The Arcade Fire
albums
Regine Chassagne - Vocals, Accordion
Wil Butler - Synthesizer, Percussion
Tim Kingsbury - Bass
Richard Perry - Organ
Howard Billerman - Drums
Sarah Newfeld & Owen Pallett - Violin
Michael Olsen - Cello
Pietro Amato - Horn
Anita Fust - Harp
Best Album: Funeral
Biggest Influences: Talking Heads, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen
2004
Funeral - 9/8
You know, it is a rare thing when an ambitious album actually achieves its ambitions. Usually the album is too
long, or some of the songs are too much style and not enough substance. Sometimes there is just something
about an album that draws you to it. Reading about Funeral, the Arcade Fire's debut album, I had a feeling it
would be my favorite of the year. I don't know why, I had only heard one song and some sound clips, but I had a
feeling. Turns out, I was right. Not only is the album a perfect rock album, but it has a very influential sound that
will carry over well over the next couple of decades. At a manageable length of 48 minutes and songs numbering
ten, this album is perfect in every respect. To describe the sound might be something like Echo and the
Bunnymen meets Roxy Music + an orchestra and angelic chorus at times.
This is all the above and then some! The songs are journeys surveying death and life, in that order usually. To
pick a favorite song is hard, because the album is so cohesive: "Neighborhood # 2", "Wake Up", and "Rebellion
(Lies)" are the most likeable at first, but the other seven songs are all equally as good when absorbed. You
haven't lived until you have surveyed the landscape of "Neighborhood # 3", felt the beauty of "Une Annee sans
Lumiere" and "Haiti", and heard the life altering words of "Wake Up" and "Neighborhood # 4". The first song,
"Neighborhood # 1", may sum it all up best: "you change all the lead/sleeping in my head to gold/as the day grows
dim/i hear you sing a golden hymn". Also "sometimes we remember our bedrooms/and our parent's
bedroom's/and the bedrooms of our friends/then we think of our parents/well whatever happened to them?" I
could quote all day from it, the lyrics are those kind of make no sense/make perfect sense words. Perfect closer
too, with "In the Backseat".
Two of the finest songs ever done are on here. "Wake Up" is an anthem to end all anthems, with it's rebellious
lyrics and gospel chorus, not to mention danceable ending (several songs on here do this). "Neighborhood #2" is
the only hard rock song on the album, but one of the best ever, and ever so unique sounding. This is an album
that requires repeated listening, but I feel dumb saying that because ALL good albums are that way. The album is
very subdued and subtle though, full of emotion yet it doesn't force that emotion on you. The many strings and
orchestral arrangements help this factor. It describes a longing every person feels, to get out there and make a
difference. A unique sound in 2004, the best debut album ever made, and a hope for all of rock music. Some day
I'll write a five page review of it, there is enough good to talk about on Funeral.
- Trevor e.y.
1.neighborhood # 1 (tunnels)- 4
2.neighborhood # 2 (lakia)- 4*
3.une annee sans lumiere- 4
4.neighborhood # 3 (power out)- 4
5.neighborhood # 4 (7 kettles)- 4
6.crown of love- 4
7.wake up- 4*
8.haiti- 4
9.rebellion- 4
10.in the backseat- 4
2007
Neon Bible - 8/8
What a shifting, emotional work this is. A dark mood shines on The Arcade Fire's second album, and the songs
that exemplify this mood are the best. The other type of song on here is the lighter and more upbeat pop song.
Yet, which ever of these two song types exist on this record, the lyrics shine though most of all. Butler writes lyrics
up to the standards of his idols, be they Robert Smith, Morissey, Ian McCulloch, or *achem*, Bruce Springsteen.
"Antichrist Television Blues" and "Windowsil" are welcome surprises of the Boss' influence, though the latter works
way better; "Intervention" plays like a leftover from the previous album, but fits this album because the lyrical
content is more consistent with these kind of "after the bombs dropped" atmosphere; "Black Mirror" and the
moody "Ocean of Noise" simply stand up as two all time classics of rock music. The on/off and pop/dreary
juxtaposition is best exemplified on one song, "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" which is of course, half of each; sung
by Chassange and Butler and proving a certain kind of schizophrenic accomplishment in spades.
Any band that can match lyrics like, "Who here among us still believes in choice, not I" "MTV what have you
done to me? Saved my soul, set me free" (ah to think it once did that!) and "my body is a cage that keeps me from
dancing with the one I love though my mind holds the key" to music of equal effect is truly a one in a million kind of
band. If I had a minor quibble, I do think the darker ballads, like the great "closer "My Body is a Cage", work better
and songs like "Keep the Car Running" and "No Cars Go" kind of distract from the overall, but then again they are
still pretty good songs (despite the strong M83 influence in the latter). This is hardly "indie rock" nor does it fit any
kind of music label; it transcends all cliches. I don't know what happened to Arcade Fire after Funeral, but they did
the right thing: they waited out and built up another strong work of art. This is the template ladies and gents, the
kind of music we all wish we could make. - Trevor e.y.
1.black mirror- 4
2.keep the car running- 3
3.neon bible- 4
4.intervention- 4
5.black wave/bad vibrations- 4
6.ocean of noise- 4
7.the well and the lighthouse- 4
8.antichrist television blues- 2
9.windowsil- 4
10.no car go- 3
11.my body is a cage- 4
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