I was lucky enough to see Arcade Fire live recently in Portugal, and they were honestly utterly mind-blowing. If it hadn't been for ROBERT PLANT HIMSELF singing several Led Zeppelin hits a couple of days before, they would have stolen the entire festival. It was an incredible experience and a reminder of how good this band really is, even if they're not quite as good as Radiohead. The brilliant blend of instruments, unique instrumental choice, rousing and enthralling melodies and powerful lyrics make Arcade Fire a unique and mesmerizing band. I will be hugely anticipating their 5th album next year. Arcade Fire's music will normally inspire a kaleidoscope of emotions: joy, sadness, hope, wonder and misty-eyed- frequently all at the same time- and these incredible listener responses are created through an unforgettable spirit and amazing skill surging through every note they play.
Ranking the songs:
The weak:
86. Chemistry: There's a reason why most commentators are describing this as, if somehow not the band's worst ever song, than certainly near the bottom of the pile. While barely catchy, from its painfully lazy and repetitive instrumental of funky yet charisma-free beats to its even more painfully lazy and repetitive lyrics, this really does take the biscuit and is the worst song on the band's painfully disappointing recent album, Everything Now. Despite the title, there's as much chemistry here as there would be between a snail and a dog turd.
85. Signs of Life: There are no signs of life to this recent single from Everything Now. Not even a skilled doctor could any life in this sometimes catchy but otherwise lifeless track as the band utilize the bland minimalist beats that characterized Everything Now and some terribly pretentious lyrics that make this seem like some terrible Suburbs outtake with the passion and heart of a zombie.
84. Unnamed: This hidden track in Reflektor certainly isn't crying out to be discovered. A muffled, 10 minute mixture of muted backward sounds (Or something) from several of the albums songs is comparable to listening to half an hour of radio static. Overall, a good idea poorly executed and Arcade Fire's worst album track.
83. Infinite_Content (2): Talk about lazy eh? This is the second of the misjudged Infinite Content songs in the middle of Everything Now, which just repeat some meaningless lyrics again and again. Did the band just run out of song ideas or something? Some nice instrumental work saves this from being a complete dud however.
82. Infinite Content: The first part of the Infinite Content stuff is no worse than it's sequel. It gets awarded slightly higher marks since the rock instrumental is quite fun in some ways. Even so, both these songs were an odd choice for the album.
81. Neon Bible: Despite sharing a name with the album it's in, this doesn't represent the album well at all. The last time I looked, Neon Bible certainly wasn't muted, boring and quite so alarmingly pretentious. To be fair though, it has some clever lyrics.
80. Wasted Hours: This mellow, indifferent and laid-back to the point of horizontal song may be inoffensive and pleasant to listen to, but it's easily the worst track on The Suburbs and it sounds like the band were nodding off when they performed it.
79. I Give You Power: This recent stand-alone single understandably wasn't greeted warmly when released. It's supposed to be a political song and a response to the recent Donald Trump election, but there's not enough personality or lyrical sophistication to make this much more than a repetitive, artless but occasionally stirring electronic track.
78. Surf City Eastern Block: A B-side to No Cars Go, this is one of the many Arcade Fire rarities that really aren't worth seeking out. This is a series of good harmonies and touching moments stranded among bad recording and a noticeably stunted pace throughout, with the song somehow lasting 6 minutes.
The mediocre:
77. Peter Pan: Not as bad as much of the atrocious middle section of Everything Now, so that's something. There are some nice lyrics and sounds here, but there's not an awful lot on offer aside from that.
76. My Heart is an Apple: The title is daft, weird and kind-of boring. The song itself follows suite although it can be catchy.
75. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody): There are hints of Arcade Fire's future greatness here in the rather nice baseline. Alas, this cover of a Talking Heads song and the B-side to Neighborhood #3 is a fairly dull affair overall.
74. You Already Know: A numbing and repetitive track that repeats the title so much it becomes like driving a car and having a toddler screaming at you repeatedly from the back seat. As always though, the tune itself is OK and the intro being a sample of Johnathan Ross introducing Arcade Fire the time they were on his show and Win Butler smashed a camera is pretty funny.
73. Everything_Now (Continued): This into to the title track of Everything Now works better in the music video than in the album, but it's a decent opener where one could draw a couple of interesting interpretations. Then again, it's so superfluous one wonders why they bothered putting this in in the first place.
72. Everything_Now (Continued) (2): Nothing more than some nice sounds and a few lyrics in the end, making this a decent if lazy conclusion to a decent if lazy album. At least this is better than some of the other tracks on the album.
71. Antichrist Television Blues: Perhaps a controversially low placing, but I've never got into this one. It's very clever as a piece of storytelling, but its instrumental remains exactly the same throughout and it's also pretentious and confusing.
