The Strokes - Is This It
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| The Strokes' provocative artwork for Is This It. |
As you may have seen in my previous post here, concerning the New York indie rock outfit's latest album, Comedown Machine, I spoke very, very highly of this album. Well, I genuinely love this album. So much for it to inspire creation of a new blog topic, Throwback Thursday, where musical masterpieces from the past will be picked up, dusted off and are given the rightful praise they deserve. It would be incredibly foolish for anyone to try and say that, pound for pound, Is This It threatens the greatest album of all time, granted, its up there- somewhere. But best album of even the current century so far?
Absolutely.
Bracing myself from relentless attacks from die-hard Radiohead fans reciting "But Kid A is the best, you delusional idiot!", I shall continue on why it has won my heart. This album was released on the 27th of August 2001 in the UK, under RCA Records, the recording label that won the massive bidding war amongst many popular labels after releasing The Modern Age EP under Rough Trade Records, the record that contained raw versions of songs The Modern Age, Last Nite and Barely Legal, all three of them making an appearance on their debut album.
It's difficult to decide which version of each of the songs is my favourite, the rough sounding thrashes featured on The Modern Age EP, or the "more refined", yet still, raw as hell sound featured on This Is It.
But don't think I'm taking anything away from this album. It is brilliant in copious varieties of the word. Each song has its own unique attributes: Detailing of the lives of New York City, in songs like Hard to Explain and New York City cops; Someday, a song recalling reckless, youthful relationships and Last Nite, the most popular of the singles released, going on to be one of the most popular Strokes song so far.
And it's not just the themes that the songs carry that make them so special. The music behind them is intricately fantastic. The whole album is littered with distinctive guitar riffs, as Valensi and Hammond Jr. share guitar solos according to their unique playing styles, Nick taking first pick at the majority of the them featuring on the tracks, leaving the more passion conveying, bluesy solos to Albert. Julian Casablancas fluctuates his singing from effortlessly sauntering through lyrics in his signature tone, to ruthlessly and violently spitting words out, once again all too easily.
The Strokes have rightfully earned a place in the history books with this album, regarded as one of the best of the current century, even all time and is a personal favourite, one that will take a lot of beating in the future.
Not that I wouldn't welcome anything equally as good.
But seriously, if you have never listened to it- please, God- listen to it on Spotify below. Already heard it, and love it as much as I do? Treat yourself:
And finally, come back Sunday 27th October, as we look at number 10 in REVIVAL'S Top Ten Albums of the Year- and hopefully, see you next Throwback Thursday!
