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Rating: The day has come. The day of truth. The day when it will be known for certain if "Funeral" (one of the most awarded albums of recent years and unanimously praised by critics) is and will remain a unique and isolated masterpiece of Arcade Fire. Yes, in my opinion, it's the true masterpiece of the last 10 years of music. I want to exaggerate, or rather, I can do it, given that what Arcade Fire made me listen to with their first album is currently what each of us would like to hear from a song, from an album.
Well yes, Arcade Fire first surprised me, then thrilled me, and finally made me fall in love. And I assure you it's not easy. Historic bands like Radiohead, The Cure, Massive Attack have always been immobile up there, on the podium, unreachable, unattainable, and albums like 'Ok Computer', 'Disintegration', 'Blue Lines', at the top of my playlist. They are those bands that we all have and adore, for which we would drive 1,000 km to go listen to them, waking up at dawn and spending even the unspendable. Yes, it is exactly them. Well, for me, Arcade Fire is up there with them. One album, just one album, was enough to make me fall in love with them, make me buy their t-shirt, and buy tickets to London to listen to them live next March 17th. But let's get back to the music, "Neon Bible", here it is, it's here, the album, as they say, of confirmation. And what a confirmation, let me say.
In those two years since the release of "Funeral," the phrase that kept buzzing in my head was always the same "They can't make it. It's difficult. How can they repeat themselves, it's too hard. Then they never make it." Yes, they never make it, the other bands. Every time a group is born with an album that smells new, we often have to withdraw the compliments and enthusiasm almost always turns into disappointment, especially with the arrival of the second album, the one of confirmation indeed. And then Funeral, how do they repeat themselves, they must be really, really like the greats, yes, the historic bands, those up there, to be able to repeat an album at least equal to the first one. Well, what I want to tell you, why I'm writing you this "sort" of review is that Arcade Fire SUCCEEDED!! "Neon Bible" is the confirmation that this Canadian band is not here by chance, passing through, for business, for the will of a producer, or simply to "make a living" (like hundreds of bands we listen to hopefully but which we then see inexorably disappearing or, worse, reappearing later with a trash album).
Arcade Fire is here to play, to do it well, to do it from the heart, like once, like 20 years ago when labels were few and were born to give the best bands the opportunity to emerge, to be heard and not only to make money always and in any case. Arcade Fire is here to leave a mark that won't be easily forgotten. And "Neon Bible" is the confirmation of that. We are not talking about a "paranoid" search for alternative, electronic sounds, or a cutting-edge rock never heard before, but simply of excellent music, from the heart, original because it is pure not because it is different. There are several tracks in the album worthy of mention (almost all I would say) so selection is not easy: "Black wave/Bad Vibrations", basically the union of two songs as different as they are alike in which the two splendid voices of Regine and Win seem to "clash" and compare, the first shrill and sharp, the second deep and dark, almost a cry. Another track, that already at the second listening did not leave my body unmoved, is "Ocean of Noise", a classic crescendo song with a final instrumental part overflowing with violins and guitars caressing and emerging over Win's voice. The Cure (of Disintegration to be clear) could not do better.
"No cars go", already present in the previous 2005 EP, re-sung and re-played with a much better audio quality than the first release. "Windowstill", a stuttering ballad, made of slow and fast rhythms, with continuous rhythm changes that explode literally in the second part of the song. To conclude "My Body is a Cage", a poignant and suffering ballad closing the album, with organs accompanying Win's husky voice and accompanied by a drumworthy of 'Pornography'.
This is it. I only ask you a favor at this point. If I am wrong, if what you hear from this album is different from what I described, tell me and wake me up from this sound dream.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Black Mirror (04:11)
I walked down to the ocean
After waking from a nightmare
No moon, no pale reflection
Black Mirror, Black Mirror
Shot by a security camera
You can't watch your own image
And also look yourself in the eye
Black Mirror, Black Mirror, Black Mirror
I know a time is coming
All words will lose their meaning
Please show me something that isn't mine
But mine is the only kind that I relate to
Le miroir casse,
The mirror casts mon reflet partout
Black Mirror, Black Mirror, Black Mirror
The black mirror knows no reflection
It knows not pride or vanity
It cares not about your dreams
It cares not for your pyramid schemes
Their names are never spoken
The curse is never broken
The curse is never broken
Un! Deux! Trois! Dis: Miroir Noir!
