Red Mosquito

Ello Sailor wrote:Suburbs is amazing tho

The best imo.

I'd find it pretty hard to separate their first three albums these days. Probably the greatest opening run of any band post-2000.

Neon Bible
Funeral
The Suburbs

Everything Now
Reflector

but none of these are bad albums; if anything I think AF tend to need more honing / distilling of their ideas (I think there are two albums in Reflektor, one seemingly about social justice and the other with a mythological strand, and I can't for the life of me figure out how / why they are talking to each other)

I'm really looking forward to seeing if We is more successful for being shorter

Ello Sailor wrote:I'd find it pretty hard to separate their first three albums these days. Probably the greatest opening run of any band post-2000.

agreed

it's kind of interesting to me that they seemingly had an identity crisis and fell off the wagon so early in their career; maybe the only way is up?

Not really "early" when you consider the time between albums. Reflektor was 9 years after Funeral.

Put Your Money on Me is also really good on EN

these are all songs I like a bunch:

Everything Now
Creature Comfort
Peter Pan
Electric Blue
Put Your Money on Me

the rest are kinda fillery to me but enjoyable enough; I put this album above Reflektor because Reflektor has higher highs but is much more uneven to me, and I prefer a consistently good album to a sometimes great album in general

Ello Sailor wrote:Not really "early" when you consider the time between albums. Reflektor was 9 years after Funeral.

that's true

Ms Harmless wrote:these are all songs I like a bunch:

Everything Now
Creature Comfort
Peter Pan
Electric Blue
Put Your Money on Me

the rest are kinda fillery to me but enjoyable enough; I put this album above Reflektor because Reflektor has higher highs but is much more uneven to me, and I prefer a consistently good album to a sometimes great album in general

I like being challenged by the weird, difficult stuff in between. They’re growers

I'm on the fence about Good God Damn, some days it would go on that best of EN list

tree_ wrote:

Ms Harmless wrote:these are all songs I like a bunch:

Everything Now
Creature Comfort
Peter Pan
Electric Blue
Put Your Money on Me

the rest are kinda fillery to me but enjoyable enough; I put this album above Reflektor because Reflektor has higher highs but is much more uneven to me, and I prefer a consistently good album to a sometimes great album in general

I like being challenged by the weird, difficult stuff in between. They’re growers

yeah I agree, I don't think "filler" was quite right, they've definitely grown from "active dislike" to "interesting bridges between my favourites"

also wow, I'm so tired I forgot to put WDDL on that list; it's 100% a favourite, maybe the best song on here

Alright. Here we go - couple of quick entries:

Arcade Fire (EP)

These releases are sometimes the most fun to start with, especially with something as epic as Funeral coming after. Here, we get all these wonderful glimpses of what’s to come: the great layering of instruments, the ways the songs shift and pull, and some of that almost rock and roll orchestra, but here mixed in with a few songs that oddly remind me of a Neil Young (My Heart Is an Apple, Vampires/Forest Fire). The Woodlands National Anthem has such a great riff going on underneath. No Cars Go is simply cool as hell. Old Flame is a great start. This isn’t perfect, but it’s a pretty damn good start and will only go up from here for a while. The songs aren’t as cohesive as it will get with Funeral, but even here the potential is quite evident.

macphisto wrote:

Ello Sailor wrote:Suburbs is amazing tho

The best imo.

i'm with u.

Funeral

This one is much harder to talk about, mostly because it’s about as damn near perfect of an album as it gets. There are sonic explorations, songs that you just know practically the first time you hear them like a signature for an entire sub genre of rock laid out before you and encapsulating the whole damn deal. I pass through this album every once in a while, but you’d think I obsessed over it for years with the level of familiarity that is immediate and enduring thereafter. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Wake Up, and Rebellion (Lies) feel permanently etched in my brain. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) a Pavlovian introduction for what’s to come. In the Backseat an amazing final coda. I probably haven’t heard this thing from to back a dozen times and yet it feels ingrained like OK Computer or Ten or countless other albums I have spun over a hundred times. It also feels like a full cohesive statement - all this together I think takes some otherworldly talent. Whether they could maintain that level of excellence will be up for debate and discussion here but I am happy to be in for the ride.

As an aside, two journeys simultaneously is a lot but I only have Til Friday for this one.

Neon Bible

I have no real legitimate excuse here as to why this is the first time I am listening to this album. I have heard all their albums except this one before, even if only once, so it makes nearly no sense. That means I have about 15 years of missing out on what is a great Arcade Fire record, with all the bombast and drama. For the most part, these songs are all killer. Black Mirror and Keep the Car Running are a great one-two punch. Intervention is pretty exceptional, I really was enjoying The Well and the Lighthouse and Antichrist Television Blues, and then the slow down in Windowsill. No Cars Go might be even better here than on the EP for some reason. I really enjoyed this one. My Body is a Cage is an epic closer. Damn these guys are great.

liebzz wrote:Neon Bible

I have no real legitimate excuse here as to why this is the first time I am listening to this album. I have heard all their albums except this one before, even if only once, so it makes nearly no sense. That means I have about 15 years of missing out on what is a great Arcade Fire record, with all the bombast and drama. For the most part, these songs are all killer. Black Mirror and Keep the Car Running are a great one-two punch. Intervention is pretty exceptional, I really was enjoying The Well and the Lighthouse and Antichrist Television Blues, and then the slow down in Windowsill. No Cars Go might be even better here than on the EP for some reason. I really enjoyed this one. My Body is a Cage is an epic closer. Damn these guys are great.

damn I wish I could listen to this one for the first time again! it's an all-time favourite for me, so so special

My Body is a Cage is a wonderful song.

Yeah, ll dive into these guys today.