Ok Music Fans, Now Kill Me!! The Strokes Beat the Sophomore Slump
Written: Nov 18 '03
Product Rating:
Pros: An Excellent Sophomore Album from the Strokes.
Cons: Short and the Song Breaks are Annoying.
The Bottom Line: "Room on Fire" is an excellent, fun sophomore release from the Strokes who play with traditional structures and have a ball (4.5 out of 5).
thevoid99's Full Review: Room on Fire by The Strokes
When the Strokes came out of their native New York City with their 2001 debut “Is This It”, they became a breath of fresh air with their minimalist, stripped-down approach to post-punk rock. Hailed by the critics, relentlessly, the band of course got attention from fans, as they became the new alternative to the stale rap-metal music scene. The Strokes became the new leaders of garage-style rock with bands like the White Stripes, the Hives, and the Mooney Suzuki but as quickly as they rose, a backlash was ensuing. They were some people who never got the Strokes and thought they were nothing more than a hype machine gone overboard.
In early 2003, the band went into the studio to work with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich on the band’s much-anticipated second album. Unfortunately, the pairing between the Strokes and Godrich didn’t work out as they went back to work with the first producer, Gordon Raphael. While “Is This It” was widely praised, the Strokes admittedly were under immense pressure to deliver a second album. Not since the Stone Roses has a band with a great debut album been under this much pressure for a sophomore effort. Whereas the Stone Roses failed to deliver on their sophomore release, the Strokes do deliver in their promise with their 2003 sophomore release entitled “Room on Fire”.
“Room on Fire” in comparison to “Is This It” is a bit meaner, bouncier, and more complex record than the debut. Though not much has changed on the band’s sound, the band does bring out more melodies than in the first that are a bit more complex and diverse than “Is This It”. The rhythm section of drummer Fab Moretti and bassist Nikolai Fraiture delivers more juice by being a bit bouncier and pulsating than the debut while guitarists Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi deliver more complex riffs and melodies. The band’s singer and main songwriter Julian Casablancas delivers that same, monotone Lou Reed-like vocals with more rasp and his lyrics are catchier this time around. While not as consistent as “Is This It”, “Room on Fire” remains a strong sophomore effort from the Strokes.
The album begins with “What Ever Happened?” as it opens with warbling, sputtering guitar riffs from Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi as rhythmic claps from Fab Moretti’s drums open up the song as it goes full-throttle into the washy guitars of the Strokes with Julian Casablancas singing, “I want to be forgotten, and I don’t want to be reminded/You say ‘please don’t make this harder’/No, I won’t yet” with Nikolai Fraiture accompanying with a bouncy bass line. The song’s tempo briefly changes when Valensi plays a slinky guitar solo with Moretti and Fraiture bringing in a pounding rhythm to the band’s complex, minimalist sound. “Reptilia” arrives with Fraiture’s bouncy bass lines and Moretti’s smooth, upbeat drums as the snarling guitars of Hammond and Valensi arrives with brief, wailing solos from Hammond as Casablancas begins to sing with his seductive, raspy vocals. He growls a bit into the song’s chorus o “I said please don’t slow me down/If I’m going too fast/You’re a strange part of our town” as Hammond plays fast, wailing riffs followed by a solo from Valensi to the bouncy, upbeat rhythm of Moretti and Fraiture.
“Automatic Stop” arrives with quick, swanky riffs that are followed by Moretti’s machine-like, mid-tempo drums and Fraiture’s melodic bass bounce as Casablancas sings, “So many fish there in the sea/I wanted you, you wanted me/That’s just a phase, it’s got to pass/I was a train moving to fast” as Hammond plays a driving, minimalist guitar riff. The song’s bouncy rhythm and melodic guitars help make “Automatic Stop” one of the album’s catchier moments, especially when Casablancas sings, “Yeah I know you warned me/But this is too important/Now I got a different view/It’s you….”. The album’s first single is the Cars-inspired "12:51" with its pounding rhythm and bass line along with fast, sparse guitar riffs circling around as Casablancas begins to sing accompanied by a swooning guitar solo that sounds like a synthesizer but, it’s Hammond’s guitar playing a different type of solo that can easily manipulates the ears. Casablancas sings, "12:51 is the time in my voice/Found the words I sought…/Is it the stage I want? The world is shutting out… for me/We were tense for sure/But we was confident”. The Strokes bring in a lovely, catchy sensibility to the song with its sparse, minimalist rhythms and Hammond’s guitar solo.