Black Mirror!
Un! Deux! Trois! Dis: Miroir Noir!
Black Mirror!
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Show me where them bombs will fall.
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Show me where them bombs will fall.
Black Mirror!
Black Mirror!
Black Mirror!
03 Neon Bible (02:16)
A vial of hope and a vial of pain,
In the light they both looked the same.
Poured them out on into the world,
On every boy and every girl.
It's in the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival,
If the Neon Bible is right.
Take the poison of your age,
Don't lick your fingers when you turn the page,
What I know is what you know is right,
In the city it's the only light.
It's the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible,
Not much chance for survival
If the Neon Bible is right.
Oh God! well look at you now!
Oh! you lost it, but you don't know how!
In the light of a golden calf,
Oh God! I had to laugh!
Take the poison of your age,
Don't lick your fingers when you turn the page,
It was wrong but you said it was right,
In the future I will read at night.
In the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival,
If the Neon Bible is true.
04 Intervention (04:19)
The king's taken back the throne.
The useless seed is sown.
And when they say they're cutting off the phone,
I tell them you're not home.
With no place to hide,
you're fighting as a soldier on their side.
You're still a soldier in your mind,
though nothing's on the line.
You say it's money that we need,
as if we're only mouths to feed.
I know no matter what you say,
there's some debts you'll never pay.
Working for the church while your family dies.
You take what they give you and then keep it inside.
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home.
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone."
I can taste the fear.
Lift me up and take me out of here.
Don't wanna fight, don't wanna die,
just wanna hear you cry.
Who's gonna throw the very first stone?
Oh, who's gonna re-set the bone?
Walking with your head in a sling,
wanna hear the soldier sing:
"Working for the Church while my family dies."
Your little baby sister's gonna lose her mind.
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home.
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone."
I can taste your fear,
(taste your fear)
it's gonna lift you up and take you out of here;
(take you out of here)
and the bone shall never heal,
I care not if you kneel.
We can't find you now,
(can't find you now)
but they're gonna get their money back somehow.
(gonna get their money back somehow)
And when you finally disappear,
we'll just say you were never here.
Been working for the church while your life falls apart.
(Your life, it falls apart.)
Been singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart.
(The fear is in your heart.)
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home.
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone."
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone."
06 Ocean of Noise (04:53)
In an ocean of noise,
I first heard your voice,
Ringing like a bell,
As if I had a choice,
Oh well
Left in the morning
While you were fast asleep,
Into an ocean of violence,
A world of empty streets.
You've got your reasons,
And me I've got mine,
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies to buy myself some time.
In an ocean of noise,
I first heard your voice.
Now who here among us
Still believes in choice?
Not I
No way of knowing
What any man will do,
An ocean of violence
Between me and you.
You've got your reasons,
And me I've got mine,
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies to buy myself some time.
I'm gonna work it out.
'Cause time won't work it out.
I'm gonna work it out.
'Cause time won't work it out for you.
I'm gonna work it on out.
07 The Well and the Lighthouse (03:56)
I'm serving time
all for a crime I did commit.
You want the truth?
You know I'd do it all again.
Left for dead,
heaven is only in my head!
I heard a voice
calling from down inside a well.
"See that silver shine?"
she said to come claim what was mine.
So down I fell,
down into the water black.
My prison cell,
only the moon was shining back!
This fall seemed lost, when I weighted the cost
and chose my crime
now it's mine all mine!
I heard the voice
calling from just outside the well.
She said, "You fool, now that
you know your end is near;
you always fall
for what you desire
or what you fear!"
Resurrected
living in a lighthouse,
If we leave them ships are gonna wreck.
Resurrected
living in a lighthouse,
The lions and the lambs ain't sleeping yet.
