Highlights: Tap Out, Welcome To Japan, 50/50, Happy Ending, Call
It Fate Call It Karma
Hype is never free.
Everyone knew (though probably not in 2001) that there would be a price, but no
one could quite figure out that the price would be so inexplicably, so
ridiculously high. When I first listened to The Strokes’ acclaimed (and that’s
a mild word) debut, I naturally put that inescapable question mark after the
title statement. Presently, however, I see no point in fighting against it. The
amount of flak Comedown Machine is
getting is truly staggering. Because, and I want to stress my point again and
again, these songs are not in any way worse than the ones that made up Is This It.
Interestingly, for me Comedown Machine does what that
patchwork-cum-album, Angles, failed
to do: show diversity, show that they are no longer stuck in their
all-too-successful past, and remain coherent. Angles wasn’t a bad record (for instance, “Under Cover Of Darkness”
and “Taken For A Fool” were brilliant songs), but it was all over the place and
made little sense. Now I won’t deny that Comedown
Machine is all over the place, too, but I would insist that musically it
makes perfect sense.
Because the songs are so
good. I won’t be getting into lyrics (though I would admit that “Welcome To
Japan” has some interesting stuff going on), but it’s astonishing how much
songwriting craft went into this record. Vocally and instrumentally, it’s a
barrage of terrific hooks piled on top of each other. The aforementioned
“Welcome To Japan” is case in point. From its intricate guitars to its
instantly memorable melodies (that has to be
plural) to Casablancas’ ludicrous yet fascinating ‘welcome to Japan’ line in the
middle of the song, it’s all infectious, delicious fun. So is the opening “Tap
Out” and so is most of this fine album. Very lush sound, great production, and
lots of sonic variety; Phrazes For The
Young with restraint and as played by The Strokes. I still don’t know what
to think of Julian’s falsetto in the obviously A-ha-esque single “One Way
Trigger”, but everything else certainly works.
I guess the bottom line
here would be that they are just great songwriters. They really are. So – no,
this is not an awful album. Awful is what the hype-prone world has done to
them. And, funnily enough, nothing seems to bother this world more than the
closing song on Comedown Machine, the
faux-retro “Call It Fate Call It Karma”. It’s actually a lovely, exquisite
piece gently oozing out of your local late-night 50s radio station. It really
is a perfect end to this masterful indie pop album you could probably dance to.
8/10
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