The strokes room on fire review

Room On Fire begins with What Ever Happened. The track resembles the same rhetorical question that The Strokes asked on their debut, Is This It? What Ever Happened is almost the answer to Is This It? because the band had bowled everyone over with their debut, so Room On Fire was a turning point as the band had to ask themselves where they were going to go now. Reptilia is one of the tracks that defines what The Strokes do at their very best. The track offers a polyphonic texture. The pre-chorus is where all instruments come together wonderfully with Valensi providing the octaves and Fraiture playing a quirky bass line that complements Valensi’s octaves wonderfully. Hammond Jr also provides a legato guitar riff which means that notes are played together smoothly. The pre-chorus and chorus can be described as having polyphonic textures as there are three contrasting melodies playing simultaneously. After the chorus the song goes back to having monophonic and homophonic textures, as part of the verse is sung with just Casablancas’ vocals and Valensi’s guitar riff (monophony) and then when the second guitar comes in with chords as well as the bass (homophony).

Automatic Stop leans towards reggae influences as there is a quick pick of chords. Hammond Jr provides a heavy progression of single notes and also a quirky riff in the chorus where Casablanca’s sings “Wait, I’m going to give it a break/I’m not your friend/I never was.” The song is based on relationships. Throughout Room On Fire, the song meanings are very ambiguous which could be partly due to Casablancas’ experiences with relationships. 12:51 is one of the tracks that show The Strokes have stepped it up and have thought outside the box since the days of Is This It? Valensi messed around with the controls on his amplifier which made him blow up a few amplifiers when trying to create the synthesiser sound on his guitar. The guitar riff in the verse is fantastic because it mimics what Casablancas’ is singing. 12:51 highlights The Strokes as creative musicians because of the way they incorporate electronica into Room On Fire; it shows a lovely contrast in genres from their predecessor.

Between Love & Hate begins with Moretti’s drum beat. As the song title suggests this is about Casablancas’ past relationships. Casablancas looks back on why one relationship never worked in lyrics “She’d be in the kitchen/I would start the fire/Those days are gone/PS if I may ask why.” In the chorus you are able to hear more reggae influences with the chord progressions. Meet Me In The Bathroom is one of the best tracks on this album, even though it has a pretty raunchy and controversial title! Fraiture’s bass line remains prominent and drives the song nicely. The song has a great chorus which is ridiculously catchy “Meet me in the bathroom/That’s what she said/I don’t mind it’s true.” Under Control highlights Julian Casablancas’ singing and brings out the soul genre on Room On Fire.

Room On Fire is an incredible and worthy sequel to their magnificent debut, Is This It? Room On Fire may have not been as strong as their debut because it provided a template on how rock music should be made. Is This It? set a benchmark in the 21st century for subsequent artists such as The Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand and Kings Of Leon. But the advantage that Room On Fire has over their debut is that they experiment a lot more by incorporating electronic aspects in their tracks while keeping their reggae influences intact. Room On Fire highlights that The Strokes had so much more to give after Is This It?

RCA

• Release Date: Oct 28, 2003
• Summary: This eagerly-awaited second LP for the heralded/hyped New York five-piece was produced by Gordon Raphael (who also produced their debut 'Is This It?') after aborted sessions working with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.
• Record Label: RCA
• Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Alternative
• More Details and Credits »

Top Track

Reptilia He seemed impressed by the way you came in "Tell us a story, I know you're not boring" I was afraid that you would not insist "You sound so sleepy,... See the rest of the song lyrics

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1. Pretty much everything a second album needs to be, it's like Is This It but more emotional, more colourful, slightly better. [Nov 2003, p.102]
2. Better than its predecessor. [Dec 2003, p.150]
3. ‘Room On Fire’ is a refining and tinkering with The Strokes sound, a carefully calibrated attempt not to fuck up too early in the face of untold temptations. The results are still sleek, sexy and thrilling, with a tantalising promise of even better to come.
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4. The Strokes come across as a world-sized band that's tethering itself.... Nonetheless, this record is good. [Nov 2003, p.124]
5. There's little of the pop sparkle that shone through the likes of 'The Modern Age' and 'Last Nite' even when - as with 'You Talk Way Too Much' - they're rewriting old material, and Julian's vocals are, to be blunt, awful, sounding uncomfortable to record and rather complacently nasal.
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See all 31 Critic Reviews

• 7 years out and I'm going to write a review, just to bump this albums rating up. It's solid all the way through, Meet Me In The Bathroom is7 years out and I'm going to write a review, just to bump this albums rating up. It's solid all the way through, Meet Me In The Bathroom is the only weak song, but the other 10 are all perfect in my mind. Just let some of them grow on you and you'll have this album as one of your new favourites.… Expand
• This Album is amazing........i got it two weeks ago and i still havent taken it out of my cd player..
• The Strokes are immensely enjoyable. And I am sick of hearing people complain about their parents having money. Would they be listened to The Strokes are immensely enjoyable. And I am sick of hearing people complain about their parents having money. Would they be listened to more if their parents were poor? This Album was amazing. I loved Reptilia. Listen to the entire album before saying it is a copy of the first. ugh.… Expand
• This album is excellent. The Strokes really know how to create good indie rock. It is catchy and fun.
• very good album, very cohesive but still a big difference between songs. overall a very good album!

Several songs on this album are flat out strong all around. The others seem to rely too heavily on short melodic segments to buoy otherwise weak songs. They got a bit complacent here, and this album at times lacks the fire and cockiness of their debut. But on talent alone, they get away with it more often than not.

Is Room on Fire a good album?

Critical reception. Room On Fire received generally positive reviews from critics: on the review aggregating website Metacritic, it currently has a score of 77 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

Who wrote most of the strokes songs?

Julian Casablancas writes The Strokes' songs. This has been the accepted order since Angles (2011), their only collaborative work, which was unpopular with fans and even more so with the band themselves.

What makes the Strokes so good?

On top of this, what really makes the songs stand out from any other band is their guitar parts. Every solo and lead seems to be calculated and ferociously over thought, and that's a good thing.

Who does vocals for the Strokes?

Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since their founding in 1998.