We are back in 2001, and I had recently hit the huge old age of thirty, at nearly fifty-four I cannot believe how young people in my office look are who are thirty, but I am scared to ask what they think of someone in their mid-fifties. I imagine they think I have my funeral arranged, wear tartan slippers and love a Werther’s Original, I would have thought that.
NME front cover screamed “The Strokes – why New York’s finest will change your life - forever!” We were living in a time where Brian Adams was number one forever and the joy of Right Said Fred was upon us.
NME then gave the album 10/10 and said it was one of the best debuts in twenty years, it had to be bought then.
The title track is a gentle introduction as the band draw us in with an almost weary hypnotic ease before a Velvet Underground riff and stomping drums on The Modern Age ups the ante.
Soma I could imagine in a sweaty club and the guitar would just go through you and Someday could be covered by a boy band and would storm the charts as its pop perfection as is Last Nite its simplicity being its genius and Alone Together has a brief and brilliant guitar solo before the band storm all on the back of a simple but effective drum beat.
New York City Cops is raw and bass player Nikolai Fraiture shows like the rest of the band he can play his instrument and it’s not all about tight trousers.
They have taken their influences, surely The Stooges and Television to name two and mixed it up with lead vocalist Julian Casablancas going from disinterested to raw to distorted over the half hour. Closer Take It or Leave It has all these elements to an almost breathless shouting of the chorus with a riff throughout, an exhilerating ending to the record.
It won’t change your life forever and it’s not a 10/10, but its damn close, but I can confirm that in 2001 it was much better than Brian Adams or Right Said and this will shock you, it still is.
8.75/10
GIVE IT A STREAM: Take It or Leave It
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