Arcade Fire
Neon Bible
Rating: 8.4 (out of 10)
Well, I'm sure by now you all have your hands on the biggest indie release of the year - and probably of all time - sales figures due out shortly could place the album at #1 for the week, an amazing accomplishment for a non-major label band without radio airplay. And it's really not possible to overstate the impact that Arcade Fire has had on indie rock and the music industry in general, and hopefully, akin to Nirvana's Nevermind, the enormous success of this album (along with upcoming releases by Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes, which may come close to or exceed these sales levels - at least the Mouse, who are a major label band now) could drive a wedge for great artists like these into mainstream acclaim. But nobody reading this blog probably cares about any of that.
The questions are... how is the music? How is the album? Is it as good as Funeral? And the answers are: Excellent. Excellent. And I don't know. Sorry. In some ways it's better than Funeral - there is no "Haiti" or "Crown of Love" (seemingly throwaway songs I didn't much care for compared to the rest of the brilliance of the album). But there is also no "Tunnels," or anything really approaching that wondrous track, and really nothing as good as "Rebellion (Lies)." As an album, it is pretty incredible. It's just that none of the tracks rise to "best song of the year" territory, so that is disappointing. It's still the best album I've heard this year so far.
There are three great tracks on the album, in my opinion. "Intervention," whose version here is truly spectacular and fits into the album well. The fact that I've heard it a million times (and for years) by now takes away from it quite a little bit, but it is a great track. The same can be said for "No Cars Go," although the version on this album is new to me and despite seemingly few changes from its appearance on the EP from a couple years ago, I really love it here. It's just a wonderful track, and as Pitchfork said, it should really end the album. The final great song is "The Well and the Lighthouse," the closest the band gets to a pure pop delight, one that starts out with an impressive array of hooks, but does fade into nothingness at the end, obscuring a shot at something truly magical.
The next set of songs are a collection of good, but not great tracks, that mostly work well together. "Keep the Car Running" and "Ocean of Noise" both have somewhat disturbingly distinct Bruce Springsteen influences, despite not sounding alike. "Keep the Car Running" is an uptempto rocker, while "Ocean of Noise" is a slow-building near ballad (or as close as the band comes to one), but they're both done really well. My biggest issue with them is - and this is nothing against Bruce (I'm from NJ remember) - but I usually don't like my favorite indie rock bands to emulate classic/mainstream artists. Of course, when Win sings "You've got your reasons, and me I've got mine. But all the reasons I gave were just lies, told to find myself some time," well I don't know how you can't love it.
"Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" is a really good song, starting off with Regine's only major vocal work, which contrasts nicely from the preceding "Intervention." And I really like Win's part of the song. Perhaps if I hadn't heard it 50 times or so before hearing the album, I would have been more surprised and impressed, but it's still a good song. "(Antichrist Television Blues)" is the track garnering most of the praise so far and I really like it, although it was a little grating on first listen. It's growing on me, though. "Windowsill" follows, and while nothing in the song really sticks out for me, it's another quality track. "Neon Bible" is a bit of a throwaway, but fits in nicely between "Keep the Car Running" and "Intervention." Again, it's growing on me.
Which leaves only the opening and closing tracks. "Black Mirror" is a decent song, and the first single released, and according to Pitchfork's review, the key to the entire album. I just don't really love it, especially as the opening track. So there's that. On the bright side, when you consider that it is arguably the worst song on the album, that's a pretty great fucking album. Because "Black Mirror" is better than anything on Bloc Party's disaster of a new album, as good as anything on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!'s disappointing new release, and leap years ahead of anything that you might hear on MTV, American Idol, or regular radio. So yeah, it's a good album.
The final track of the release is "My Body is a Cage" and I would agree with other reviewers that it doesn't really belong there. It's too much of a letdown from the brilliance of "No Cars Go." On its own, though, it's actually a pretty good song. I think separate from the album, or somewhere else in the track order, it would work a whole lot better. Try just listening to it by itself and see what you think. Of course, the strength of Neon Bible is how the tracks all work together in such a cohesive fashion, so maybe it really is distracting here. I'm still not sure. I'm still not sure if Bible is better than Funeral, and I haven't spent any time yet trying to discern Win's lyrics and cull any greater meanings (although I certainly like his apparent disdain for religiosity in many of the songs). But what I am sure of is this is a great album and will deservedly be appearing on many year-end top album lists, including my own.
I pretty much agree with everything you have written. In some ways its better then Funeral, in other ways its not. There is no song as great as Wake Up, although Intervention comes pretty close. I also believe Windowsill is one of the best songs on the record. I like that Ocean of Noise has a Springsteen touch, shows growth for the band I think. My Body Is A Cage grows on me day by day, but I agree that Black Mirror is a bit dull, for this band anyway. Btw, I agree with your comments about Bloc Party, but I happen to really like the CYHSY. Neon Bible is vying with Menomena for album of the year so far!
Posted by: wayne | March 11, 2007 at 05:00 PM