As you’ve all noticed the last few weeks, I’ve been constantly listening to Arcade Fire. However, I was only listening to my favorite songs off the records, essentially from when I listened to them all for the first time. This means that not a whole lot was coming off of Everything Now or Reflektor, or even Funeral! The Suburbs was my first foray into the band’s work, and Neon Bible was a logical next step in my listening history/journey. While I do like some songs from those other efforts, I decided it was about time to give them another shake and see if my tastes have expanded.
Good news. They did! While not every song was a hit, I certainly am adding more to my existing playlist than before. I decided to start from the beginning, so I grabbed my CD player and popped in their debut album, Funeral. Man oh man was I sleeping on “Haiti!” The bass in that song is exquisite, and the lyrics are just gut-wrenching. I listened to a lot of versions of this song played live afterwards, and it’s even better in that format! I also gained some new love and respect for “Neighborhood 1 (Tunnels)” and “Neighborhood 2 (Laika).” Again, the live performance of “Laika” is almost infinitely better solely because I got to watch Richard Reed Parry and Will Butler beat the shit out of random instruments and each other during the course of the performance. I highly recommend you look some of those up (or check my personal favorite out here). Aside from those few songs and “Rebellion (Lies)” and “Neighborhood 3 (Power Out)”, the rest of the track list just didn’t do it for me. Sorry to all you “Wake Up” fans.
Next up was their sophomore effort, Neon Bible. Sophomore slump? What’s that? Nothing Arcade Fire knows about, that’s for sure! This album is fantastic from start to finish. Recorded in an old church, seeping through every song on this album was the feel of somber religious music, with an organ, amongst many other instruments, making an appearance in a few of the songs. Nothing is more beautiful in my mind than “Ocean of Noise” and “My Body is a Cage.” Absolutely no song on this album goes un-loved by me. If you want to be amazed even more, check out this somewhat acapella version of “My Body is a Cage” here. In love!
Probably the most popular of Arcade Fire’s discography is their Grammy winning album, The Suburbs. Rightfully so. Just like Neon Bible, The Suburbs had such a cohesive narrative and sound that it made you feel like you yourself was stuck in the suburbs! It also addressed the death of consumerism in an age of the internet, along with generalizations of suburban life. This album has a lot more songs to offer than their previous releases, so I wasn’t quite sold on every song. Even listening to it a second time through, I still don’t really care for “Deep Blue,” “Wasted Hours,” or “Sprawl I (Flatlands).” Otherwise go immerse yourself in this genius musical opus, especially my personal favorites, “City with No Children” and “We Used to Wait.”
Following that masterpiece was Reflektor, which seemed like a major departure from the bands typical sound. A lot more upbeat, dance-rock, with more machine produced sounds, this record threw me for a loop at first, and up until now I didn’t even listen to half of the 13 tracks! From the start I was immediately sold on “Reflektor,” “We Exist,” and “Afterlife,” but this second listen had me liking almost every other song! Unfortunately, “Flashbulb Eyes,” “Here Comes the Night Time II,” and “Awful Sound (Euridyce)” still didn’t make the cut. The rest of this album makes me want to move constantly, and I am a horrible dancer, so that’s saying something. I also recommend giving this version of “Joan of Arc” a listen – so good!
Everything Now finally got it’s turn again last night, and just like Reflektor, I give this album much more credit than I did the first time around. With that being said, this is still my least favorite release from the band. “Everything Now,” “Creature Comfort,” “Put Your Money on Me,” and “Electric Blue” were certified hits from the start, while most of the rest of the songs are just fine. I say most because “Peter Pan” was pretty rough, but nothing prepared me for the awfulness that was “Chemistry.” In the middle of the first verse I thought to myself, “who decided this should make it onto an album that people will listen to?” I was genuinely perplexed, but I stuck it out for the whole song. Spoiler: it didn’t get better. With that being said, this album got a lot of undeserved crap (myself included), and upon a second listen, it was actually quite decent. Surely the weakest link, but still a lot better than the garbage they play on top 40 radio these days. Might I recommend checking out the awesome music video for “Put Your Money on Me” and “We Don’t Deserve Love” for your viewing pleasure? It’s even got a Toni Collette cameo – win!
Overall, you can’t go wrong with Arcade Fire’s catalog. If I only didn’t really care for twenty percent of what was put out, then they are in the top echelon of musical greatness in my book. All of their albums are worth your time (plus those awesome performances I linked for you), and again, if you ever get the chance to see them live, you must do it! With that, go finish the rest of your week off with some sweet tunes!