Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Arcade Fire has had their share of acclaim in the past with Meteors 2008 Best International Album award as well as the Juno Awards 2008 Alternative Album of the Year award for Neon Bible. With The Suburbs they humbly up the ante. Released in August 3, The Suburbs topped the U.S. Billboard 200 just eight days later. The album begins with the self-titled track, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAitZuh4ueg and this has to be one of the greatest opening tracks of all time. This just is about as addictive as heroine, and with a track as exceptional as The Suburbs, track two Ready To Go keeps the tempo however less catchy than the self-titled track. With the lyrical content of this album it is obvious what the concept is. According to Win Butler the lead vocalist, the album "is neither a love letter to, nor an indictment of, the suburbs - it's a letter from the suburbs." The third track is not as impressive as the first two nonetheless the fourth track Rococo keeps the album progressing. The problem with this album start to surface with most of the rest of the album, and that problem is that some of the tracks are just sub-par, this really holds the album back. Tracks five and six are a good example, The Suburbs bounces back with Half Light a two part song. Both parts are good with the second half being slightly better. Suburban War, the ninth track starts the second half of this album off a more somber tone and this really puts the second half in perspective. Tracks like Wasted Hours and Deep Blue keep the serious tone but it's not to the second two part song Sprawl does the true definition of this album show itself with the first half being so cold and isolating, while the second half is more up beat. To put this in perspective Sprawl I is the cold of a long night and Sprawl II is the sunrise. Concluding with The Suburbs (continued), an eighty-seven second homage to the opening track adding a little bit of female vocals to the chorus as it fades away.

7.9