Neon Bible [Deluxe Edition]

Performer: Arcade Fire
Engineer: Markus Dravs; Scott Colburn; Markus Dravs; Scott Colburn
Producer: The Arcade Fire
Distributor: Alternative Dis. Alliance

Notes: Personnel: Chantel Gero, Joanne Degand, Shauna Callender, Tasha Gero (vocals); Liza Rey (harp); Owen Pallett (violin, strings); Markia Anthony Shaw (viola, strings); M�lanie Auclair (cello, strings); Laurent M�nard, Geoffrey Shoesmith, Jake Henry, Andreas Stolzfus, Margaret Gundara, Edith Gruber, Colin Stetson, Martin Wenk, Jacob Valenzuela, Pietro Amato (brass). Audio Mixers: Markus Dravs; Mark "Spike" Stent; Nick Launay. Recording information: Budapest, Hungary (2006); Eglise St. Baptiste, Montreal, Canada (2006); Hungarian National Radio Studios, Budapest, Hungary (2006); New York, NY (2006); St. James Anglican Church, Bedford, Quebec, Canada (2006); The Church, Quebec, Canada (2006). Director: Tracy Maurice. Editor: Michael Paert. Photographer: Christophe Collette. Almost three years after the Arcade Fire's 2004 full-length debut, FUNERAL, stunned indie-rock fans with its majestic scope and romantic ferocity, the Montreal-based ensemble returned with NEON BIBLE. Although the album lacks the from-out-of-nowhere punch of the former record, it serves as a fitting successor, with the group's sweeping sound enhanced by even more prominent layers of piano, organ, strings, and percussion. As on FUNERAL, married multi-instrumentalists Win Butler and Regine Chassagne share vocal duties, and their distinctive singing adds to the emotional weight of each song, from the urgent, bass-heavy "Keep the Car Running" to the brooding, cinematic "Black Waves/Bad Vibrations." And while the Arcade Fire's post-punk influences are still on display, they are more fully integrated into the band's ambitious aesthetic, as best evidenced on the lush, nearly operatic update of "No Cars Go," which originally appeared on its '03 EP. With its cathedral-like grandeur kept in check by the group's restless energy, NEON BIBLE features both slowly revealed charms and immediate thrills, easily making it one of the most impressive albums of early '07. When Montreal's Arcade Fire released Funeral in 2004, it received the kind of critical and commercial acclaim that most bands spend their entire careers trying to attain. Within a year the group was headlining major festivals and sharing the stage with U2 and New York City's "two Davids" (Bowie and Byrne), all the while amassing a devoted following that descended upon shows like sinners at a tent revival, engaging in the kind of artist appreciation that can easily turn to a false sense of ownership. On their alternately wrecked and defiant follow-up, Neon Bible, one can sense a bit of a Wall being erected (Win Butler's Roger Waters/Bruce Springsteen/Garrison Keillor-style vocal delivery notwithstanding) around the group. If Funeral was the goodbye kiss on the coffin of youth, then Bible is the bitter pint (or pints) after a long day's work. The brooding opener, "Black Mirror," with its sinister "Suffragette City"-inspired groove and murky refrain of "Mirror, Mirror on the wall/Show me where them bombs will fall," sets an immediate world-weary tone that permeates that majority of Neon Bible's Technicolor pages. As expected, those sentiments are amplified with all of the majestic and overwrought power that has divided listeners since the group's ascension to indie rock royalty, but despite a tendency toward midtempo balladry and post-fame cynicism, they're anything but dull. It's the triumphant orchestral remake of live staple "No Cars Go" and the infectious "Keep the Car Running" -- the latter sounds like a 21st century update of John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band's "On the Dark Side" -- that will most appeal to Funeral fans, and when the bottom drops out a minute and a half into the pipe organ-led "Intervention" and Butler wails "Who's gonna reset the bone," it's hard not get caught up in all of the dystopian fervor. "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" and "The Well and the Lighthouse" continue the band's explorations into progressive song structures and lush mini-suites, the thunder-filled "Ocean of Noise" is reminiscent of Bossanova-era Pixies, and the stark (at first) closer "My Body Is a Cage" straddles the sawhorse of earnest desperation and classic rock & roll self-absorption so effortlessly that it demands to be either turned off or all the way up. Neon Bible takes a few spins to digest properly, and