Is This It

by The Strokes

Overview

Blessed and cursed with an enormous amount of advance hype from the British press, the Strokes proved they were one of the few groups deserving of glowing reviews with Is This It. Granted, their faultless influences -- especially the Stooges, Lou Reed, and the Velvet Underground -- have "critics' darlings" written all over them. However, the Strokes don't rehash the sounds that inspire them; they remake them in their own image. The band's pop-inflected, second-generation take on late-'70s New York punk comes complete with raw, world-weary vocals, spiky guitars, and an insistently chugging backbeat that all sound familiar, but the songs on their debut album also reflect their own early-twenties lust for life. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Julian Casablancas and the rest of the band mix swaggering self-assurance with barely concealed insecurity on "The Modern Age" and reveal something akin to earnestness on "Barely Legal"'s soaring choruses. The group revamps "Lust for Life" on "New York City Cops" and combines their raw power and infectious melodies on "Hard to Explain," one of their finest songs. Nearly half of Is This It consists of their previously released material, but that's not really a disappointment since those songs are so strong. What makes their debut impressive, however, is that the new material more than holds its own with the tried-and-true songs. "Is This It" sets the highs and lows of being young, jaded, and yearning to a wonderfully bouncy bassline; "Alone Together" and "Trying Your Luck" develop the group's brooding comedowns, while "Soma," "Someday," and "Take It or Leave It" capture the Strokes at their most sneeringly exuberant. Able to make the timeworn themes of sex, drugs, and rock & roll and the basic guitars-drum-bass lineup seem new and vital again, the Strokes may or may not be completely arty and calculated, but that doesn't prevent Is This It from being an exciting, compulsively listenable debut. [In light of the World Trade Center disaster, the track "New York City Cops" was pulled from the U.S. release]. ~ Heather Phares

Product Details

Release Date:	01/19/2024
Label:	Rca / Sony Music
UPC:	0196588016912

Tracks

1. Is This It
2. The Modern Age
3. Soma
4. Barely Legal
5. Someday
6. Alone, Together
7. Last Nite
8. Hard To Explain
9. New York City Cops
10. Trying Your Luck
11. Take It Or Leave It

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Strokes   Primary Artist
Fabrizio Moretti   Drums
Nick Valensi   Guitar
Julian Casablancas   Vocals
Albert Hammond, Jr.   Guitar
Fab Moretti   Drums
Nikolai Fraiture   Bass

Technical Credits

Julian Casablancas   Composer
Greg Calbi   Mastering
Jaques Carlu   Tray Card Art
Colin Lane   Photography
Steve Ralbovsky   A&R
Gordon Raphael   Producer