I just saw their last live show of 2008. Maybe 2009, too. Win said "this is our very last show for a very long time." He also made a few jokes about greatest hits compilations. I'd say they're on hiatus for the next year or two, and will come out with a new one in 2010. Least, I hope they will.

That's too long. I hate it when a favourite artist of mine takes ages to put out a new album, and then it doesn't quite live up to expectations (looking at the Shins). Oh well, the bright side is there is more time for the anticipation to build. Still, sometimes I wish everyone released albums at a John Darnielle rate.

By and far my album of the year, oh well, Radiohead's was worth the three and a half year wait so hopefully Arcade Fire's will be as well.

quote:

Originally posted by thefanste:
sometimes I wish everyone released albums at a John Darnielle rate.

Or Robert Pollard?

Also, they said the reason for their extended hiatus is because of hurtful remarks by Jackson Glass.

Is it true they're working on a tune called "Une Annee Sans Jackson Glass"? Funny, but I thought it was a little uncalled for. Shame on you, Win Butler.

Win could only dream for une anee sans J. Glass' disparaging words. I only did it to make them stronger.

Sorry for killing your band, guys.

quote:

Originally posted by JGlass:
Win could only dream for une anee sans J. Glass' disparaging words. I only did it to make them stronger.

Sorry for killing your band, guys.

This is the dream of Win and Regine: the death of Jackson Glass.

Here's my two cents. Not much, but opinion's never been worth anything anyway. Funeral, as it relates to and fits into my life, is one of the best albums ever made. Neon Bible is really boring. There, I said it. It's weird having a band you love and expect so much from fall so short. Maybe that is my problem to begin with. Anyway . . . I don't mean this to be a knock on people who love the album and I'm not trying to start a debate. Just giving my opinion and trying to raise my poster status BTW, just finally got my hands on A Place to Bury Strangers. One of the tens of albums I hear about, want to check out, but then forget about. I'm late to the party but it's excellent stuff.

I have to admit I didn't really "get" Funeral until Neon Bible came out last year. Anyway, even though Funeral is definitely a better album, and in fact one of (if not the) best records of the decade, Neon Bible holds up quite well one year after it's release. I listened to it the other day, and while it's not brilliant it still has its moments. (Intervention, Windowsill, No Cars Go, Black Mirror) I doubt the group will ever be able to make a record as good as Funeral again though. Such a gem of a record.

I hate Neon Bible. The Lyrics are ridiculous, the unapologetic rhyming makes me think of Dave Grohl. And the whole thing is just like trying to run in a lead suit after drinking a bottle of syrup, not in a good way.

You Neon Bible haters are complete morons. There isn't really much difference in the approach and contents of their two albums. The last poster who complains about the lyrics needs to put the crack pipe down..."Ocean of Noise" is so beautifully written that i could cry, "Intervention" is a powerhouse song and great message.

Same old crap around here, blah blah, every band's debut is their best record, untoppable, blah blah. Wake up people, it is because when Arcade Fire first came out, they were so fresh and amazing and nothing will replicate that feeling you first had when hearing Funeral. Get over it, it isn't the greatest thing ever. Neon Bible was song for song the best record of 2007.

Lordamercy, Moses. Keep a sharp eye out for the namecalling police.

I'm afraid you'll have trouble finding too many people to ride this particular parade float along with you. Though a few more than I'm comfortable with - a disturbing handful of friends share that same bewilderingly high opinion of their second record.

It's good. It's fine. Ocean of Noise is a standout.

But they did the wrong thing. Win realized the sheer reach of his charisma, and decided to "make a statement." So the massive talents of himself and his band were appropriated in service of an album that trots out "a message" - which regrettably turned out to be made up mostly of the kind of predictable, easy, played-out, anti-Christian, vaguely-critical-of-Americans-and-their-government nonsense that would fit fine on an Anti-Flag album.

At points, that is There are also some great musical and lyrical moments, specifically the ones where Win manages to mix the political and the personal half as well as Hutch Harris does on most every song he writes. Obviously they're too great for the sloganeering to bog them too far down. But we've got nothing to equal Tunnels, nothing to equal Power Out, a recycled track from an EP and a musically disposable title track. I refuse to believe that anyone actually believes it's better than Funeral. That's not bold, it's just silly.

quote:

Win manages to mix the political and the personal half as well as Hutch Harris does on most every song he writes.

