The Strokes

Sounding like a group that's been on tour for nearly three years, the Strokes' second album is filled with confidence in the music department, while singer Julian Casablancas delivers a road-weary rasp up front. Highlights include the guitar solo in "I Can't Win" and the purely Strokes-tastic pop of "The Way It Is."

Change is good. It can be important, even historic. It is not always necessary. One of the
best things about Room on Fire, the Strokes' second album, is that, in most of the ways that
matter, it is exactly like their first. Nick Valensi's and Albert Hammond Jr.'s dirty-treble
guitars cut 'n' thrust over the hard-rubber bounce of bassist Nikolai Fraiture and drummer
Fabrizio Moretti. Singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas delivers his put-up-or-fuc... More >