70. Headlights Look Like Diamonds: Perfectly OK. It's quite nice to listen to and everything, it just lacks that Oomph.
69. Good God Damn: In some ways, this signals the start of the late-album resurgence in quality that happens at the end of Everything Now. The lyrics are far better and do genuinely make you think. It appears it might be about suicide. Unfortunately, the bland instrumental lets it down.
68. Electric Blue: When this Everything Now single was released, some saw it as reassurance that the band wasn't completely lost after Signs of Life. I wasn't one of them. The melancholy electronic instrumental and mixture of heavy artistry hearken back to Arcade Fire's glory days, but it's still more bland than the old stuff, and Regine Chassagne's vocals are far worse than usual.
67. Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice): One of Reflektor's weaker tracks. This one has some good percussion and it's as well-done as ever, but it isn't particularly compelling and somehow is just not as exciting as it should have been.
66. Month of May: Aside from Neighborhood #3, this is the closest thing Arcade Fire have done to a straightforward rock song. This deviation from the unique AF sound feels unwelcome, but in general it's a fairly indifferent and unimaginative song that serves as a temporary escape from the melancholy tone of The Suburbs. It's still catchy though.
The decent:
65. Supersymmetry: This is a strange track. The bit with actual music is good. The weird and overlong silence lets it down though.
64. The Suburbs (Continued): More an epilogue than a song, this works well as an album closer if not brilliantly as a standalone song. When performed right after The Suburbs at Portugal, the song worked pretty well.
63. Here Comes the Night Time II: Technically efficient but overly brief and somewhat flat, this doesn't measure up to the first Night Time song.
62. Normal Person: All the commentary on modern life is very interesting, but when a song implies that all normal people are completely hateful it stops being deep and thought-provoking and starts feeling insulting. Despite this, the instrumental is still very fine.
61. Abraham's Daughter: The end credits song of The Hunger Games fits the film well and has an interesting vibe, although lyrically it doesn't completely work and it isn't developed enough.
60. I'm Sleeping in a Submarine: Pretty much a nursery rhyme for kids without enough lyrics to truly mean anything. Still, as nursery rhymes go, it's pretty decent.
59. Cold Wind: A song for the acclaimed TV show Six Feet Under, this has lyrics and an interesting melancholy vibe but it's a little flat like many of the songs from outside of AF's studio albums.
58. Broken Window: Despite repetition and an overdone instrumental, this is genuinely pretty effective. The fact that it's so low down says a lot about the quality of Arcade Fire's discography.
57. Creature Comfort: Pretentious, repetitive and filled with screeching, Creature Comfort is still not in any way up to Arcade Fire's usual standards. That being said, it's hard not to be swept up in the song or get the feels thanks to its dark themes.
56. Speaking in Tongues: This one's too abstract, although it benefits from a strong instrumental and a very good intro.
55. Vampire/Forest Fire: After rambling on and on for 7 minutes, this one still manages to have many nice moments and interesting ideas.
54. Lenin: It's confused and not as good as many of AF's tracks, but this was recorded when the band had found their sound and realized their potential so it's one of the better non-album ones.
53. Everything Now: The title track of Everything Now is... unexpected to say the least. It's basically Arcade Fire doing a sunny pop song with a real ABBA vibe about it. But it actually pays off... well, kind of. It's forgettable and formulaic, but nevertheless offers plenty of emotion, warmth and catchiness, and it's the mix of commercial and artistic many classic bands struggled to reach for a long time.
52. Joan of Arc: With Reflektor's songs, you never know what's coming and they're always artfully constructed, as is the case with this one. At the same time, it represents some of Reflektor's flaws, such as over-length, pretentious lyrics and occasionally muted music.
51. Apocrypha: The weakest of Reflektor's surprisingly strong bonus tracks, but there's still plenty to recommend here.
50. Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son: A highly enjoyable cover song which Arcade Fire performed during their Neon Bible tour and also released in their LCD Soundsystem collaborative single. It's a bit hard to relate to since it's in French, but that's fair enough since it is a cover of a French song (The winner of the 1965 Eurovision contest representing Luxembourg). On the whole, it's a very pleasant diversion.
49. Sprawl I (Flatland): A good narrative, though the slightest bit dull as a song.
48. City With No Children: Simultaneously simplistic and pretentious, this is a showcase of The Suburbs having too many similar songs and being occasionally melodramatic, so despite an excellent instrumental and being an enjoyable song it's not a highlight from the album.
47. Neighborhood #2 Laika: Despite being the least interesting and weakest track on Funeral, it is a song that improves with repeat listens thanks to an interesting sound and the general uniqueness of the song.
