Arcade Fire - Album #3 - Page 2

If I had the money, I'd love to go to the show in Nashville. It sucks to have precedences.

I love the tracks, especially "The Suburbs". Love the album cover, too.

*And Arcade Fire is the best band writing, performing music today.

It was awesome. AWESOME.

I love what I heard from the new album. 15 songs. 7 new ones. Ready to Start. Modern Man. Rococo. It was all GREAT. They played No Cars go, Haiti. Rebellion, Wake up.The venue was awesome.

I can't wait for the album.

And they're playing a free show in a parking lot 5 minutes from my home tomorrow. In the SUBURBS of Montreal. Ooohhhh.

EDITL Just in case you're wondering, I'M GOING. 2 Arcade Fire shows in 3 days. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. I'll bring my son, since it's an exterior show.

And by the way, Month of May, live, is unforgettable. I was okay with the song, but it takes a whole new dimension live. Jesus....

Martin, you're a jerk-face for not providing more details in general. I want a full-fucking report!

Suddenly, August seems like far too long a wait for this album.

Whaddaya think? It's great, but it didn't leave me an very strong impression, because the amazing Rococo was played right before. And I'm not a biggest fan of Regine's songs, but Butler's right that on the Suburbs her songs are great.

What else can I say? Probably one of my favorite show ever, and the best Arcade Fire concert ever. Their rendition of Tunnels was masterful. For a preparatory concert for the tour, they were top-notch.


1. The Suburbs
2. Ready to Start
3. Keep the Car Running
4. We Used to Wait
5. No Cars Go
6. Haïti
7. Intervention
8. Rococo
9. Empty Room
10. Modern Man
11. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
12. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)

Encore:

13. Month of May
14. Rebellion (Lies)

Encore 2:

15. Wake Up

http://stereogum.com/399921/arcade-f...gs-live/video/

A taste.

MD tickets are up for sale, gogo! I got mine!

Can't make it to tonight's free show. DAMMIT!

And to those who wonder, if the clips didn't tell it to you, the new album so far sounds like a cross between Funeral, Neon Bible, and the Talking Heads.

I'm really loving 'Ready To Start' but I need to hear a better quality version.

Maybe I'll like them more in the context of the album but I'm really not feeling either song.

I found Neon Bible underwhelming at first but later found hidden depths to it so I'm not going to make snap judgements here. But to tell you the truth I'm sort of finding these tunes a bit repetitive and melodically drab.

I was hoping that the album would be long, if for no other reason then because the two tunes sound like they're going to build from an overall album. They're not exactly stand outs as singles, and I figured the album would put them into more context. It sounds like that might be the case. I'm really getting a concept album feeling from this. I'm excited!

That means I only heard half the CD?

AWESOME! More novelty!!!!

I was fairly apathetic towards Neon Bible the first time I heard it, but it eventually became my preferred Arcade Fire album and one of my favorite albums of the last decade. So hopefully this is another grower.

The more I listen to it, the more I like it. 3 playthroughs in and it is becoming one of my favorite AF albums.

(And before anyone complains about me downloading the leak, I have preordered two copies, I just don't have any patience.)

From what I've heard, it's shaping up to be a great album, however, I always fear that with that many songs there's bound to be some filler.

Hope it's not the case.

I hate that I have to wait until tonight to get this. And like you Ray, I also have it on pre-order, can't wait to hear it and also hear it live next week.

It's a good album but it's no Funeral. Or Neon Bible for that matter.

I'm in the party that prefers Neon Bible to Funeral. I love Funeral, but I just simply don't enjoy it that way most other AF fans do. I much prefer the themes and the overall ambiance of Neon Bible, and I get that same vibe with The Suburbs.

Yeah, my first impression is that I admire their ambition and I'm glad that it feels like an album. The whole thing is really cohesive and sounds like it's all meant to be heard at once, in one sitting.

But there isn't a single song that's as strong as the worst songs on Neon Bible or Funeral. That's a bit of a problem.

It's good, though. Solid. I'd just wished it could be better. We'll see if it'll grow.

I think I'm going to end up liking it more, but I'm in the same camp right now. I'd add that the album's biggest weakness is its sequencing, particularly at the beginning. The title track's not that bad of a song, but a mid-tempo shuffle is kind of a lousy way to open a big, epic double album, and "Ready to Start" is kind of a lower-intensity "Keep the Car Running." The Suburbs doesn't really get rolling for me until "Modern Man," but by "Empty Room," I'm pretty hooked.

Totally agree on the sequencing. I think some shuffling of some songs and some editing could have helped a lot. "Ready to Start" has some nice hooks but I never feel like it gets to where it's going. It's just a little too flat by the end of the song.

And it's funny, because I was doing the dishes today and I put my i-pod on "recently added." It always goes backwards when I did that and when it got to the new album, it played the sequence backwards. And I liked the first five songs as a beginning a lot better, personally.

I'm not saying it's A Ghost Is Born or anything, I just think that was interesting.

