In a world where everyone wants to find The Next Big Thing, it's easy to be almost too over-enthusiastic about something, and Arcade Fire could as easily have suffered the fate of being 'Too Cool' or, 'Too Good', as they could have been looked over entirely. There are so many bands around at the moment tagged 'life-affirming', that it's understandable how many people see that label and run.
For once though, I think this is a band that deserve such a label.
Beloved, almost immediately, by everyone who's anyone and a few people that were no-one, not to mention pretty much everyone responsible for the BBC's music output; once the merry strains of 'Wake Up' and 'Power Out' had been picked up upon, they graced everything from montages at the end of Match of the Day to adverts for digital radio, or similar.
So it is that, if you've missed the hype, and you come to this album fresh, you'll likely find you recognise bits of it, here and there, themes and tunes, and that'll be why.
Why's it been so popular for such things? Because this album reeks of atmosphere, of sensation, and feeling, and scenery. It's a soundscape, that shifts and drifts around itself and builds upon itself with every song.
To track-by-track review this album, to me, seems somehow a little irrelevant, because it's a symphony of itself, it's the complete work, and not really something that needs breaking up.
That said, I have favourites, and tracks stand alone perfectly well, but as an entire album, I think it's at its best.
To be more specific, what's so special about this band is the sheer amount of noise, and passion, that goes into what are essentially fairly simple songs.
I confess to not being much up on names and band members, but in a way, I don't want to spoil the 'myth' of it all. The lead singer often isn't the most toneful or tuneful vocalist in the world, if you watch them live, as I have done a couple of times, muscially they're so intense, that the odd skipped and improvised notes here and there make no odds to the blanket of sound.
The trick is, that everything about this just works. It's music to drag you in and make you think, it's sinister, if you look at the lyrics, practically post-apocalyptic in places, thrilling, and challenging, with its tales of chidren sneaking about an adultless town, and descriptions of power cuts that express everyone's vulnerabilies in the dark.
And then it twists and turns in places into something so melodically hopeful, so euphoric in itself, that you can't bring yourself to think anything other than, everything's nothing less than perfect.
It's no wonder, to me, that Arcade Fire have become the musician's choice of bands, that everyone from David Bowie to Paris Hilton has been seen at their shows. Take it from one extreme to the other, they're an incredibly talented band, whose music alone could pretty much fill any void going...
I'd highly recommend this album. Have it, keep it, and even if it doesn't work for you at first, there will, I'd very nearly guarantee, unless you absolutely out and out loathe music of this type, be a time for it, when you'll listen to it, get into it, and above all, be glad that it's there at all.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
"Wake Up," a track from,Funeral, the debut full-length by Montreal's Arcade Fire, builds ... more
from a midtempo strum into a "You Can't Hurry Love" gallop, which singer Win Butler interrupts with a yell: "You better look out below!" Somehow, none of this hits...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
"Wake Up," a track from, Funeral, the debut full-length by Montreal's Arcade Fire, builds ... more
from a midtempo strum into a "You Can't Hurry Love" gallop, which singer Win Butler interrupts with a yell: "You better look out below!" Somehow, none of this hit...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
'Funeral' is the debut album from Canadian five piece The Arcade Fire. Written and ... more
recorded at a time when close family members of the band had passed away, the album draws on these experiences and mixes them with a sound which has been compared to the...
Advantages: Sublime Tracks, Beautiful Arrangement, Intriguing Lyrics, Intriguing Sound, Unique Disadvantages: The album sleeve could of been an album case
Advantages: Good production, good tunes and sentiments, doesn't outstay it's welcome Disadvantages: If you're not in the mood, it can seem borderline whiny
Advantages: Original, funny, terrifying, scary, emotional...the list goes on Disadvantages: Are there any? Not every track is instantly accesable, but get into it!
Advantages: Sublime Tracks, Beautiful Arrangement, Intriguing Lyrics, Intriguing Sound, Unique Disadvantages: The album sleeve could of been an album case
Advantages: Good production, good tunes and sentiments, doesn't outstay it's welcome Disadvantages: If you're not in the mood, it can seem borderline whiny
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