Is This It

lloyd

What a great album that is, haven't listened to it for a while. Remember when I first heard it, like nothing I'd ever heard before. 

GavRichList

I listened again for about the first time in a decade too. Yes, it is tremendous. Cant hear it without instantly recalling halcyon days of my responsibility free early 20s too.

Biggest problem with that album was that it spawned about 50 billion awful bands of the same ilk.

lloyd

Without doubt it was overplayed to death if I remember, as well as the sound being copied badly by millions of other bands. It too reminds me of when I was footloose and fancy free!

The producer did a talk at Night and Day the other week but I couldn't go. I'm not normally one for these types of talks but the sound of the album was amazing, would be interesting to see how much of the ideas came from the band and producer.

GavRichList

agreed. Drums in particular weren't generally recorded like that at the time. Almost a NY take on Martin Hannett sound for me.

randomhandclaps

GavHaus said:

I listened again for about the first time in a decade too. Yes, it is tremendous. Cant hear it without instantly recalling halcyon days of my responsibility free early 20s too.

Biggest problem with that album was that it spawned about 50 billion awful bands of the same ilk.

Completely agree with all of this.

Sadly despite it being a real 'WOW' debut, it was also their peak. 

I was working part time in an indie record store at the time and I remember first listening to it and it being so different we were all a bit "I'm not even quite sure yet whether this is truly great or awful but I love it and want to listen to it again.".  It's got played endlessly...  Oh the days when new music excited me, maybe solely because I had the time to sift through it.  I miss those days.

lloyd

It's the little bits and bobs on there too, like on "Is this it" there's a background snoring sound, and if I sit down and listen properly loads of quirky bits like that.

Obviously the main sound comes from the band though. Love the way the 2 guitars work together.

lloyd

randomhandclaps said:

GavHaus said:

I listened again for about the first time in a decade too. Yes, it is tremendous. Cant hear it without instantly recalling halcyon days of my responsibility free early 20s too.

Biggest problem with that album was that it spawned about 50 billion awful bands of the same ilk.

Completely agree with all of this.

Sadly despite it being a real 'WOW' debut, it was also their peak. 

I was working part time in an indie record store at the time and I remember first listening to it and it being so different we were all a bit "I'm not even quite sure yet whether this is truly great or awful but I love it and want to listen to it again.".  It's got played endlessly...  Oh the days when new music excited me, maybe solely because I had the time to sift through it.  I miss those days.

Agree with it being their peak. The second album didn't really go anywhere, which was fine for me, I really enjoyed it. The critics panned it for being too similar, but I thought that was harsh, but not as good as ITI, the others I don't enjoy apart from a song here and there.

randomhandclaps

lloyd said:

The producer did a talk at Night and Day the other week but I couldn't go. I'm not normally one for these types of talks but the sound of the album was amazing, would be interesting to see how much of the ideas came from the band and producer.

Gordon Raphael was the producer.  I met him a few years later.  His version (which I don't doubt is true) is that the band had some rough 'garagey' demos.  They set about recording it in a more hi-fi manner and it just wan'ts working.  It lost some of it's vibe.  So he started playing drum and vocal tracks back through a miced amp to give them a crusty vinyl sound.  Apparently the execs were less than impressed so he had to keep two mixes - one hi-fi for the execs and the other which would form the sound of the album.  When the money men heard the finished article they went ballistic and Gordon came very close to being run out of town and the Strokes dropped.  How wrong they were.

chrisj1602

I remember buying it when it came out, I worked in a cinema and took it in, a few of us were stood listening to it in the foyer, a few people were not sure at first but it ended up being on all the time.  I think it's a great album, but as mentioned above it did influence some awful bands and I wasn't as keen on their other albums.

GavRichList

I quite like bits of the latest one. 80s Comedown Machine is great.

lloyd

GavHaus said:

I quite like bits of the latest one. 80s Comedown Machine is great.

Comedown is the best of the later ones, but for me comes nowhere near the early stuff.

lloyd

randomhandclaps said:

lloyd said:

The producer did a talk at Night and Day the other week but I couldn't go. I'm not normally one for these types of talks but the sound of the album was amazing, would be interesting to see how much of the ideas came from the band and producer.

