Recent Purchases

[Gary Floyd 0]

Love the church organ

Agreed, it's really the best thing on the album.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Man, Arcade Fire fans love reading into Arcade Fire's shit way too much.

 

This is a fun cd. Let it be fun.

[Red Baron 0]

Man, sounds like The Arcade Fire went the Interpol direction.

 

Great debut album (though I'm not sold), fuck around with the new album and get..eh just another album.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Man, sounds like The Arcade Fire went the Interpol direction.

 

Great debut album (though I'm not sold), fuck around with the new album and get..eh just another album.

I'm probably the only person who prefers Antics over Turn Out the Bright Lights

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

Man, Arcade Fire fans love reading into Arcade Fire's shit way too much.

 

This is a fun cd. Let it be fun.

 

What? The Arcade Fire practically invite people to read way too much into their shit. I'm pretty sure Neon Bible was intended to be a whole lot more than just a "fun cd."

[Annabelle 0]

Man, Arcade Fire fans love reading into Arcade Fire's shit way too much.

 

This is a fun cd. Let it be fun.

 

curry

 

sometimes yu're too much of a fanboy for your own good. arcade fire...fun? really. their music is intended to be morose. heck, that was the entire selling point of funeral.

[Guest CorpusVirFan]

I recently got MeatLoaf- Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell... This CD is amazing. I need to go get his newest one now!

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Expanded Neon Bible thoughts, after three-ish listens:

 

-Win Butler is on songwriting probation for that terrible "eating in the ghetto on a hundred dollar plate" line. A little too often he sounds like he's trying to emulate the shitty new Killers album.

 

-Songs I really like = "Intervention," "Ocean of Noise," "No Cars Go" (of course), "Keep the Car Running." The last one is kind of a Funeral retread, but since it's one of few tracks on here that really gets up to speed, I dig it. One of my friends characterized it as out-U2ing U2, in the sense that lately they're always trying to reclaim the epic level they had with their Joshua Tree anthems, but have only put out not-quite-there derivative work for the past 7 years.

 

-Lacks the abstract, fantastical feel of the first album. Nothing's as enchanting as "Neighborhood #1." Those songs didn't just sound overwhelming; they were also about weird things (parentless towns covered in snow? I'm down) and the themes and music synced up really. They stepped a little too far away from the fantasia this time. Didn't get enough mileage out of their string arrangements either. Those really punched up songs like "Power Out" and "Rebellion (Lies)" from Funeral.

 

So, I like this album in the sense that there are a few good songs I'll certainly put on mix CDs for people, but it doesn't stack up to Funeral, which I still love totally and utterly.

[vivalaultra 0]

I've had the new Arcade Fire CD since it was leaked. I thought it was good to above average. There's some great stuff on there, but some mediocre things, too. My girlfriend really likes it, but she's not a critical asshole, so meh.

 

To shift gears slightly, I recommend that everyone that enjoys sad acoustic melancholia (think Josh Ritter, or Rufus Wainwright) procures a copy of the debut album by Elvis Perkins "Ash Wednesday". He's the son of Anthony Perkins and his mom died in the 9/11 crash. He started writing the album before his Mom died and halfway through, there's a noticeable shift in mood and tempo to the songs he wrote after her death. For a sample, download either "Ash Wednesday", "Emilies Vietnam in the Sky" or "While You Were Sleeping". There's not really any bad songs on the CD; a couple of the songs are kinda forgettable, but still, a remarkable album.

[The Man in Blak 0]

I haven't checked out Neon Bible yet, but the fact that a lot of people are considering a song from their self-titled EP to be the album's best track doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

[Hank Kingsley 0]

Yeah, but it sounds like a different song. It's more epic and exciting.

 

 

Anyway, tonight I picked up Paolo Nutini's These Streets.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I wasn't particularly keen on 'No Cars Go'. I'm sure I'll end up hearing this, but I don't think I'll ever love the band.

[The Man in Blak 0]

I haven't checked out Neon Bible yet, but the fact that a lot of people are considering a song from their self-titled EP to be the album's best track doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

 

Yeah, listened through most of this on the commute this morning and I'm thoroughly underwhelmed so far. I agree that there's a lot less going on in Neon Bible in regards to texture, which is unfortunate, considering that the lackluster songs could really use some dressing up.

 

Though I haven't heard the new Killers album, I would deduce that the reason that Neon Bible sounds similar because they're both completely aping Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen was certainly an influence on Funeral (which I do genuinely like), but his music wasn't such an overbearing presence on that album like it is on Neon Bible.

 

I'm going to give it a couple of playthroughs, just in case there's just something there that isn't clicking with me yet, but I'd consider this one of the more disappointing albums of the year right now, as of this moment.

[Guest Eagle Man]

-Win Butler is on songwriting probation for that terrible "eating in the ghetto on a hundred dollar plate" line. A little too often he sounds like he's trying to emulate the shitty new Killers album.

To say nothing of

 

"You gotta work hard and you gotta get paid"

"Any idea where I was at your age?/I was working downtown for the minimum wage!"

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, show me where them bombs will fall"

"I don't want to live in America no more"

"MTV what have you done to me? . . . World War III, when are you coming for me?"

 

I think Arcade Fire tried to pull the old "you know, the fans and press would've been happy with [Previous Successful Album] II, and we would be too, but we felt it was really time to make a radical departure" card that Radiohead, Wilco, Bowie, U2, and oodles of people tried, but their radical departure is kind of underwhelming. More of a step backward.

