Rarely has the burden of expectation weighed so heavily as it does on the Strokes' second album. Room on Fire is an overwhelmingly anxious record, where the band's dilemmas are there for everyone to hear: should they make another record as concise as Is This It? Will they be able to capitalise on their wiry winning formula but avoid exhausting it? And can Julian Casablancas be convincingly offhand when we now know how much effort he makes to sound so disinterested? As a result, Room on Fire isn't an entirely successful album, but it's certainly a compelling one--the testament of five handsomely talented men struggling to work out what should happen next. At worst, songs like "You Talk Way Too Much" are paranoid retreads where the Strokes, having minted such a precise and appealing sound, seem doomed to repeat it in progressively more joyless ways. But there are moments when Casablancas nudges his band into new, promising directions. "12:51" seems malnourished on first listen, but its sulky, understated twists soon turn out to be memorable. "Reptilia", meanwhile, showcases the fabulous--and teasingly underexploited--guitar playing of Albert Hammond and Nick Valensi, being a collection of chiming riffs and tumbling solos that suggest the Strokes should allow themselves the freedom to rock more often. Oh, and "Under Control" is a dream--specifically, one where the Smiths are playing "Tracks of My Tears". Best think of Room on Fire, then, as an album where the Strokes plot their escape from the predictable, but are a little too cautious to make a proper getaway. Courage, gentlemen. 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 a

Tracks

Disc 1
1. What Ever Happened? - The Strokes (2.54)
2. Reptilia - The Strokes (3.41)
3. Automatic Stop - The Strokes (3.26)
4. 12 51 - The Strokes (2.33)
5. You Talk Way Too Much - The Strokes (3.04)
6. Between Love & Hate - The Strokes (3.15)
7. Meet Me in the Bathroom - The Strokes (2.57)
8. Under Control - The Strokes (3.06)
9. The Way It Is - The Strokes (3.07)
10. The End Has No End - The Strokes (3.07)
11. I Can t Win - The Strokes (2.34)