Neon Bible Revisited

I made my first listen to Arcade Fire's Neon Bible a couple of weeks ago on the train going to JavaOne. I thought it was good, but not as good as the hype machine indicated. Since then I've listened to it many more times. I've listened to it in the car, while running, and while coding. It turns out it really is as good as the hype.

I think one of the reasons that I was initially unimpressed was the beginning of the album. The first song, "Black Mirror" is good, but it's bassline and beat really reminded me of "Rebellion (Lies)" from Funeral. That was the song that got me into Arcade Fire originally, so when the first song on their new album sounds a lot like their most well known song from the past album ... Not good. But the song is actually pretty good otherwise.

The album is good throughout, but really hits its stride at the end. "The Well And The Lighthouse" through "No Cars Go" is just an awesome stretch of songs. It reminded me of the beginning of Radiohead's OK Computer, and that's high praise.

My favorite lyrics of the album come from "Windowsill" (part of the above mentioned stretch of ridiculously good songs.)

Don't wanna fight in a holy war
Don't want the salesmen knocking at my door
I don't wanna live in America no more

Nevermind that these guys are Canadian...

So yeah, this is a must have album. Best of the year? Maybe. Best of the decade? Probably not, but probably in the top ten.

Arcade Fire

I've been taking Caltrain to San Francisco this week for JavaOne. I picked up the new Arcade Fire CD, Neon Bible this weekend and listened to it on the train. If you look at its reviews on MetaCritic, it has had a lot of praise heaped upon it. I never form an opinion on a CD on the first listen. If I would have done that, then I would have hated Achtung Baby. My first impression of Neon Bible was that it was good, but nothing really jumped out. Again, a second listen is at least warranted.

The most pleasing thing about listening to it on the Caltrain was I got to really appreciate my Bose noise-canceling headphones. I know these are made to work well on airplanes, so I guess it should come as no surprise that they completely wipe out noise on a train. They had worked pretty well for me at my noisy office at Ludi Labs, but the train was definitely their element.