Album Title
The Strokes
Artist Icon Room on Fire (2003)
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2:49
3:34
3:20
2:26
2:59
3:11
2:51
3:01
2:16
3:00
2:33

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First Released

Calendar Icon 2003

Genre

Genre Icon Indie

Mood

Mood Icon Enlightened

Style

Style Icon Rock/Pop

Theme

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Tempo

Speed Icon Medium

Release Format

Release Format Icon Album

Record Label Release

Speed Icon Cult Records

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Sales Icon 0 copies

Album Description
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Room on Fire is the second studio album by American indie rock band The Strokes. Released in October 2003, it follows 2001's Is This It and includes three singles: "12:51", "Reptilia", and "The End Has No End." Grammy-winning producer Nigel Godrich was initially in charge of production, but The Strokes felt he made the songs seem "soulless". The band went back to work with Is This It producer Gordon Raphael. The album features a slightly smoother sound than its predecessor. The bass guitar is less present except for several moments when it becomes the focal point of the song. The album title Room on Fire was drawn from a line in "Reptilia": "The room is on fire as she's fixing her hair." The record received positive reviews upon release. It reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and debuted at number four in the U.S. on the Billboard 200, where it went on to sell 597,000 units by October 2006 [citation needed] and was certified Gold.
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User Album Review
It's been two long years but the new Strokes album has finally arrived. But does Room On Fire deserve the hype? Will it match or even surpass their debut, which got people talking everywhere from the coffee shops of the Lower East Side to the Ten Bells in Mile End. Anything that comes close will be fantastic. Anything that sounds as exciting, as ground breaking or as fresh as Is This It will be great.
Julian Casablancas' vocals announce their return in the first couple of bars of "Whatever Happened". Then the guitar kicks in and we know we're in familiar territory. That much imitated, but never bettered, cool Strokes sound! It's like reacquainting yourself with one of your oldest friends who looks great for their age!
"Reptilia" sounds like several songs on Is This It but only more so. The bass is deeper, the guitars more high pitched and the solos more extravagant. Even the drumming is more accomplished and the vocals more rasping. That Wasn't It. There was more. And it sounds great.
"12:51", the single, is as familiar to us now as "New York City Cops" or "Last Nite". And as good. Wonderfully retro and yet wonderfully modern at the same time.
The Strokes experiment with new directions in "Automatic Stop", "You Talk Too Much" and "Under Control". The last of these is my favourite; it's different enough to sound new and exciting but similar enough to their previous work to retain that classic Strokes sound. They've broken it down and slowed it up. Fantastic.
The band get to rock out on "The End Has No End" which reminds me of "The Modern Age" from their previous record. Casablancas' fuzzed out vocal ("Two steps forwards, two steps back") strains to be heard over the guitars and bass.
Throughout the vocals are difficult to hear, let alone decipher. The thrill of new relationships and pain of bitter break ups appear to be the main themes here: 'I never needed anybody' ("Between Love & Hate"). 'It's not your fault, that's the way it is, I'm sick of you' ("The Way It Is").
OK, I was demanding the impossible when I asked to be as excited by this record as much as I was by Is This It. Bands should think themselves lucky to achieve such heights just once in their careers. However, they've done all they could have done. They've made Is This It part two. It's more of the same plus extras. And I'm more than happy to settle for that.


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