Yeah, I'm not giving the songs a fair shake. I'm really looking forward to the vinyl copy I pre-ordered, plus the quality rips. Also, seeing them Sunday. Songs like "Ready to Start" seem like they would kill live.

To be fair the quality of this leak is pretty lacking. I definitely can't wait until it's released so I can actually hear the thing. At times some of it sounds like a blurry messy

Vinyl copy came today. It sounds incredible and a lot better than the leaked version. Songs are growing on me too. I actually liked that they scaled it back somewhat from their epic sound on some songs. Other songs, I wish they'd build it up a little bit more. But it's growing on me, like I suspected it would.

I'm falling deeply in love with this album. Dave makes good points about the track listing... but past the first couple songs I find it very hard to care.

Agree about Ready to Start.

Sprawl II is kicking my ass right now... whoever said slower, electronic Heart of Glass was right on. What an awesome song.

Parker, how did you like the show?

They killed the shit out of Sprawl II. One of my favorite songs of the night and it was the first time I'd heard it. Regine killed it on Haiti, too.

I'd recommend anyone who hasn't, to see them on this tour. The new songs have an intensity live that isn't immediately evident on the recorded versions.

Glad to hear the show is good. We're seeing them next week. Caught the Neon Bible tour too and it was great.

They were great as usual. One thing you can never deny about this band is that they don't bring it. Enthusiasm isn't exactly the word. They pour everything they got into every performance. It's awe inspiring.

Occasionally I wasn't impressed with the sound quality, which is unusual for the venue (I kinda like the BOA Pavilion). It got better as it went along though. I was also surrounded by d-bags who didn't even seem to know the band but were pounding overpriced tallboys like I couldn't believe. Lots of chicks dancing around like they were at 'da club' on a Friday night. Totally weird. And if I took a shot for every time someone pulled out a smart phone to text or take a picture I'd be fucking dead Edgar Allen Poe.

But when I wasn't distracted by the frat boy debauchery, the band fucking delivered. My god they were on fire. The new songs did sound tight. Regine's voice has improved and she's become a more confident vocal performer. Sprawl II was amazing, but I've never seen them do Wake Up live (they didn't do it the last time I saw them, which was a huge let down) and my god did that not disappoint.

Oh, and a friend I was with sat right in front of the Butler's (Win and Will's parents). He said they were very nice and made some really funny commetns about how into it their sons were.

Also, The Suburbs is growing on me like a weed. Songs that I'm really starting to dig: We Used to Wait, Rococo, both Sprawls and Empty Room. Good stuff.

Enthusiam isn't quite right...how about passion?

I had never been to the BOA Pavillion before, but I was fairly impressed. I like the location (though it's kind of an odd part of town - super modern but sometimes devoid of people) and with the nice waterfront breeze it beats the shit out of sweating your balls off in The Orpheum (which I like too). The sound could get a tad muddy at times but I half-expected that from the open-ness of the design.

The crowd completely baffled me. Middle-aged couples fresh from a round of golf. Popped-collar frat boys. Teeny bopper girls. The occasional hipster. I didn't know they had such broad appeal...or maybe it was just a "place to be"? Regardless, it speaks volumes that I was completely enraptured by the performance despite standing next to a douchebag businessman with a college hat and iphone texting constantly. Fucking iphones.

I have a feeling the new album will be just like Neon Bible; take a while to germinate but eventually blossom into something awesome.

Love that poster.

I'll pick up the album in the next day or two. I've listened to the album a few times, and I think it's probably my favorite. I enjoy it more than Funeral, and feels more cohesive and fun than Neon Bible (one of my favorite albums of the decade). It's a great album that will age better with time.

Yeah, it's ridiculous how much better it sounds. Also, probably the best sounding MP3's I've ever heard (or MP4's or whatever). They sound really comparable to the vinyl copy, which just sounds breathtaking. I almost wish I'd waited to listen to this thing because that leak did NOT give it justice. I'm kinda embarrassed that I was somewhat lukewarm on it at first. It's really grown on me.

I honestly think the lyrics are stronger here then on Neon Bible, which felt too on the nose for me sometimes. I'm not sure this is exclusive to this album or if I've never noticed it with any other album, but the download that comes with the vinyl copy at least plays the lyrics with the artwork on my i-pod, which I thought was a really cool idea. It's like their proud of the lyrics and want people to read them and wanted to find a way to do so in the day and age of MP3's. Almost every song has it's own artwork too. Really cool stuff.

Can't link on my cellphone but The Suburbs is only $3.99 to download from Amazon, August 3rd only.

Wow, that's a deal. Here's a link for those who looking.

BALLS. I checked Amazon yesterday for just such a deal, and then just pre-ordered it from iTunes. Oh well, there are worse bands to give my $10 too even though they don't really get ten dollars dammit.

Edit: Can any other really old people here picture Mark Goodman or Martha Quinn announcing most of the songs on this album "coming up in the next half hour"? This album reminds me of watching MTV for six hours straight during the summer in the '80s.

Yeah, I came in to post about the Amazon deal. I don't know why anyone uses iTunes anymore because Amazon is always cheaper.

This thing sounds soooo much better than the leak.