Song Of The Album: "The Way It Is" Alternate Title: "The Curse Of Production, Round 2" Genre: Pop-Rock
Call it "The Curse Of Production" or "The Slick Short-Sightedness Of Big Bucks" or whatever, but it's claimed yet another victim, this time being former garage rockers The Strokes.
You see, back in 2001, The Strokes opened a fire-storm with "Last Nite", and became unexpected rock radio staples right into mid-2002; and, liked them or not, there was always an endearing distinctiveness to them. The rawness of sound gave them an identity, one whose destiny is just to be a regular band out to simply make music and doesn't care at all about success. It didn't matter if you actually liked what they had made- The Strokes had a likeable aura to them, being just a band whose focus was just to make music and be indifferent to what everyone else thought.
Then you fast forward to October 28, 2003 and suddenly the mindset changes. Now, it seems like The Strokes are aiming for a bigger audience, deciding to overproduce their follow-up in an effort to make their brand of rock more accessible to a Top 40 audience. They probably won't get there but that doesn't matter- "Room On Fire" still aims for it by softening the guitars, the drums and even Julian Casablancas' wail, removing the harshness of the previous work but also removing what had made it distinctive. The Strokes are no longer your "cute little band"- they want to be stars, and they're going to do everything they can to get that far, even if they're incapable of doing so. My, how much things have changed in two years.
It's a pity, really. You listen to their brilliant lyrics, like Julian Casablancas genuinely getting confused when a girl tells him to "Meet Me In The Bathroom" or how he can't come to grips with who is at fault in a relationship in "You Talk Way Too Much", and really wonder what could have been. Instead, what happens is that whenever the band seems to finally have a good moment, like on "The Way It Is" (the best song here) with its somewhat rapid drum-pedaling sequence and driving guitars or "Between Love And Hate", which faintly borrows from David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure", they waste it on hooks that don't hold and guitars and vocals that simply drone, making the album a continuous stretch of unremarkable tracks. You see, The Strokes are under the impression that they can make the garage rock sound easier to swallow, when in truth it's really not supposed to.
Don't get me wrong- The Strokes are not sellouts. Far from it actually: "Room On Fire" still presents a band that does have potential to go where "Is This It?" left off. It's just a matter of the band realizing that garage rock can never be easily digested, and going back to the laissez-faire philosophy of the first recording. For now, we're stuck with an ultimately unremarkable work, one that barely misses the mark when having the potential to be so much more.
-DG