Neon Bible [2 LP]

by Arcade Fire

Overview

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

Product Details

Release Date:	12/22/2017
Label:	Sony Music
UPC:	0889854624613
Rank:	21840

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Black Mirror
2. Keep the Car Running
3. Neon Bible
4. Intervention
5. Black Wave/Bad Vibrations
6. Ocean of Noise
7. The Well and the Lighthouse
8. (Antichrist Television Blues)

Disc 2

9. Windowsill
10. No Cars Go
11. My Body Is a Cage

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Arcade Fire   Primary Artist
Liza Rey   Harp
Martin Wenk   Brass
Owen Pallett   Violin,Strings
Colin Stetson   Brass
Melanie Auclair   Cello,Strings
Pietro Amato   Brass
Jacob Valenzuela   Brass
Peter F. Drucker   Choir Conductor
Tasha Gero   Vocals
Edith Gruber   Brass
Margaret Gundara   Brass
Andreas Stolzfus   Brass
Tracy Maurice   Director
Shauna Callender   Vocals
Jake Henry   Brass
Istvan Sillo   Conductor
Markia Anthony Shaw   Viola,Strings
Geoffrey Shoesmith   Brass
Laurent Menard   Brass
Joanne Degand   Vocals
Chantel Gero   Vocals
Jean Sherwood   Vocals

Technical Credits

Scott Colburn   Audio Engineer,Engineer
Arcade Fire   Audio Production,Mixing,Composer
Markus Dravs   Audio Engineer,Mixing,Engineer
Mark "Spike" Stent   Mixing
Hadji Bakara   Treatments
Nick Launay   Mixing
Owen Pallett   Orchestral Arrangements
Mike Feuerstack   Assistant
Alex Dromgoole   Assistant
Sarah Neufeld   Group Member
Jeremy Gara   Group Member
Richard Reed Parry   Group Member
Win Butler   Group Member
Regine Chassagne   Group Member,Orchestral Arrangements
David Emery   Assistant
Tommy Hough   Assistant
Frank Arkwright   Mastering
Francois Chevallier   Assistant
James Hanna Ogilvy   Assistant
Tim Kingsbury   Group Member
Francois Miron   Photography Director
Renata Morales   Costume Design
Will Butler   Group Member
Jean Luc Della Montagna   Production Assistant
Olivier Groulx   Web Design
Tracy Maurice   Artwork,Package Design
Michael Paert   Editing,Coordination
Csaba Lokos   Contractor
Daryl Griffith   Copyist
Doctor Brian A. Evans   Assistant
Vincent Morisset   Web Design
Katherine Cram   Coordination
Christophe Collette   Photography