 

p.s.: I think the whole "they would've been happy with [Previous Successful Album] II, but" needs to go in some Big Book Of Bad Music Industry Cliches, right after "making the music THEY want to make."

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

-Win Butler is on songwriting probation for that terrible "eating in the ghetto on a hundred dollar plate" line. A little too often he sounds like he's trying to emulate the shitty new Killers album.

To say nothing of

 

"You gotta work hard and you gotta get paid"

"Any idea where I was at your age?/I was working downtown for the minimum wage!"

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, show me where them bombs will fall"

"I don't want to live in America no more"

"MTV what have you done to me? . . . World War III, when are you coming for me?"

 

good lord

[cbacon 0]

They sound worse out of context

[cbacon 0]

Man, sounds like The Arcade Fire went the Interpol direction.

 

Great debut album (though I'm not sold), fuck around with the new album and get..eh just another album.

I'm probably the only person who prefers Antics over Turn Out the Bright Lights

 

Antics is definitely on par with TOBL

[cbacon 0]

lol tobble

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I used to think Antics was good; that changed a few weeks back when I listened to it for the first time in who knows how long. Now I can only tolerate "Evil" and "Slow Hands," but hey, those are pretty good songs.

[cbacon 0]

What about "Next Exit"? Great opener

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Not really.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Well, "Take You on a Cruise" is kind of nice. And I like the closing bit of "Narc," even with the unintentionally lol-inducing "you should see my spaaaaaace." I mean, rea.

[godthedog 0]

billy occean - suddenly. containing the original 7:52 version of "caribbean queen"!

 

No fucking way! Any way you can upload that song?

 

i have no idea, but it's not really worth listening to. there's an inordinately long instrumental intro & an additional instrumental intermission, both of which sound exactly the same as the instrumental thing that's already in the radio version.

 

semi-related, i found out that my favorite barry manilow song, "could it be magic," has an original version that's almost 7 minutes long. turns out barry was not the maverick experimenter with song structure i thought him to be, as the radio edit just chops out some of the bits that make the original version make sense. it's still sort of weird, and the ending is still the same chorus fade-out into the piano solo, but not "holy fuck this thing is creepy did thom yorke put it together"-level weird.

[Si82 0]

 

"Sound of Silver" - LCD Soundsystem

[Guest Eagle Man]

Three years have passed since the Arcade Fire's debut, Funeral, and the album has finally been completed. Neon Bible is it's title and it is one of the greatest albums ever made. There, I said it.

 

You want to know what else? It's better than Funeral. Yep, I said that too.

 

To put things into perspective, I'll first compare Neon Bible to Funeral, because that's what we're all going to do anyways, right? Well, I look at it this way: Funeral was the nice little librarian I always admired from a distance, too delicate for me to actually approach and become well acquainted with, but I knew there was something about her I needed to see, which is why I always came back to the library to sneak another look, to see if what I was looking for ever showed itself. Neon Bible is that nice little librarian coming up to me and asking me to take her out. We go dancing, have some drinks and intellectual conversations, then cap it off with a relaxing walk in the park under the surreally bright moonlight while we hold hands tightly and pour our hearts out for each other. Basically, we end up having the best night of our entire lives, as well as a definite sign of better things to come. Neon Bible is the promise of Funeral coming to fruition, the glorious realization of everything the Arcade Fire has ever aspired to be, and the gratifying revealing of what they will become.

 

Here's some more sound bites for pundits to chomp on: While Funeral was too fragile to truly allow you to get really intimate with it, Neon Bible rips open Funeral's chest and lets the underlying emotion and tension explode forth in all of it's shimmering brilliance. While Funeral had its sparse bouts of energy sprinkled throughout its vast ocean of despondency, Neon Bible electrifies you, compelling you to get up off your ass and do something with your life, be it demanding that promotion you've always deserved, dancing all of the sweat out your body, or even asking out that nice little librarian you've always had your eye on. Funeral had power, but it kept it under tight wraps. Neon Bible lets it all hang out, demanding its listeners be swept up by the sheer force of it all. And who are we to say no?

 

Neon Bible is most assuredly one of the finest records I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Each track gives me that old genuine spine-tingle I thought I'd never get back, and it doesn't accomplish it through cheap tricks either. This music is vigorously alive, it bleed passion with every fiber of its being. The Arcade Fire are certifiably one of the premier bands of our decade now. While other generations can play with their Beatles, fly in their Zeppelins, talk with their Pixies, and visit their Neutral Milk Hotels, we'll be the ones parading around like wolves setting arcades on fire like there was no tomorrow.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

vivalaultra got a job!

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

Reading that actually made me kind of angry.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I'm never listening to music again.

[vivalaultra 0]

vivalaultra got a job!

 

I don't know who wrote that, but whomever did DAMN SURE did not graduate magna cum laude with a BA in English for the fine University of Houston. And apparently, whomever wrote that is also deaf; Funeral was anxiety tempered with visceral catharsis. Neon Bible is half-baked mope rock with underachieving grandeur and kinda dumb lyrics, but, boy "Intervention" is still one of the best songs I've heard in a couple years.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

Funeral was anxiety tempered with visceral catharsis.

 

Ughh.