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The big day!

Posted at 8:46 AM on March 6, 2007 by Mac Wilson (7 Comments)

Now that the day has arrived, consider this the official discussion thread:

What are your thoughts on the Arcade Fire's new album, Neon Bible?

Comments (7)

And not only that: Neon Bible is the one and only subject for tonight's episode of Musicheads. Tune in at 11pm.

Posted by Tony Lopez | March 6, 2007 11:38 AM

I can't comment until I've spent at least a few days with it. But I'm enjoying my flipbook at my desk right now.

Posted by Jacquie Fuller | March 6, 2007 1:22 PM

Actually, you can download the episode of Musicheads now, before the show even airs tonight! Then, talk about it here.

Posted by Steve Seel | March 6, 2007 2:53 PM

I am a huge Musicheads fan. But this is one Tuesday night where I'll be tuning out. Sorry, Steve--I am trying to avoid any reviews of Neon Bible until I've heard the album myself. But I will definitely download the podcast later this week and listen on my busride home, as soon as I've had time to come up with my own unadulterated opinion of the album. (Not that Musicheads adulterates me--whatever that means.)

Posted by Jacquie Fuller | March 6, 2007 3:07 PM

I will be listening to Musicheads tonight(Though perhaps only to hear Tony Lopez again make fun of Wheat!).

as far as "Neon Bible", i've spun it once and i'll say i'm pretty pleased. It's not much different than "Funeral". Perhaps there's some new instruments in the mix, but i certainly wouldn't pan it the way dudes on Sound Opinions did this week..

"Keep the Car Running" is the song i mentioned before that has an eery resemblence to "On the Dark Side" by Springsteen impersonators, Jon Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band(aka Eddie and the Cruisers). But i would say it is an improvement on that song.

In fact, much of the record has a real Springsteen feel to it overall. Particularily the song "Intervention" which to me is a modern day anti-war masterpiece that has yet until now been written..

Posted by Danny Sigelman | March 6, 2007 4:06 PM

I can totally hear The Boss on "Intervention," Danny! I have to say I'm pleased with this album, too. It's no Funeral--it's decidely darker, and where Funeral's driving engine was a generator fueled on nostalgia, this album's engine is run on immediacy--there's no room, or time, for nostalgia now. I also find Neon Bible gives me less of those moments of shock and surprise that Funeral gave me (like the Supremes-esque bridge in "Wake Up.") Lyrically, it's also more abstract (none of those glorious specifics of "Crown of Love" and "The Backseat"), but the subject matter almost demands a certain amount of abstraction. It makes me think of the Dada reaction to war--things make so little sense that the concrete and sensical become irrelevant.

I never like to use the term "concept album" with this band. It seems to imply too much intentionality. I think the band just makes music according to what they're all feeling, and they end up with a series of stories linked--like rosary beads (no pun)--by a common, emotional thread. And it's the emotion that keeps the songs from feeling too overtly political.

I love the spooky bluesy tango feel of "Ocean of Noise." The pipe organ on "Intervention" starts out clunky and loud and awkward and then lifts off, beautifully, and when it does, I find its awkward start absolutely fitting (forgive me, Michael Barone.) "Black Wave" evokes that early 80s sound of X-Ray Specs and like-minded minimalists, with a holy girl choir thrown in to knock me out of my pew. And through the whole album, there swirls this dark, churning current of references to our immediate past, our present and our gloomy future. It feels, at times, downright scary.

I am waxing too poetic for my own good here--I'll stop. But I'll say this: Arcade Fire is the only contemporary pop band that is capable of making me cry. And I don't mean cry because a song makes me think of my ex or my dead grandma. This is a band ultimately always in pursuit of beauty--and they know that beauty can also be dark and dischordant. That's why I cry.

Posted by Jacquie Fuller | March 7, 2007 11:56 AM

Arcade Fire?..my gawd..this was one of if not THEE BIGGEST day I and many others have seen for new releases. I'm not sure any other day this year will pass it up.

Kaddisfly - SET SAIL THE PRAIRIE
House of Fools - LIVE AND LEARN
Blackfield - BLACKFIELD II
Paulson - ALL AT ONCE (reissue)
Deas Vail - ALL THE HOUSES LOOK THE SAME

Posted by Kyle | July 3, 2007 12:29 PM

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