Arcade Fire - Neon Bible Review

Arcade Fire want to explode into your home. They want to burst in to your iPod and make every other album you own obsolete.

They try to grab a hold of everything on this album. The song topics and lyrics are huge. The subjects include life, death, love, hate, religion, politics, and all sorts of points in between.

Do they get it done? The answer is, sort of and God love them for trying. This album will not change the world, or your life, it is just a great album that knows what it is and tries to reach deeper than the rest of the crowd around it.

I have listened to this album a few times and the other night I went through the record track by track.

1. Black Mirror – A droning, dark track with a 2 word chorus the same as the title. This song feels David Bowie-ish to me. There's a sensuality to this track that the band has not touched on before. As far as openers go, it does not slam you against the wall. It just gets your attention and makes you want to hear the rest of what the band has to say.
   
   
2. Keep The Car Running – Driving beat, ready for the arena. Very Springsteen in both lyric content and in musical feel (which runs throughout the album). This is where the band wants you to know that they are going for something big. You can dance to this song and it feels very alive. Just like the best Springsteen stuff, it sounds very American.
   
   
3. Neon Bible - Four on the floor kick drum and repeating acoustic guitar riff. The album pulls back as soon as it looks like it will take flight. Of all the tracks on this record, I found myself singing the line “neon bible – not much chance for survival” over and over after I finished listening. The song is short at just over 2 minutes.
   
   
4. Intervention – An absolute WALL of pipe organ greats you in this song and the first line is “the king’s taking back the throne.” One word describes this song, Unafraid. The title is perfect for this song. The band is warning you. Don’t give in to convention, don’t be afraid, don’t follow the rules or “every spark of friendship and love will die without a home.”
   
   
5. Black Waves/Bad Vibrations – This song is split in to two parts. The first bit is lead by Régine and is a bit of a mis-step. Not in that it is bad, but Win’s voice is just so fantastic that I miss hearing it all the way through this tune. At 1:40 the tempo changes and Win takes over singing again and the song breaks the concrete as it lands on the ground. The beat pounds in your chest and the angels sing in the distance. This is my least favorite song on the record but it is still strong.
   
   
6. Ocean of Noise – A 50’s surf song drum beat and bass line are the foundations of this song. This song gets you ready for the second half of the record where the album really set's off. The outro sounds like ghosts covering the E Street Band.
   
   
7. The Well And The Lighthouse – Bang. The second half begins. The fastest tempo track on the record. “Heaven is only in my head” Win shouts and the band takes off. No band is doing this better right now than Arcade Fire. It feels like life and death hangs in the balance on this one before salvation comes in the form of a fifties music drum beat and guitar progression.
   
   
8. Antichrist Television Blues – An acoustic guitar introduces this song that again, sounds like the best of the boss. “Don’t wanna work in a building down town” is repeated and the song has the sound of the lost Midwest. This one just floors me. It’s not easy to put your heart on your sleeve on record and pure heart is being poured out all through this whole song.
   
   
9. Windowsill – Got up and got a beer in-between these two songs. The intense lyrics throughout this song make it my favorite. This song is rebellion. A rejection of everything and everyone around you. “MTV what have you done to me, save my soul and set me free.” Hell yeah.
   
   
10. No Cars Go – “No cars go where we know.” A lyric line that is open to your own interpretation like “where the streets have no name.” The drum beat and horns sound like Broken Social Scene and the strings propel the song along. The closing statement of the album like Rebellion (lies) was for funeral. The next song is a Post Script.
    
    
11. My Body Is A Cage – The opposite statement of the previous song. The last song says let’s go, we’re free, let’s get out of here, but this song says “my body is a cage that keeps me from dancing with the one I love.” The song builds and builds until it climaxes when the band, an organ, string and horns all come crashing in. The song and album, end in a prayer. “Stay next to me, my mind holds the key, set my spirit free, set my spirit free, set my body free, set my body free”
    

This is really a brilliant record. Not even close to perfect, but it exceeds the expectations I had for a follow up from this band. This will no doubt be near the top of my year end list.