What To Do When You're No Longer Important...

First Impressions Of Earth - The Strokes [Rough Trade]

Way back in 2001, when The Strokes' 'Is This It?' became the official 'most important record of all time' to anyone who read Q or NME, I was more interested in listening to my Beatles records, contemporary musak not really registering until the following year. So upon first hearing 'Is This It?' I was just a bit 'meh', a decent enough attempt to update the Velvet Underground sound whilst wearing cooler jeans that didn't really sustain the interest beyond the odd single (the album not the jeans). Then the second album, 2003's 'Room On Fire', came out and sounded exactly the same which put the Strokes the position of going from revolutionising music to holding it back in the space of around 18 months. Which is nice. So, they promised from their penthouses and whilst wearing ripped jeans, the third album will take years and will once again revolutionise music. So it took about 3 months longer and sounds like... The Strokes' first two albums but with a louder bass. Hmmm.... needless to say the lack of invention has now hit Oasis like proportions without Noel Gallagher's songwriting (which contrary to snobby belief is still good) or the mannered growl of Liam to help you ignore the fact you've pissed away 30-40 minutes of your life by listening to it. So, with first single 'Juicebox' you pretty much some up the record. A pretty unadventurous retread of the original material, with SLIGHTLY different production and none of the hype or fuss to fool people that it might be something worth giving a try. It's not so much that the band are bad its more that they're dull - and surely that is music's biggest crime? Maybe they should split up and give the world something the quality of 'Transformer'. But you somehow know they never will....

5/10 - Average