That I agree with. The Thermals put out the album that has the perfect amount of real-life fingerpointing. Plus I think that style of lyricism tends to fit in much better with their anthem style music. It doesn't fit in so well with Arcade Fire's chamber pop. I think it was a bit of a mis-step by Butler.

quote:

Originally posted by Moses, R.M.:
You Neon Bible haters are complete morons. There isn't really much difference in the approach and contents of their two albums. The last poster who complains about the lyrics needs to put the crack pipe down..."Ocean of Noise" is so beautifully written that i could cry, "Intervention" is a powerhouse song and great message.

Same old crap around here, blah blah, every band's debut is their best record, untoppable, blah blah. Wake up people, it is because when Arcade Fire first came out, they were so fresh and amazing and nothing will replicate that feeling you first had when hearing Funeral. Get over it, it isn't the greatest thing ever. Neon Bible was song for song the best record of 2007.

From "Neon Bible"

"Oh God! Well look at you now!
Oh! You lost it, but you don't know how!
In the light of a golden calf
Oh God! I had to laugh!"

BRILLIANT MY GOD!

From "Ocean Of Noise"

"In an ocean of noise
I first heard your voice
Ringing like a bell
As if I had a choice, oh well!"

WOW! Amazingly written! Very Insightful!

I love The Arcade Fire, but I cant like an album when the lyrics are so poor that I cant listen to it without laughing. The first time I listened to the album I was walking around inside a super market and when the song "neon bible" started playing I started laughing out loud like a lunatic, I couldnt believe what i was hearing. It reminded of a song that a 12 year old would write.

"Hey, your old man should know if you see a shadow as something there"

Neon Bible doesn't hold a monopoly on silly lyrics. And the title track is just a transition track anyway.

quote:

I couldnt believe what i was hearing. It reminded of a song that a 12 year old would write.

Take the poison of your age,
Don’t lick your fingers when you turn the page,
What I know is what you know is right,
In the city it's the only light...


You're one of the people it's easier to call "wrong" because you obviously are just making up your ridiculous opinion as you go along. Neon Bible doesn't hold a CANDLE to Funeral, but comments like that just look extra stupid. The song's lyrics are extremely good, not an apt example of when Win's writing goes awry. Seems like maybe you somehow made a childlike connection between the sing-song delivery of the lyrics and lyrics themselves, and then blurted out something a little bit stupid.

quote:

"Hey, your old man should know if you see a shadow as something there"

I didn't say the lyrics of "Neon Bible" were bad, I said specifically that it was musically disposable. Also, that was a pretty terrible misquote. It's

"Hey, your old man should know
If you see a shadow
There's something there"

Elegantly expresses a certain sentiment that defined a lot of Funeral. Regret about a lack of wisdom, an adolescent kind of helplessness, teenage denial - also a kind of reverence for older people (parents). This for reasons obvious to anybody who knows much about the back-story of the record.

Neon Bible was so unflattering to the band's talent, to me, because they did just the opposite. Now Win knows everything, he's declaring and sermonizing rather than being mostly wide-eyed and scared and swept away. If he ever says something that sounds naive or petty or whatever, it's mostly through the mouth of a character that isn't him. This approach sucked all the lambent majesty out of the band, and its music. Instead of going out to start a fight, Win is scolding people for feeling that way. It crushes the spirit of the Arcade Fire (best name ever).

I kind of agree. I enjoy Neon Bible quite a lot, but I'm nowhere near as "fond" of it as Funeral - ironic given the theme of the album. Specifically it's because as you said, Funeral was obviously deeply personal, whereas with Neon Bible it seems Win assumed some sort of made up persona or perspective from which to write the lyrics. At least in comparison to Funeral.

Now I don't think it's crushed the spirit of the Arcade Fire or anything, not really even close yet. But it does make me wonder at the approach they'll take for the next album.

I didn't really get Neon Bible for a while. In fact, I hated it. But about a month ago, I revisited it in a different mindset, and it worked pretty well for me. I was able to get past the lyrics (which are admittedly pretty simplistic) and just feel the sorta ideas they were getting at.