Limited Edition Hinged Box, With Lenticular Front Cover.
Plastic / Acetate Printed Inner Sleeve.
Booklet.
2 x Flick-Books.
(No barcode on packaging - likely a sticker attached to shrink wrap had one)
No other catalogue numbers, indication of label appears anywhere on the disc or packaging, only the inner ring print in the underside of the disc shows the Universal logo.
Images
Number:1396014 THUMBNAIL Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - Universal - UK - 2007 - Lenticular Image Box Front
Number:1396017 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - Universal - UK - 2007 - Lenticular Box Edition - Back Cover And Spine
Yeah, I can imagine this will grow on me... or grow into me, over time, but I think this is another band that had suffered from the habit of over-hype in the last few years...
... seems tome that every new band since the nineties has been hailed as the saviour of humanity or something, which of course, is always going to set a listener up for disappointment to some degree.
(after a while it all just sounds like press noise, and you tune out from new music altogether)
But this is a little unfair, as these bands are good, and deserve a listen, but judged on their own terms, and not whether DJ Plonka thinks they're "Like, totes amaze-balls!!!!", and instructs you to sell your cat and furniture to purchase their new album, while crawling over the carcasses of vanquished fellow record store customers.
As a passing interest, I'd just say go for those two singles from the first album, and maybe try the first album as a whole, and maybe this, if you find it like I did, for 75p ("I'd buy that for a dollar!").
This is the one I particularly thought sounded like Springsteen:
This one has always intrigued me Magic. I heard it somewhere and liked and heard somewhere else and didn't. That's way it is sometimes places, time, people and the mood you're in all make a difference. So I've looked and baulked at this one several times and your review has consolidated my ambivalence. I'm sure that's not what you intended but I'll probably sit on the fence forever on this one. Unless of course someone gifts me a copy.
ReviewAlthough the previous album: Funeral, had their two strongest tunes: Wake Up, and Rebellion (Lies),this is a much stronger album as a whole, and is more consistent throughout.
The production smells of more money, if you know what I mean, in that a much greater emphasis has been placed on making the vocals clearer and the overall feeling is more spacious and better staged...
(In a way, it's a shame, as Funeral maintained that ramshackle, low budget, riotous party feel)
... and odd to say, but at times you could easily mistake this for a Bruce Springsteen album.
Dashes of churchy organ, and a much more "serious" atmosphere make it a slightly more gothic version of the previous one.
Better?
...on the whole, I'm not so sure, as those two tunes on the other the best they've done, but this goes all the way through in one play, without hitting the skip button on the CD player...