like all rich foods (orchestra, harps, and gospel choirs abound), it's as decadent as it is tasty -- theatricality has never been a practice that the collective has shied away from -- but there's no denying the Arcade Fire's singular vision, even when it blurs a little. ~ James Christopher Monger When Montreal's Arcade Fire released Funeral in 2004, it received the kind of critical and commercial acclaim that most bands spend their entire careers trying to attain. Within a year the group was headlining major festivals and sharing the stage with U2 and New York City's "two Davids" (Bowie and Byrne), all the while amassing a devoted following that descended upon shows like sinners at a tent revival, engaging in the kind of artist appreciation that can easily turn to a false sense of ownership. On their alternately wrecked and defiant follow-up, Neon Bible, one can sense a bit of a Wall being erected (Win Butler's Roger Waters/Bruce Springsteen/Garrison Keillor-style vocal delivery notwithstanding) around the group. If Funeral was the goodbye kiss on the coffin of youth, then Bible is the bitter pint (or pints) after a long day's work. The brooding opener, "Black Mirror," with its sinister "Suffragette City"-inspired groove and murky refrain of "Mirror, Mirror on the wall/Show me where them bombs will fall," sets an immediate world-weary tone that permeates that majority of Neon Bible's Technicolor pages. As expected, those sentiments are amplified with all of the majestic and overwrought power that has divided listeners since the group's ascension to indie rock royalty, but despite a tendency toward midtempo balladry and post-fame cynicism, they're anything but dull. It's the triumphant orchestral remake of live staple "No Cars Go" and the infectious "Keep the Car Running" -- the latter sounds like a 21st century update of John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band's "On the Dark Side" -- that will most appeal to Funeral fans, and when the bottom drops out a minute and a half into the pipe organ-led "Intervention" and Butler wails "Who's gonna reset the bone," it's hard not get caught up in all of the dystopian fervor. "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" and "The Well and the Lighthouse" continue the band's explorations into progressive song structures and lush mini-suites, the thunder-filled "Ocean of Noise" is reminiscent of Bossanova-era Pixies, and the stark (at first) closer "My Body Is a Cage" straddles the sawhorse of earnest desperation and classic rock & roll self-absorption so effortlessly that it demands to be either turned off or all the way up. Neon Bible takes a few spins to digest properly, and like all rich foods (orchestra, harps, and gospel choirs abound), it's as decadent as it is tasty -- theatricality has never been a practice that the collective has shied away from -- but there's no denying the Arcade Fire's singular vision, even when it blurs a little. [The 2007 Deluxe Edition sports an elaborate paperboard cover/box, 32-page booklet, and two animated flip-books.] ~ James Christopher Monger

Rolling Stone (p.82) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "NEON BIBLE is an aggressively gothic record, explicitly so in the pipe organ that soars over the hunger and wreckage in 'Intervention.'" Rolling Stone (p.108) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "A seven-piece band that makes joyous noise out of fear and foreboding." Spin (p.85) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "NEON BIBLE actually matches the live show's scope and emotion....It feels carefully considered yet uncontrived, a bubbling mix of raw confusion and refined conviction." Entertainment Weekly (p.105) - "[T]he polyphonic swirl of strings, horns, and voices points toward transcendence." -- Grade: A- Q (p.107) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] magical kingdom of noise that's equal parts Disney's FANTASIA and Echo and The Bunnymen's lavish OCEAN RAIN." Alternative Press (p.182) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A]n effortlessly creative offering running from upbeat jangle-pop to understated, stripped down arrangements..." Magnet (p.90) - "Arcade Fire's raw passion and heartfelt ambition remain intact....An undeniable flame still burns." Q (Magazine) (p.89) - Ranked #01 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2007" -- "[G]reat records are made by great songs, and NEON BIBLE has riches aplenty..."

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