Best song on The Suburbs - Arcade Fire

[Thewlis]

Arcade Fire have done it again! Another brilliant record and that makes 3 in a row, a rare feat these days. And it will top the album chart this Sunday.

Not since The Smiths has an independent artist doing it on their own terms made it so big, without a hitsingle or even a song in the charts.

So what's everyone's favourite song on this new masterpiece?

 

[Anaesthesine]

I've only just given The Suburbs a first listen this morning, but it sounds grand, heartfelt, and very moving (my only quibble is the production - they've always sounded a bit "muddy" to me). It also sounds like a real album, every song being part of a larger picture. I like that a lot.

I'll probably listen to it a few more times today, and decide whether it's a letdown or an album that I just can't live without (like their other two).

BTW, there's a YouTube webcast of their Madison Square Garden show tonight, and it's going to be directed by Terry Gilliam! I'm sorry to have to miss it - should be interesting to say the very least.

 

[Anaesthesine]

This is far from my favorite song on the album, but it's great live:

 

[Girl-with-the-Thorn]

I really need to get this. Neon Bible (shamefully I haven't got Funeral yet) is definitely one of the best albums of the last decade, and hopefully this will live up to it.

 

[PregnantForTheLastTime]

I've only just given The Suburbs a first listen this morning, but it sounds grand, heartfelt, and very moving (my only quibble is the production - they've always sounded a bit "muddy" to me). It also sounds like a real album, every song being part of a larger picture. I like that a lot.

I'll probably listen to it a few more times today, and decide whether it's a letdown or an album that I just can't live without (like their other two).

BTW, there's a YouTube webcast of their Madison Square Garden show tonight, and it's going to be directed by Terry Gilliam! I'm sorry to have to miss it - should be interesting to say the very least.

Let's call 'em "subtle". It does not do for a commuter train ride, and I've little other time to listen these days. I'm voting for the final track, but I can't even articulate why.

 

[skellngtn]

well, to be fair, they did have David Bowie blathering on about them early on-appearing live with them/releasing a live EP with them(granted that might not mean much to the young 'uns around here, but I bet it gave them a bunch of his fans- me included- a reason to give them a spin)....and they did have that version of "Wake Up" on the buzz-worthy trailer for Where the Wild Things Are.

 

[Anaesthesine]

One day when Mr. Anaesthesine and I were hanging out with the TV on in the background, one of the videos from Funeral came on (the one where they're marching around with drums). We both stopped what we were doing and just watched in rapt, silent appreciation. It was the first time either of us had ever heard of Arcade Fire, but we liked them right away.

We're both pretty jaded and opinionated musically, and that's the first and only time since the 80s that we've both instantly agreed that what we were hearing was exceptional.

They didn't need any false hype, they're that good.

Let's call 'em "subtle". It does not do for a commuter train ride, and I've little other time to listen these days. I'm voting for the final track, but I can't even articulate why.

I've been listening to this album non-stop for the last four days. I spend endless hours in the car, and this album has been on repeat for much of that time.

I've decided that I LOVE IT. I think that their muddiness has been a result of heavy vocal processing and incredibly dense arrangements (not to mention they recorded their first and second albums in a bedroom and a church, respectively). My ears have adjusted.

I think my favorite song is either the first one (The Suburbs), or the sad, slow ballad near the end (I think it's called Sprawl 1).

 

[Grey]

I loved this album, and it was incredibly hard to pick a track, but for now I'm saying Suburban War. This may be subject to change though.

 

[Anaesthesine]

Since the album has been out, and Arcade Fire have gotten glowing reviews and the number 1 record in the US, the UK and Canada simultaneously, the inevitable backlash has begun.

They are being criticized as "derivative" and "boring." Well, I absolutely disagree with the boring charge, but I do hear their influences.

So far, they are charged with appropriating: The Cure, Bruce Springsteen, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order (who isn't?), Neil Young, Depeche Mode, Blondie, The Beatles, Bowie, Talking Heads and (surprisingly enough) Morrissey.

I know they're Smiths fans, but does anyone else hear the Morrissey influence?

 

[Thewlis]

Since the album has been out, and Arcade Fire have gotten glowing reviews and the number 1 record in the US, the UK and Canada simultaneously, the inevitable backlash has begun.

They are being criticized as "derivative" and "boring." Well, I absolutely disagree with the boring charge, but I do hear their influences.

So far, they are charged with appropriating: The Cure, Bruce Springsteen, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order (who isn't?), Neil Young, Depeche Mode, Blondie, The Beatles, Bowie, Talking Heads and (surprisingly enough) Morrissey.

I know they're Smiths fans, but does anyone else hear the Morrissey influence?

No, certainly not.
I do hear, however, many of the bands mentioend above in them, and I would add, Pixies, Bowie, Waterboys... They are certainly influenced by the 1980s in general, and that's a good thing to me, and they still have enough of themselves to remain interest.

Having lived with the record for a month now, I think it is easily as good as Neon Bible, probably even better.

 

[Anaesthesine]

I do hear, however, many of the bands mentioend above in them, and I would add, Pixies, Bowie, Waterboys... They are certainly influenced by the 1980s in general, and that's a good thing to me, and they still have enough of themselves to remain interest.

Having lived with the record for a month now, I think it is easily as good as Neon Bible, probably even better.

Normally I when I hear an '80s influence, but like you said, they make it their own.

The sequencing on this album is exquisite (that's an increasingly lost art). I must admit that I don't relate to some of the lyrics that much, but that's not Win Butler's fault. I did spend some time in a soulless suburban sprawl as a kid, however, and I totally get it: those '70s ranch houses were an abomination. I just wish he'd refrain from using the word "kids" in nearly every song.

I'm thinking "We Used to Wait" is my current favorite - great lyrics.