Steven Hyden already has been doing a little bit of that The Strokes’ 25 Best Songs, Ranked The Strokes Are At Their Imperfect Best On ’The New Abnormal’ I know the fork has given the last 3 strokes albums all between 5 and 6 and I'm guessing this will fall somewhere between 6.4 and 7.1
I'm gonna listen to this tomorrow but I've been listening to their discography in full the last few days and my order has totally changed, I didn't realize how much I like First Impressions, and how underrated Comedown Machine is. Angles is my least favorite if I have to pick one but literally all of their albums are great, and Under Cover of Darkness is one of my all time favorite songs by them Julian's solo album is criminally underrated too
This is where P4K loses me. They will give every middle of the road indie rock act a 7.0-7.6 but are unable to see how much better this record is than all of those dime a dozen records. It’s inconsequential to hand out those low to mid 7s because those reviews won’t be read but a majority of their base. But everyone is gonna look at this one, and they of course give it a 5.7. I don’t care. I think it’s really really good. But there is a disconnect there. Like Hyden said there are 3-4 songs on every late period Strokes records that most every other rock band couldn’t touch on their best day. Time will tell, but you know people will still be talking about 3-4 songs from this record at a minimum while tons of other stuff from other bands get memory holed.
I'm a huge fan, so I was going to like it regardless, but there's so much to mine here. Eternal Summer turning into some Pink Floyd song is great. Bad Decisions is about as 2001 as they're going to get back to, and it absolutely works. Sunday's really grabbed my ear for some reason, so I'm excited to re-listen. I'm glad they genuinely seem to be happy making music as The Strokes and that they're advancing their sound and not trying to go back to Is This It or Room On Fire.
They really are one of the best Side 1 Track 1 bands. Undefeated. Is This It? What Ever Happened? You Only Live Once Machu Picchu Tap Out The Adults are Talking I mean damn. OT: the chorus on Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus really hitting.
i was extremely skeptical of but this rules. straight back to the Room on Fire/FIONE era. early impressions but this feels pretty solidly their third best. Valensi brought it.
Easily I think. He sounds incredible. I think I have this record slotted in the 4 spot currently. It’s day 1.5 but the top 2 are in permanent cement and the 3rd is drying rapidly. Edit: as I say this Julian hits full nuclear on “Ize of the World”
Is it time for rankings? prior to this album for me it was 1. Room on Fire 2. Is This It 3. Angles 4. Comedown Machine 5. First Impressions New Abnormal will most likely slot in at 3 or 4
1. Is This It? 2. Room on Fire 3. Comedown Machine 4. Angles 5. First Impressions of Earth this would currently slot between CM and Angles after 5-6 listens. My initial impression is that it holds together better as an album than the bottom 2 and so I see myself returning to it more. I still skip around on the bottom 2 quite a bit. FIOE has aged the worst of any of their records, they sound lost and bored to death at times, and then they hit gold every once in awhile.
Is this it? ROF FIOE Angles CM I initially like this more than both Angles and CM, so I'll likely put this at 4 in the end. it wont ever top the first two and I have too many college nostalgic moments to FIOE that it holds such a soft spot for me.
“15 Minutes” gotta be the worst thing they’ve ever committed to tape. And with that title I think they agree.
swap angles and comedown machine and that’s it for me. i could see this easily slotting third for me with more listens.
Honestly, this album is making want to watch The OC lol. also, if you all like this album y’all should check out Hot Hot Heat’s last two albums, Future Breeds and Self-Titled.
I can't be the only one who thought they were doing a cover of "Jesus Christ" when the first chords of "Not The Same Anymore" started