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-   -   Arcade Fire - Funeral (https://www.musicbanter.com/album-reviews/37614-arcade-fire-funeral.html)

Davey Moore 02-21-2009 12:30 AM

Arcade Fire - Funeral
 
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/1267/arcadefire1.jpg

I guess we'll just have to adjust.


Death is a hell of a thing to deal with. It's something we're never ready for and try our whole lives to escape, only to have that reaper come knocking at your door, coming to take you away. So how do you adjust? How do you deal with the loss of someone who means a whole lot to you?

I'm sure as little kids a lot of you lost some random relative. For me, it was my mom's aunt. I was about three years old. When she told me, tears were streaming down her face. I felt nothing. I was a little sad, but that was really only through obligation. I never went to the funeral.

The first time I really dealt with death was two years ago, though. I say it is the first time because this was a person I knew and interacted with frequently. He was a senior in high school, I was a sophomore. We were in the same guitar class(we called it instrumental workshop at our school.)

This is how he died: a friend of his, a sophomore who went to the high school in the town next to ours, did a stupid thing and was drinking and driving. He crashed into a telephone pole. He died there. Hours after it happened, by many accounts, my friend was grief stricken. It was 3 o'clock in the morning and he decided to do his own sort of tribute to his fallen friend. In the dead of night he went to the telephone pole where his friend died, acoustic guitar in hand, and sang dirges into the night.

He was struck by a drunk driver while playing his guitar. He was killed instantly. Pieces of guitar were scattered all across the road. The driver panicked and left the scene. To this day(roughly two years ago), the driver still hasn't been found.

Why ramble on about my experiences with death? Why not? Arcade Fire did it. The album is simultaneously a celebration and a dirge. An embrace of life and of death. The melodies soar into the stratosphere, yet beneath them there is an undercurrent of tragedy. It's almost a bittersweet resignation, an acceptance of the inevitable.

Consider the opening of the album, the song 'Neighborhood #1(Tunnels)', upbeat yet sad. The best example could be the song 'Wake Up', with the joyous chorus singing to the heavens.

Despite all the window dressings, it doesn't disguise the fact that death is a hell of a thing to deal with. I guess we'll just have to adjust.

8.5/10

4ZZZ 02-21-2009 06:33 AM

I always enjoy your writings Davey Moore and I have enjoyed this explanation as to a life's event that affected you as much as anything that you have ever written before.

jacklovezhimself 02-21-2009 02:13 PM

damn...

JJJ567 02-23-2009 02:43 PM

One of my favorite albums. I absolutely love it.

Zer0 02-25-2009 02:46 PM

Funeral is still in my opinion the greatest debut album of this decade, and definatly one of the best albums of this decade. It's one of the most complete albums you'll ever hear, there's not a hint of filler, every track is just as great as the previous track. The track sequencing aswell is top notch.

It's impossible to pick a standout track but the tracks that hit me the most are the opening track Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels), Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out), Rebellion (Lies) and In The Backseat.

lucifer_sam 02-25-2009 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davey Moore (Post 600437)
This is how he died: a friend of his, a sophomore who went to the high school in the town next to ours, did a stupid thing and was drinking and driving. He crashed into a telephone pole. He died there. Hours after it happened, by many accounts, my friend was grief stricken. It was 3 o'clock in the morning and he decided to do his own sort of tribute to his fallen friend. In the dead of night he went to the telephone pole where his friend died, acoustic guitar in hand, and sang dirges into the night.

He was struck by a drunk driver while playing his guitar. He was killed instantly. Pieces of guitar were scattered all across the road. The driver panicked and left the scene. To this day(roughly two years ago), the driver still hasn't been found.

Holy f*cking irony.

jacklovezhimself 02-28-2009 08:29 PM

no kidding...

iamnotacamera 03-01-2009 08:31 PM

Nice review. Really good album too.

edwardbroadway 03-07-2009 12:42 PM

^I wouldn't call that a review. It is a really good album though.

Davey Moore 03-07-2009 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edwardbroadway (Post 609141)
^I wouldn't call that a review. It is a really good album though.

Also you're a d*ck.

iLLuMentaL 03-12-2009 03:02 PM

Great review! You paint a soulful, striking picture that also happens to be an example of the depth you see in "Funeral", well done! And I agree that it is a phenomenal album.

debaserr 03-16-2009 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zero1986 (Post 602999)
Funeral is still in my opinion the greatest debut album of this decade, and definatly one of the best albums of this decade.

yea i would say it is my favorite from the 2000s so far. if i had to pick favorites it would be Neighborhood 2, crown of love, and in the back seat.

Roygbiv 03-16-2009 09:47 PM

I think it's a surprisingly cohesive thematic album that is very much a classic of our times. Great review as always, but as always, too short.