The good:
46. Women of a Certain Age: Nothing new thematically, but as bonus tracks go still pretty impressive.
45. Une Annee Sans Lumiere: Sandwiched between the first and second Neighborhood songs, this one is easy to forget but being a mostly peaceful, gentle song which ends with a terrific outro, this one is still engaging.
44. Windowsill: Despite its similarity to the rest of Neon Bible, this is a powerful song filled with haunting and truthful metaphors as well as a quiet, but always palpable, intensity.
43. We Used to Wait: This seems like a pretty whiny song about how thanks to modern technology we never have to wait for anything anymore. Thus, whining has rarely been cooler, although when performed live it was less impressive than many of the other performances.
42. Deep Blue: Despite being confusing and having taken a few listens to appreciate, this is another achingly soulful Suburbs song. I have an extra soft spot for it, since it plays during the end credits of Boyhood, one of my all-time favorite films.
The excellent:
41. It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus): Another beautifully executed Reflektor track, this one is made even cooler by its Greek mythology references, although those unfamiliar with the story of Orpheus and Eurydice may not understand the song.
40. In the Backseat: The final track on Funeral is a bit too long and doesn't really hit a peak, but Regine Chassagne's vocals are always fantastic and this song is a superb mixture of quiet and loud, light and dark in terms of both its poignant, bittersweet lyrics and alternately understated and highly dramatic instrumental.
39. Neighborhood #4 7 Kettles: Certainly not a cheerful one and the quietest on the album. Still, the quietness will fool many into forgetting how gut-punching the song actually is.
38. We Exist: Pretentious and unclear, this nevertheless makes for a stirring listen and it's far more demanding and artful than a lot of modern music. When played live, this showed the Reflektor songs seem to work live particularly well.
37. Brazil: Although weaker than many of Funeral's songs, for a bonus track it's pretty darn impressive.
36. Old Flame: A very good break-up song and one of the best from Arcade Fire's EP.
35. Empty Room: An explosive blast of violins, beautiful vocals, loneliness, isolation and soul condensed into under 3 minutes. Awesome stuff.
34. Black Mirror: Another track that took a few listens to get into, but it's actually a very catchy and meaningful track and it captures AF's melancohly, soulful yet explosive vibe ringing through all of their songs very well, yet still sounds different from Funeral's songs. Despite every album sounding quite different, it's always unmistakably Arcade Fire.
33. Rococo: "What does Rococo mean?" Many will ask. Does it really matter in the end? It's an awesome song which describes teen culture with incredible accuracy.
32. Flashbulb Eyes: Yet another attack on modern technology, but thanks to its simplicity and terrific baseline, it's one of their best.
31. The Woodlands National Anthem: This one is pretty much Neighborhood #5, and is the best song on the Arcade Fire EP.
30. Culture War: Even if it's not as good as some of the songs on The Suburbs, it's actually a really good song and would have been a far better selection than say, Wasted Hours or Month of May.
29. Get Right: A sparse and repetitive but awesomely catchy song that is a sad reminder of how many awesome tracks didn't make it onto Reflektor.
28. Crucified Again: An excellent and deeply touching song, this boasts some of AF's best lyrics and is another strong track about Haiti.
27. Soft Power: Yet another excellent bonus track. Make sure to always listen to the bonus tracks on an Arcade Fire album because you'll be shocked at how good they actually are.
26. Put Your Money on Me: The big kick we were all waiting for throughout Everything Now came late at track 11, but at least it eventually arrived. This suffers slightly from being pretentious but when a song, especially on an album like this, is so chill-inducing and powerful, who cares?
25. We Don't Deserve Love: The best song on Everything Now isn't quite in the top league of Arcade Fire songs, but it's not far off either. It actually feels more like the band's older stuff and it's overall a hauntingly powerful work, yet simultaneously a beautifully subtle piece. Full of great lyrics and wonderful sounds, Everything Now may have been a dud but at least the band had the sense to save the best song for last.
The awesome:
24. Porno: Overly vague lyrics won't stop the song truly speaking to many and its experimental tune won't stop listeners marveling at its complex and innovative nature.
23. Reflektor: One of the cleverest, most unique and compelling love songs of recent times, this serves both as thought-provoking relationship commentary and a compelling reflection (Sorry) on modern society. It was superb to listen to live.
22. Afterlife: Despite being lyrically one of the most simple on the album, it's also arguably the album's catchiest and simultaneously one of the album's most tear-jerking. It made for another electrifying live listen.
21. Here Comes the Night Time: One of Reflektor's best songs, and one of the most musically entertaining and cleverly written on the album. Like with all the Reflektor songs that were played the experimentation and unique sounds were particularly impressive live on stage.
20. Keep the Car Running: The one where, after playing it on the Johnathan Ross show, Win Butler smashed a camera, this is also a very good song that sustains an excellent beat throughout. Live it's even better.