Gordon Raphael was the producer.  I met him a few years later.  His version (which I don't doubt is true) is that the band had some rough 'garagey' demos.  They set about recording it in a more hi-fi manner and it just wan'ts working.  It lost some of it's vibe.  So he started playing drum and vocal tracks back through a miced amp to give them a crusty vinyl sound.  Apparently the execs were less than impressed so he had to keep two mixes - one hi-fi for the execs and the other which would form the sound of the album.  When the money men heard the finished article they went ballistic and Gordon came very close to being run out of town and the Strokes dropped.  How wrong they were.

Cheers mate. Interesting story, would have been a good talk then I imagine! Curse my hectic social life.....I doubt I'll get the chance to bump into him again.....

randomhandclaps

lloyd said:

Agree with it being their peak. The second album didn't really go anywhere, which was fine for me, I really enjoyed it. The critics panned it for being too similar, but I thought that was harsh, but not as good as ITI, the others I don't enjoy apart from a song here and there.

I do like the second album, I just think ITI is one of these rare moments when a set of songs and a vibe sit together to form an album that has some magic as if it were blasted out in one continuous set, rather than a collection of songs.  Nevermind and Definitely Maybe are similar in that respect.  I think these sorts of albums are always more likely to appear at the start of a band's career when they don't have endless studio time to tweak.

Arguably with the shit amount of investment in new bands meaning more people than ever invest in and record their own stuff and have more time to tweak, I think these sort of albums are going to become incredibly rare.  I don't mean good albums, I mean albums that have that 'recorded in a day' vibe.

lloyd

randomhandclaps said:

lloyd said:

Agree with it being their peak. The second album didn't really go anywhere, which was fine for me, I really enjoyed it. The critics panned it for being too similar, but I thought that was harsh, but not as good as ITI, the others I don't enjoy apart from a song here and there.

I do like the second album, I just think ITI is one of these rare moments when a set of songs and a vibe sit together to form an album that has some magic as if it were blasted out in one continuous set, rather than a collection of songs.  Nevermind and Definitely Maybe are similar in that respect.  I think these sorts of albums are always more likely to appear at the start of a band's career when they don't have endless studio time to tweak.

Arguably with the shit amount of investment in new bands meaning more people than ever invest in and record their own stuff and have more time to tweak, I think these sort of albums are going to become incredibly rare.  I don't mean good albums, I mean albums that have that 'recorded in a day' vibe.

I always think that at the start of a career a bands had time to tweak all their songs over a few years or a load of live shows and rehearsals when they're 'struggling' artists, then sometimes the second album is expected or even demanded by the exec's and is rushed through somewhat, or even throw some songs that didn't make the cut for the first album.....

Agree re Nevermind and DM, I know Nevermind was the second album but Nirvana are just a freak band for me.

imalone

lloyd said:

Without doubt it was overplayed to death if I remember, as well as the sound being copied badly by millions of other bands. It too reminds me of when I was footloose and fancy free!

The producer did a talk at Night and Day the other week but I couldn't go. I'm not normally one for these types of talks but the sound of the album was amazing, would be interesting to see how much of the ideas came from the band and producer.

I definitely overplayed it to death, to the point I still haven't got around to listening to it again. Was a bit bored of them by the time of their second album as a result, but some of the newer stuff is good.

not_the_dj

I should probably listen to this. My wife has the CD so it's on the shelf, but I don't think I've ever actually put it on.

lloyd

not_the_dj said:

I should probably listen to this. My wife has the CD so it's on the shelf, but I don't think I've ever actually put it on.

You definitely should, pretty groundbreaking at the time.

not_the_dj

lloyd said:

not_the_dj said:

I should probably listen to this. My wife has the CD so it's on the shelf, but I don't think I've ever actually put it on.

You definitely should, pretty groundbreaking at the time.

I'm trying to remember what I was listening to in 2001...

randomhandclaps

lloyd said:

I always think that at the start of a career a bands had time to tweak all their songs over a few years or a load of live shows and rehearsals when they're 'struggling' artists, then sometimes the second album is expected or even demanded by the exec's and is rushed through somewhat, or even throw some songs that didn't make the cut for the first album.....

Yeah, you are spot on with that and that is a large part of the problem.  When I was saying about tweaking songs I meant more in chasing the perfect take, perfect studio gear etc. which isn't always the best for the listener.

not_the_dj

A lifetime of experiences to make the first album, 6 months to make the follow-up.

randomhandclaps

not_the_dj said:

A lifetime of experiences to make the first album, 6 months to make the follow-up.

True.  Plus that six months is also spent gigging and promoting.