid with the plaudit/curse of having the best debut album ever: Oasis. After releasing a concise collection of roughly hewn ideas which captured the imagination of young and old, cool and kooky alike, they return with something. not . . . quite . . . there.
Room on Fire adds little to their musical accomplishments. We knew already that both Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr could grind out a mean riff but Julian Casablancas' measured nonchalance sounds forced
"A RECORD OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF BELLE 8 SEBASTIAN DURING THEIR TIME WITH JEEPSTER. FROM ‘...SINISTER' TO 'STORYTELUNG‘. FEATURING ALL THE VIDEOS. LIVE PERFORMANCES. INTERVIEWS. OUT TAKES. TV APPEARANCES. EARLY DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE. EXCLUSIVE MATERIAL AND BEHIND THE SCENES INSIGHTS INTO
and lacks all the humour and some of the charm of their earlier THE EVOLWONOFTHE “ND.- excitements.
The opening single ‘12.51’ is a real curveball — the toy keyboard and handclaps mere musical camouflage - a flagrant attempt to instantly ‘ N n U€€PST€RCO UK
suggest progress between albums one and two when in reality it‘s the ‘Roll With it‘ of the collection.
Don‘t be deceived by all this rampant negativity, though. There are some good tunes in here: ‘What Ever Happened?', ‘Reptilia‘ and ‘Automatic Stop‘ all rock satisfyingly enough and ‘Under Control‘ is swinging and sweet despite the complete absence of a chorus. but the expectation for this album is such that the results are pretty heartbreaking. The pin-ups have fallen from grace and that reality brings you back to earth with a bump hard enough to take the knees out your perfectly worn Levi's and make you secretly wish their considerably more talented pal Jack White was just a little bit better looking. (Mark Robertson)
"Exubcrant yet essentially fragile" X-Ray
u.n.p.o.c. fifth column
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"I ' .> I: THE LIST 107