The Story of a Vinyl - II.
The Strokes - Is This It (2001)
The American rock band The Strokes, formed in 1998, have released five albums to date, but the first can clearly be considered their main effort. It is by no means an exaggeration to say that the 2001 album "Is This It" saved rock 'n' roll. The tightly led production, sharp guitar styles, melodic yet musically concise creation of individual songs is an obvious antidote to the rising wave of Nu Metal, represented by the strong American scene (Korn, Limp Bizkit, P.O.D.). It was very difficult for these talented Americans from New York to maintain and defend their own musical philosophy and approach in an era of a dense mix of rap-metal, thrash-metal, funk-metal or industrial-metal. But the subsequent successes of their successors, such as The Vines and the Hives, Arctic Monkeys, Libertines, and others, proved that the path they took was the right one. On the corner of 2nd Street and Avenue A was the studio where the Strokes (Julian Casablancas, Nikolai Fraiture, Albert Hammond Jr. Fabrizzio Moretti and Nick Valensi) recorded the album with a workload of 14 to 18 hours a day. The album cover is a chapter in itself, featuring a black and white photo of the photographer's then girlfriend Colin Lane. The nude background with a gloved hand was appropriately provocative for the time. The album was subsequently released with a different cover, but the original one is proof that vinyl record sleeves were a separate creative entity that deserves a place in art history. More than one commentary at the time, published in major music magazines, described the album's sound as unprofessional and essentially aimed at ruining the band's career. The result, however, was a platinum record and a second place on the US LP chart. The songs Hard to Explain, Last Nite and Someday were released as singles.
Track list:
1. "Is This It"
2. "The Modern Age"
3. "Soma"
4. "Barely Legal"
5. "Someday"
6. "Alone, Together"
7. "Last Nite"
8. "Hard to Explain"
9. "New York City Cops"
10. "Trying Your Luck"
11. "Take It or Leave It"
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