Arcade Fire

Neon Bible - Merge 2007

Tracks: 1. Black Mirror / 2. Keep the Car Running / 3. Neon Bible / 4. Intervention / 5. Black Wave/Bad Vibrations / 6. Ocean of Noise / 7. The Well and the Lighthouse / 8. Antichrist Television Blues / 9. Windowsill / 10. No Cars Go / 11. My Body is a Cage

Comments:

"Neon Bible" from 2007 is probably my favorite Arcade Fire album. It contains some of the group's strongest songs and it has no weak songs. It has, like the debut album, melody, drama and good variation in the compositions and arrangements.

Four singles were taken from the album; "Black Mirror", "Keep the Car Running", "Intervention" and "No Cars Go", songs that are actually quite different. "Black Mirror" is a melodic rocker, a bit in a Velvet Underground style. "Keep the car running" is another rocker, but less melodic but with a large number of instruments including a very noticeable mandolin. "Intervention" is the big highlight for me. Dramatic church organ, amazing melody and lyrics worth listening to. There is on Youtube a Video for the song with pictures from Sergei Eisenstein's iconic 1925 film, "Battleship Potemkin" - very powerful and moving. The last "No Cars Go" is almost techno - In the best version.

You could actually highlight most numbers; Another great favorite of mine is "Windowsill"; again a song with both drama and melody. Wim Butler is a fine and personal leadsinger, but it is also a pleasure to hear Régine Chassagne and Sara Neufeld mostly on harmony vocals, for example on "Neon Bible" and "The Well and the Lighthouse".

An album that will stand the test of time

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