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THE STROKES

New York City band that ushered in a new era of indie rock in the 2000s, 

with spiky guitars, chugging backbeats, and self-assured songwriting.

"IS THIS IT"

tracklist

Side A: WHAT EVER HAPPENED? - REPTILIA - AUTOMATIC STOP - 12:51

YOU TALK WAY TOO MUCH - BETWEEN LOVE & HATE

Side B: MEET ME IN THE BATHROOM - UNDER CONTROL - THE WAY IT IS

THE END HAS NO END - I CAN'T WIN

2001       LP      RCA BMG  RECORDS      07863 68045-1

PRINTED IN U.S.A.      ORIGINAL PRESSING

GATEFOLD COVER

NOTES: Debut studio album by American rock band the Strokes.

The album was released during the Summer of 2001 on different dates in different territories to coincide with or capitalise on live performances: Australia (July 30, 2001), Japan (August 22), UK (August 27).

The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City postponed the group's CMJ Music Marathon performance, and the album release was rescheduled for October 9. The US CD version of the album replaced "New York City Cops" with a newly recorded song, "When It Started", while the vinyl edition retained the original track list.

Additionally, the album's original cover photo was replaced by a less sexually explicit artwork for the US market.

[Different artwork used on this US release as the UK "glove" image was considered a little too risqué for the US market.]

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Barcode: 0 7863-68045-1 4

Label Code: none

LABEL: RCA - BLACK LABEL - WHITE/BLUE TEXT

Catalog on cover: (sticker on shrink) 07863 68045-1

  (spine) RCA 07863 68045-1   (inside right panel) 68045-1

Catalog on labels: none

Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): 07863-68045-1-RE1-A RJ  (Stamped): STERLING

Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): 07863-68045-1-RE1-B RJ  (Stamped): STERLING

On labels: The Strokes

℗ 2001 The Strokes

On Inside Panels: Photos & Credits

On Back Cover: WWW.THESTROKES.COM l THE RCA RECORDS LABEL IS A UNIT OF BMG.........

© 2001 BMG Entertainment Manufactured and Distributed by BMG Distribution, a Unit of BMG.........1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036-4098 l Printed in USA

grading

RECORD NEAR MINT but (please, read above description)

 SLEEVE VG+ but (please, see pictures and read above description)

Blessed and cursed with an enormous amount of hype from the British press, the Strokes prove to be one of the few groups deserving of their glowing reviews. Granted, their high-fashion appeal and faultless influences -- Television, the Stooges, and especially Lou Reed and the Velvets -- have "critics' darlings" written all over them. But like the similarly lauded Elastica and Supergrass before them, the Strokes don't rehash the sounds that inspire them -- they remake them in their own image. On the Modern Age EP, singles like Hard to Explain, and their full-length debut, Is This It, the N.Y.C. group presents a pop-inflected, second-generation take on late-'70s New York punk, complete with raw, world-weary vocals, spiky guitars, and an insistently chugging backbeat. However, their songs also reflected their own early-twenties lust for life; singer/songwriter/guitarist Julian Casablancas and the rest of the band mix swaggering self-assurance with barely concealed insecurity on "The Modern Age" and reveal something akin to earnestness on "Barely Legal" -- a phrase that could apply to the Strokes themselves -- in the song's soaring choruses. The group revamps "Lust for Life" on "New York City Cops" and combines their raw power and infectious melodies on "Hard to Explain," arguably the finest song they've written in their career. Nearly half of Is This It consists of their previously released material, but that's not really a disappointment since those songs are so strong. What makes their debut impressive, however, is that the new material more than holds its own with the tried-and-true songs. "Is This It" sets the joys of being young, jaded, and yearning to a wonderfully bouncy bassline; "Alone Together" and "Trying Your Luck" develop the group's brooding, coming-down side, while "Soma," "Someday," and "Take It or Leave It" capture the Strokes at their most sneeringly exuberant. Able to make the timeworn themes of sex, drugs, and rock & roll and the basic guitars-drum-bass lineup seem new and vital again, the Strokes may or may not be completely arty and calculated, but that doesn't prevent Is This It from being an exciting, compulsively listenable debut...(AllMusic)