Resurrected
living in a lighthouse,
Can you see the front side? Ships are gonna wreck.
Resurrected
living in a lighthouse,
The lions and the lambs ain't sleeping yet.
09 Windowsill (04:16)
Don't wanna hear the noises on TV,
Don't want the salesmen coming after me.
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't want it faster, I don't want it free,
Don't wanna show you what they done to me,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't wanna choose black or blue,
Don't wanna see what they done to you,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
'Cause the tide is high,
and it's rising still,
and I don't wanna see it at my windowsill.
Don't wanna give 'em my name and address,
Don't wanna see what happens next,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't wanna live with my father's debt,
You can't forgive what you can't forget,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't wanna fight in a holy war,
Don't want the salesmen knocking at my door,
I don't wanna live in America no more.
'Cause the tide is high,
and it's rising still,
And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill.
MTV, what have you done to me?
Save my soul, set me free!
Set me free! What have you done to me?
I can't breathe! I can't see!
World War III
when are you coming for me?
Been kicking up sparks,
we set the flames free.
The windows are locked now,
so what'll it be?
A house on fire, or a rising sea?
Why is the night so still?
Why did I take the pill?
Because I don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don wanna see it at my windowsill! Don't
wanna see it at my windowsill! Don't wan-
na see it at my windowsill! Don't wanna
see it at my windowsill! Don't wanna see
it at my windowsill! Don't wanna see it
at my windowsill! Don't wanna see it at
my windowsill! Don't wanna see it at my
windowsill! Don't wanna see it at my win-
dowsill! Don't wanna see it at my window-
sill! Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
11 My Body Is a Cage (04:47)
My body is a cage
that keeps me from dancing
with the one I love,
but my mind holds the key.
My body is a cage
that keeps me from dancing
with the one I love,
but my mind holds the key.
I'm standing on a stage
of fear and self-doubt.
It's a hollow play,
but they'll clap anyway.
My body is a cage
that keeps me from dancing
with the one I love,
but my mind holds the key.
You're standing next to me.
My mind holds the key.
I'm living in an age
that calls darkness light.
Though my language is dead,
still the shapes fill my head.
I'm living in an age
whose name I don't know.
Though the fear keeps me moving,
still my heart beats so slow.
My body is a cage
that keeps me from dancing
with the one I love,
but my mind holds the key.
You're standing next to me.
My mind holds the key.
My body is a...
My body is a cage.
We take what we're given.
Just because you've forgotten,
that don't mean you're forgiven.
I'm living in an age
that screams my name at night,
But when I get to the doorway
there's no one in sight.
I'm living in an age:
They laugh when I'm dancing
With the one I love
But my mind holds the key.
You're standing next to me.
My mind holds the key.
Set my spirit free.
Set my spirit free.
Set my body free.
Set my body free.
Set my spirit free.
Set my body free.
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Other reviews
By Pi.Per.
Win Butler and Regine Chassagne return with a new guise, less shiny and more conventional.
A work that demonstrates how Arcade Fire have matured and gained greater awareness of their abilities.
By joe strummer
Arcade Fire leaves aside some of the citationism and dives full speed into their talent, bringing forth thunderous explosions of newfound perfection and beauty.
Arcade Fire is writing the grammar of pop rock music for the new millennium.
By CapitanZalo
The ingredients are not particularly original (quite the opposite), yet they are mixed with something rare, namely passion, honesty, humility, and perhaps even a bit of naivety.
"Neon Bible" is, in my opinion, an excellent reaffirmation of Arcade Fire’s talent, a more mature album, certainly more thoughtful and definitively enjoyable.
By lemonbros
Arcade Fire... because when you hear a song from those mentioned before... YOU CRY.
It was difficult to repeat the creative/emotional success of the previous 'Funeral,' but the seven Canadians manage it perfectly.
By nickwire2
There are moments when technology, lights, and mechanics create a deafening and alien sound, a symphony of evil, the antechamber of hell.
Neon Bible summarizes all of this in seemingly disconnected episodes, actually tied with a double thread: amidst continuous neurotic ups and downs and stifled emotions.