“You Talk Way Too Much” starts out as a heavy, tom-tom like track with heavy drumming and snarling guitars. Then, the song’s tempo starts to change to something more dance-driven with its pulsating beats, Fraiture’s melodic bass lines, and the washy guitars as Casablancas sings, “Now we’re out of time/I said it’s my fault/It’s my fault/Can’t make good decisions/It wont’ stop/I can’t stop” as the song starts to slow down for the chorus line of “Give me some time, I just need a little time”. The song returns to its original tempo for “You talk way too much/(repeat line)/It’s only the end/It’s only the end as you know it…” as the band changes tempos and experiment a bit with songs structures, successfully. “Between Love & Hate” starts off with thumping beats from Moretti with slinky guitars as Casablancas sings in his cool rasp, as Valensi brings a melodic guitar riff followed by Fraiture’s bouncy bass line as Casablancas sings the chorus of “Never needed anybody, I never needed anybody (repeat 2 times)/Don’t worry about it, honey/I never needed anybody/I never needed anybody, it won’t change now”. Valensi brings in a smooth, wailing solo that is followed by Hammond’s spiraling guitar riffs.
“Meet Me In The Bathroom” is a mid-tempo song that starts out as a bouncy track with brief guitar wails as it moves on to something more pulsating with fast, washy guitar riffs and Moretti’s fast-paced drumming. Casablancas sings lyrics of love as it returns to its bouncy melody for the chorus of “Never was on time/Yes, I once was mine/Well, that was long ago/And darling, I don’t mind/yeah, we were just two friends in lust/And baby, that just don’t’ mean much/You trained me not to love/After you showed me what it was”. The song returns to its pulsating rhythms as the Strokes again, play with traditional structures. “Under Control” opens up with Moretti’s pounding, tom-tom drums as it leads to a smooth, washy guitar track with smoother rhythms as Casablancas sings more heartbreak in the chorus of “I don’t want to do it your way/(repeat line)/I don’t want to give it to you, you way/I don’t want to know…”. Valensi and Hammond belt out brief jangle-washes on the guitar to Casablancas’ seductive, monotone vocals and the smooth bounce of Fraiture and Moretti.
“The Way It Is” is by far, the meanest track on the album with its machine-like drumming from Moretti and warbling guitars from Valensi and Hammond as the band decide to get a bit vicious on the guitars. The song then goes to something more machine-like with Moretti playing drums like a pulsating drum machine to Casablancas’ raspy vocals. Fraiture even brings in a heavy bass line as the band decides to be meaner as Casablancas sings, “I wish it was not true/But that’s the way it is/It’s not your fault/That’s the way it is/I’m sick of you/And that’s the way it is” as he becomes meaner himself. “The End Has No End” arrives with Moretti’s bass pounding, pulsating drums and spiraling guitars as the song becomes a bit smoother. Casablancas sings as brief synth-like guitar riffs from Hammond arrive as Casablancas sings the chorus line of “The end has no end” followed by Valensi’s snarling guitar solo. Casablancas then growls through the lyrics of “He want it easy, he want it relaxed/Said I can do a lot of things, but I can’t do that/Two steps forward, then three steps back/It won’t be easy”.
The album closer is the upbeat wash of “I Can’t Win” with its bouncy, melodic rhythms and jangle-wash guitar riffs, as the band gets a bit more melodic. Casablancas then sings, “That was you up on the mountain/All alone and all surrounded/Walking on the ground you’re breaking/Laughing at the life you’re wasting” as Hammond plays brief, wailing solos as Valensi accompanies with his swanky guitar riffs and the bouncy rhythms of Fraiture and Moretti. Casablancas proclaims, “I can’t win/Yeah, I/Wait for something/’Cool it/We won’t take that sh*t’/’Good try/We don’t like it’/Hold on/Yes, I’ll be right back” as the album comes to a close.
While “Room on Fire” has more complex and stronger songs than the ones on “Is This It”, there are two things that keep it from having the same brilliance the debut had. One is that “Is This It” was thirty-five minutes long while “Room on Fire” is about thirty-three minutes long, which leaves you wanting for more. The other thing and it’s very understandable and annoying at the same time, is the few seconds breaks between songs which makes the whole album a bit inconsistent. Other than that, “Room on Fire” is still an excellent sophomore release from the Strokes. The band plays with traditional structures a bit while staying true to their stripped-down, minimalist rock sound. Whatever pressure they had on “Is This It” has finally lifted off their shoulders. For something catchy and to the point, “Room on Fire” is the album to get.
The exceptionally catchy disc takes the well-known Strokes sound a retro-bang of twisting guitars, precision drum and bass and epic heartbreak vocals ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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