Only after you've properly absorbed those what-ifs can you arrive at the most important question of all: Doesn't Room on Fire instantly sound better once you forget that it's by The Strokes? Yeah . . . yeah it does. The album no longer feels burdened by our prejudices, by our assertion that this band simply isn't worth all its buzz. It stops sounding like one big buzzkill.
Since Room on Fire didn't quite light the world aflame like the group's overrated debut, perhaps the Strokes' talent will finally be judged correctly: up-and-coming, not the next big anything, some catchy tunes with obvious references and definite skill. Yeah, maybe. It's for their own good, really. There's a promising group somewhere in there -- no reason to kill it off by burying it in hyperbole.
