First Impressions of Earth

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First Impressions of Earth
Studio album by The Strokes
Released	January 3, 2006
Recorded	January - May 2005 in New York City
Genre	Garage Rock, Indie rock, Post-punk revival
Length	52:19
Label	RCA
Producer(s)	David Kahne Gordon Raphael
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Playlouder link A Rant A Day link BLENDER link Guardian 12/16/05 The Music Box 1/5/06 NME (8/10) link The A.V. Club (Favourable) link Pitchfork Media (5.9/10) 1/3/06 PopMatters (5/10) 1/3/06 Prefix 1/3/06 Rolling Stone 1/12/06 Slant Magazine link Tiny Mix Tapes link Village Voice (Mixed) 1/9/06 Sputnik Music 1/9/06
The Strokes chronology
Room on Fire (2003)	First Impressions of Earth (2006)

First Impressions of Earth is the third album by the American rock band The Strokes. It was released in January 2006 (see 2006 in music), having been preceded by lead hit single "Juicebox" some weeks earlier. It is also the first album by The Strokes to have a Parental Advisory Label.

The album was recorded over a ten month period. The Strokes initially set out to record it with Gordon Raphael, the producer of their first two albums. Later on, guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. introduced them to Grammy-winning producer David Kahne (Tony Bennett, Sublime, Paul McCartney), who stepped in to collaborate with Raphael. However, the collaboration was not working out and so Raphael stepped down. As a result, the majority of the album was produced by Kahne.

First Impressions of Earth is widely seen as an expansion beyond The Strokes' first two albums, Is This It and Room on Fire. However, the album received mixed reviews from critics, unlike their previous material which was generally acclaimed. "Heart in a Cage" was the album's second single, followed by "You Only Live Once".

First Impressions of Earth entered the UK album chart at #1, The Strokes' first one at the top spot, while it reached #4 in the US, with an entry sales week of 88,000 units, somewhat below expectations. As of October 2006, the album has sold 271,000 units in the US, falling short of gold certification.

[edit] Chart trajectories

United World Chart
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06
Position	2	5	8	16	26	40
Sales	288.000	142.000	106.000	85.000	64.000	53.000
Total	288.000	430.000	536.000	621.000	685.000	738.000

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Julian Casablancas, except where noted.

1. "You Only Live Once" – 3:09
2. "Juicebox" – 3:17
3. "Heart in a Cage" – 3:27
4. "Razorblade" – 3:29
5. "On the Other Side" – 4:38
6. "Vision of Division" – 4:20
7. "Ask Me Anything" (Julian Casablancas/Nick Valensi) – 3:12
8. "Electricityscape" – 3:33
9. "Killing Lies" (Julian Casablancas/Nikolai Fraiture) – 3:50
10. "Fear of Sleep" – 4:00
11. "15 Minutes" – 4:34
12. "Ize of the World" – 4:29
13. "Evening Sun" (Julian Casablancas/Fabrizio Moretti) – 3:06
14. "Red Light" – 3:11

[edit] Samples

The Strokes
Julian Casablancas | Nikolai Fraiture | Albert Hammond Jr | Fabrizio Moretti | Nick Valensi
Discography
Albums and extended plays: The Modern Age | Is This It | Room on Fire | First Impressions of Earth
Singles: "Hard to Explain" | "Last Nite" | "Someday" | "12:51" | "Reptilia" | "The End Has No End" | "Juicebox" | "Heart in a Cage" | "You Only Live Once"