Title: Funeral
Artiste: Arcade Fire
Year: 2004
Chronological position: Debut album
Previous experience of this artiste?: Zero
Why is this considered a classic? Apart from being their first album, it seems to have struck a chord with a lot of songs about life and death, and established Arcade Fire as the next big thing to have come out of Canada.
My thoughts
One minute (or thereabouts in) ---- Good, great, bad, meh, still waiting or other? Good
One track in --- Good
Halfway through --- Great
Finished --- Great
Comments: Although I have heard an awful lot about them, I have never to this point heard one single solitary Arcade Fire song. No, not even “Rebellion”. Don’t you know I don’t listen to the radio any more? So this will be my very first ever experience of them. Good or bad will depend on what I hear in the next fifty or so minutes. Okay then guys: impress me.
Nice sort of semi-discordant piano opening, reminds me of some of Waits’s work. Vocal’s very passionate and there’s a good hook in the song. The vocal harmonies are nice too. Really like the accordion intro on “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)", although I’m not as impressed with this as I was with the opener. Nice slow kind of U2 vibe from “Une Année sans Lumière”, again great backing vocals, and it unexpectedly speeds up near the end. Again, though, the next track doesn’t do a whole lot for me. Actually it’s not too bad, sort of grew on me. “Neighborhood # 4” has a nice bluesy feel about it, with harmonica and accordion. Very nice. This would probably be my favourite so far. Great violin work too.
“Crown of love” is beautiful too, sort of waltz ballad with again fine violin work and a touch of the folk/Country about it. Oh, and again it unexpectedly speeds up near the end. Getting better now: “Wake up” keeps the quality high, and has a real tense feeling about it. Some great guitar work allied to some fine synth. Who does this guy sound like? Is it Mike Scott? Am I going crazy? I think it’s Mike Scott. Definitely reminds me of someone. And another tempo change: somehow, these have all worked up to now and this is no exception. The female vocals are a nice change on “Haiti”, which is another good track (there hasn’t really been a bad one now since really “Neighborhood #2”), certainly something that makes you move with its quasi-tribal rhythm.
And that takes us to this famous single, “Rebellion (Lies)”, which seems to segue right in from the end of the previous track on a superb little boppy bassline and piano, rocks along really nicely, I can see why it was so popular. Really catchy. That female vocal is back for the closer, with some lovely rippling piano and violin, a heard, almost brutal guitar punching its way through at times and really ramping the song up. The vocal really reminds me of Kate Bush, and this song is a great way to bring the curtain down.
Favourite track(s): Neighborhood # 1 (Tunnels), Une Année sans Lumière, Neighborhood #4 (7 kettles), Crown of love, Wake up, Haiti, Rebellion (lies), In the backseat
Least favourite track(s): Neighborhood # 2 (Laika), neighborhood # 3 (Power out)
Final impression --- I can see why this got such great press. A really impressive album, with few flaws and even the bad tracks are good at times. Yeah. Really taken with this.
Do I feel, at the end, A) I wish I had listened to this sooner
B) I'm sorry I bothered
C) I might end up liking this
D) Have to wait and see
E) Bit underwhelmed; was ok but a classic?
F) Definitely enjoyed it, but again would I consider it a classic?
G) Enjoyed this album just purely on its own merits
H) Glad I listened to it
It’s an A
