In seven months from now it will be the dog days of summer and we will all be dressing up in our best Halloween costumes for a night with Arcade Fire and and and you were there and you were there and…
It is two years since I liked didn’t love Arcade Fire at MSG but while I realize my taste is certainly in the minority, I preferred Reflektor to The Suburbs and prefer dance to indie rock any dance so I am possibly more excited than you are over this.
Arcade Fire made so many mistakes on Reflektor, it was too long, it was too decentralized, and, like I wrote at the time, it was like the remix EP not the album. But all that said, well it should be great.
Funeral – 5 songs
Neon Bible – 2 songs
The Suburbs – 4 songs
Reflektor – 6 songs
So, The Suburbs comes in under Funeral and the purely excellent Neon Bible gets shafted (though we do get to hear “Keep The Car Running”.
Anyway, here you go:
Ready to Start – Irony will only get you so far even if the stalled before pouncing opening makes sense – B
Flashbulb Eyes – Ugh? Why the hell this deep album track off an album which works like the poster boy for deep album tracks – C
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) – Not bad Funeral track, bound to be a fan favorite but I remain unconvinced – B
Joan of Arc – I really love the groove on this one, it’s like supers mart disco – B+
The Suburbs – The line about wanting a girl but being fine with a girl makes me wanna cry – A
The Suburbs (Continued) – Absolutely gorgeous – A
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) – This was a much bigger song for them then you think, first song of the first album an a big statement song (though aren’t they all…) – B+
Haïti – Yoko time – C+
Afterlife – Pretty good but not quite memorable, strange tempos – B+
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – Paul and Linda! – B
Reflektor – One of their greatest songs, a perfect disco song for the era of MIDEM – A
My Body Is a Cage – I know I said I wanted more Neon Bible, just not this song – C
Keep the Car Running – Their greatest song, a paranoid dream of a terrorism about to explode – A+
Normal Person – A goodie off the newbie with its faked out opening and finger snapping slapping vibe – A
Rebellion (Lies) – One of their three flat out masterpiece, (if you’re not keeping track “Reflektor” and “Keep The Car Running” are the other two –all three will be performed) , an up against smack down of government’s peons – A
Here Comes the Night Time – Wonderful beat here, it shudders throughout the song and the break seems to have arrived from another song – A
Wake Up – They still haven’t found a replacement for this huge call to arms – B+