Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Arcade FireBrand: Baker & Taylor
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-03-06
Music Label: Merge Records
Product features:
- Pop
- Black Mirror
- Keep The Car Running
- Neon Bible
- Intervention
- Black Wave/Bad Vibrations
- Ocean Of Noise
- Well & The Lighthouse, The
- Antichrist Television Blues
- Windowsill
- No Cars Go
- My Body Is A Cage
Free Music Notes for Neon Bible
Free Music Review: Best Album of 2007 - and possibly the next great Band
Hit: 5 Stars
In the 1980s, the pop music landscape got littered with synth-pop - synthesizer and keyboard-laden sounds. The 1990s music landscape saw Alternative Rock begin to basically become part of the mainstream music fold. Alternative Rock began to incorporate a more natural guitar-laden sound emphasizing both electric and acoustic guitars. To some extent the dominance of the guitar-laden sound has put keyboards and synthesizers in the background. Many have made the argument that the music of the 2000s has a "cookie cutter" sound. This has alienated some hard-core music fans and is definitely a contributing factor to the music tailspin that has taken place in the 2000s. As a result, the music industry has become ripe for a new sound. In 2007, a Canadian band from Montreal emerged seeming ready to take the mantle. Arcade Fire's sophomore full-length album, "Neon Bible" might be a "dark" sounding album, but the incorporation of an orchestral sound brings a much needed change of pace to the "cookie cutter" sound of the 2000s. In fact, I'll feel this might be the best thing to happen to the music industry in 25 years - and easily helps "Neon Bible" claim the title as "Best Album of 2007"
In the early 1980s, I remember telling people that U2 was going to become the next big sensation in music. I wasn't alone in those thoughts as I had heard many people echo those thoughts. When "Neon Bible" made the airwaves in 2007, I remember hearing a lot of positive things about the band. Once I heard "Neon Bible", I was convinced that I had now heard the next great sensation in music. Arcade Fire didn't come from left field as their debut album "Funeral" had garnered some significant attention in the music industry. "Funeral" had a very dark tone to it. The sound of "Funeral" has an orchestral feel - with a big emphasis on the strings. In a lot of respects "Neon Bible" expands on this sound by incorporating the use of a pipe organ and gospel choir type sounds. It are these instruments incorporated into some terrific arrangements that help this album stand above many others.
As for the vocals, these are primarily handled by the husband/wife duo that forms the nucleus for Arcade Fire - Wim Butler and Regine Chassagne. It is Butler who primarily handles the vocals and Chassagne takes more of a secondary role. Still having two vocalists makes the sound twice as good. It adds to the appeal of this band and helps this album emerge as the best of 2007.
"Neon Bible" is going to be one of those albums requires several listens. Each time you listen, it will grow on you and you will learn something new. Here is a track by track synopsis.
"Black Mirror": The title of this song sets the "dark" tone for this album and once you listen to the instrumentation, this backs it up. The orchestral sound is alive and well, but it gets a great lead-in from some Timpani drums. Listen to how Chassagne's vocals supplement Butler perfectly as this is a pattern throughout the whole album.
"Keep the Car Running": This has a bit of a mainstream and Rock feel. This explains why Bruce Springsteen covered this song in concert. Great track.
"Neon Bible": This is a slow and haunting track. The chorus has a mantra-like feel to it. Of all of the tracks on the album, it relies the least on instrumentation.
"Intervention": Home-run track. The song opens with a pipe organ that continues throughout the song. Here Butler's vocals really shine. This song has a terrific "build up" to a crescendo that layers a Rock sound on top of it. The choir adds a great effect.
"Black Wave/Bad Vibrations": This is a tale of two tracks. Chassagne handles vocals in the first part ("Black Wave" - featuring some great French vocals) and Butler handles it on the second part ("Bad Vibrations"). Entire part has a dark feel, but it gets darker during Butler's part of the song. The choir kicks in in the second half as well.
"Ocean of Noise": This track opens with the sounds of the ocean followed by instrumentation that reflects the sound of the ocean. The instrumentation almost has a Dire Straits feel to it. The timpani drums really play a pivotal role toward the end of the track.
"The Well and the Lighthouse": This song has a true alternative rock feel to it as it opens, but listen to the outstanding instrumentation. Chassagne's background vocals are spot on.
"(Antichrist Television Blues)": This track has a guitar sound to it, yet it sounds nothing like the cookie cutter music of the 2000s. The choir does a great job at supplementing the sound. The sudden ending to the song fits perfectly.
"Windowstill": This might be the most underrated track of the album. The orchestral-like sounds don't come in until midway through the track, but when they do - they add a perfect touch to this track. Butler does a great job using his vocals to control the tempo of the song.
"No Cars Go": A terrific duet by Butler and Chassagne. This song appeared on a prior EP (not counting that as a full album), but now has a deeper orchestral arrangement. Another Home-run.
"My Body is a Cage": This song has a feel a lot like the title track. While the beginning doesn't rely on instrumentation, the ending does- using all of the power of the orchestra and pipe organ. This is the perfect wrap-up song.
The liner notes include the lyrics, but I wish it would have done a better job at crediting the musicians that make up Arcade Fire. The only question about Arcade Fire is can they keep this up in the future and truly take the title of the next great band? Time will tell.
Neon Bible Poster
The second album from Montreal's Arcade Fire exceeds all expectations. With string and orchestral arrangements by two of the band members, "Neon Bible" is full of both half-assed punk rock mistakes and meticulously orchestrated woodwinds. Processed strings and mandolin. Quiet rumbles and loud rumbles. But mostly just eleven songs that the band thinks are really good.For their second full-length, the Montreal-based seven-or-eight-piece Arcade Fire show themselves capable of Big Rock, as original, and as potentially marquee-topping as TV on the Radio and Sigur Ros. Regardless, the intentional murkiness of these pleasantly anthemic New Wave dirges makes it sound as if the music has already reverberated through a crowded cement stadium. Named after cult author John Kennedy Toole's first novel, Neon Bible is smart and subtle enough to present itself as a personal discovery for every listener, every word to be pored over by fans (as with those of Tori Amos, Pavement, and Radiohead). Surely, lines like "The sound is not asleep/ It's moving under my feet" have already been scribbled onto the margins of countless textbooks. Such words are delivered with less intensity this time, but no less import. For vocal influences, lead singer Win Butler seems to have traded his '80s Bowie in for an '80s Springsteen, at least on the songs "Antichrist Television Blues" and "Windowsill" (though "Intervention" sounds an awful lot like '80s era Go-Betweens). The kitchen sink arrangements include the use of an Eastern European orchestra, pipe organ, hurdy gurdy, and a military choir. --Mike McGonigal
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