Grievous Angel 03-16-2009 10:05 PM

Great review man, this album was unbelievable to me when it first came out, I'd probably even give it a higher score than you gave it! Neon Bible was excellent too, but pales in comparison to this masterpiece

TheCellarTapes 04-07-2009 09:41 AM

Hope Davey Moore doesnt mind me stepping in and adding my thoughts to this quality album.

Arcade Fire - Funeral
(2004)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA240_.jpg

Tracks

1 Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) 4:48
2 Neighborhood #2 (Laïka) 3:32
3 Une Année Sans Lumière 3:40
4 Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) 5:12
5 Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) 4:49
6 Crown of Love 4:42
7 Wake Up 5:35
8 Haïti 4:07
9 Rebellion (Lies) 5:10
10 In the Backseat 6:20



Formed in Montreal, Canada in 2003, Arcade Fire shot to prominence with the rather wonderful Arcade Fire EP released in the same year on the record label Merge. Demonstrating a real talent for mood creation, eccentricity combined with theatrical arrangement and performances, Arcade Fire were always destined to write a modern day classic. And so it was in September 2004, Funeral was released on the Merge record label.

Led by Husband and Wife team Win Butler and Régine Chassagne and backed by a group of fine musicians, the album became a worldwide underground success story whilst gradually snowballing into a complete monster.

Speaking from a British point of view, their success was down in some ways to their exceptional and powerful live performances in small venues. Thanks to gaining a real reputation through first hand experience and more importantly word of mouth, Arcade Fire gradually became the band of choice for many a young adult, with Funeral becoming the album to own in a post Is This It world.

The album begins with Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), a rather beautiful song yet with undertones of love and loss, it contains all the hallmarks of what people now perceive Arcade Fire to be all about, with an almost Ian Curtisesque vibe running alongside splendid and complex musical arrangements, Indie but not as we know it for sure.

Neighborhood #2 (Laika) follows, a tale of adolescent frustration and of course desperation, the soundtrack and vocals are just as compelling as the lyrics, with its manic strings and almost bellowing theatrical vocals, yes the song could be described as “over the top”, but that’s the point surely.

One thing that Arcade Fire managed to do so unbelievably well with this release, is to walk that fine line between credibility and commerciality, something they do effortlessly with track four Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), its our first chance to see this talented band walk this fine line with triumphant results. The rhythm and the beat of this little number is truly outstanding, almost satisfyingly so.

http://www.mychemicaltoilet.com/Arcade%20Fire___.jpg

After the wonders of Power Out, we’re brought back to earth with the gorgeous Crown of Love, with its layer upon layer of stunning mood creation song writing, as songs go it really is quite a remarkable achievement, especially with its rampaging finale.

Track 7, Wake Up, and Track 9 Rebellion (Lies) once again take us to Arcade Fire pop heaven, both songs would become the crowd favourites at many an Arcade Fire gig, with the latter normally involving a stage invasion from all angles by the audience, and Wake Up just becoming the anthem for 2004.

Not to be outdone, the wife of the partnership, Régine Chassagne, has two numbers on the album which to be fair are just brilliant songs. Haiti combines the avant-garde of Nico with the landscaping of a god, and as for the albums closer In The Backseat, well for me this is the albums finest moment.

Music at its best should stay with you always and should either reflect your mood or at least make you feel glad to be alive, but what Arcade Fire has created is an album for all moods; as gritty as it is beautiful, as dark and gloomy as it is joyful and pleasurable. It really is a flawless piece of song writing and musical creation, a modern day classic if ever there was one.

Davey Moore 04-13-2009 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCellarTapes (Post 631788)
Hope Davey Moore doesnt mind me stepping in and adding my thoughts to this quality album.

HEY MAN I F*CKING MIND

Nah, ;). Btw let me revise my score and say this is the best album of the 2000's.

So a 10.

The Cat 04-14-2009 09:06 AM

A great review(s) of one of my favorite albums, i find that Arcade Fire are a very under rated band...Shame

Casimir 04-14-2009 09:11 AM

Good review, but best album of the 2000's? I think not. Neon Bible was a better album.

The Cat 04-14-2009 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casimir (Post 637710)
Good review, but best album of the 2000's? I think not. Neon Bible was a better album.

Sorry have to disagree with that one i think Funeral is far superior to Neon Bible!

DeepDishBedPan 04-14-2009 11:29 AM

Neon Bible was probably catchier and perhaps even more memorable, but Funeral is a better overall album. The storytelling is superb and as a debut, marvelous!

debaserr 04-14-2009 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casimir (Post 637710)
Good review, but best album of the 2000's? I think not. Neon Bible was a better album.

listen to funeral more then.

The Pink Panther 04-20-2009 09:05 AM

Both albums are amazing. When I tell people how good Funeral is I struggle to find the appropriate superlatives to describe it.


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