19. Ocean of Noise: A Neon Bible highlight, this quiet (Despite its title) and ambiguous song is another haunting excursion into complex, poetic and bleak- yet startlingly truthful- social commentary. This was a surprise addition to the set-list in Portugal, and a very welcome one.
18. Black Wave/Bad Vibrations: Another awesome song from Neon Bible and another terrific song with Regine Chassagne on lead vocals, this one is divided into 2 excellent halves and unlike some of the album's other songs, is pleasingly easy to understand.
17. Half Light I: Brilliantly poetic and highly underrated, this is another welcome journey into the complex, poignant, tragic, wonderful and at times seemingly terrifying universe of The Suburbs.
16. Haiti: An underrated and deeply stirring track from Funeral, this is one that constantly gets overlooked in favour of some of the album's other songs and is one of the album's most affecting songs.
15. Modern Man: Despite how cynical this song is, it's more amazing musical philosophy.
14. No Cars Go: While slightly grating in its simplicity, this soaring song is one epic, rocket-like crescendo that is 5 minutes of punch-the-air escapism. If you think the studio version is great, wait until you hear this song live.
13. Wake Up: Being the band's most popular song, it feels like their most trivialized. It's not their best track ever, but it's still a terrific song. The opening and build-up are incredible, but this song never stops feeling like it's hitting an incredibly high peak. This was the final song played in Portugal, and made for an enthralling finale.
12. Half Light II (No Celebration): One of the best songs from The Suburbs, this ferociously affecting meditation on growing up should come with a warning: it'll make you misty-eyed.
11. The Well and the Lighthouse: A brilliant track from Neon Bible, this is like Black Wave divided into 2 enormously enjoyable instrumental sections and keeps up a great pace throughout. A terrific song.
The top ten:
10. Ready to Start: The opening track at Portugal and one of the first tracks on The Suburbs, it may carry a familiar message but it's still a highly inspirational anthem that'll have everyone cheering and it is a pleasing temporary from the occasionally tiresome seriousness of The Suburbs.
9. Crown of Love: An intensely powerful song about love and relationships, the level of emotion and soul packed into this one is startling.
8. The Suburbs: Complex, balanced, developed and brilliantly constructed, this song could easily be expanded into a large novel or feature film. The perfect introduction to the album and a summarising of all its themes. This was also performed live in Portugal.
7. Intervention: An epic, angry and mind-blowing organ extravaganza, this one only gets bigger and better as it goes along. This will probably have its place booked in the top ten of every Arcade Fire fan's favorite AF songs. When performed live, the song started out quiet but by the end it was setting the venue alight.
6. My Body is a Cage: The best song on Neon Bible, although most would probably pick Intervention or No Cars Go. Although the ending of the song is average, the rest of it is downright brilliant. It's a intense, gripping and stunning album closer. At the start, it's quietly powerful and hypnotic. By the end, it's like having a bomb going off in your face. To my pleasant surprise, this was performed live in Portugal and on the live stage lost none of its intensity.
5. Rebellion (Lies): A truly wonderful anthem that'll speak to everyone, this is a joyous yet almost tear-jerking song that'll leave its listeners with a warm glow. There's a good reason that this one is virtually always performed live towards the end, and as one of the last tracks on the set-list the live performance reminded everyone how great this song truly is.
4. Neighborhood #1 Tunnels: The AF song which has always been the one which brought me closest to crying, this melancholy, achingly beautiful and soaring song of childhood and loss is one of the finest songs of the 2000s. When played like it was just as goosebump-raising.
3. Suburban War: A sorely underrated track from The Suburbs, this is yet another one about growing up. So why is this one possibly the best on that subject in the entire album? Because not only is the music overwhelming and haunting, this one puts the listener through an emotional wringer like no other song on the album. The best way to sum this one up is the garbage compactor scene in Star Wars: A New Hope- slowly being crushed between 2 heavy walls. It's that powerful.
2. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains): The Suburbs' masterpiece is its last song, not counting The Suburbs (Continued). Showcasing Regine Chassagne's best vocal work to date and a flawless, dance track-like instrumental, this is the rare song where while listening to it one sees their whole adolescence flashing in front their eyes. A delightful, mesmerizing tune that is so good that 6 years later AF haven't done a song as good to date, this one ignites the stars. Performed live it was yet another show of how good AF are when they perform live.
1. Neighborhood #3 Power's Out: Arcade Fire's masterpiece for sure. It may not be the one many would say is their favorite but it's a dazzling combo of every AF do best: the lyrics are ambiguous, tear-jerking, exciting and sharp, while the themes are not only resonant and relevant, but are delivered in interesting ways. Despite all the excellence of the lyrics, the greatness of Win Butler's consistently awesome vocals and the interesting concept the song presents, at the end of the day the show belongs to the instruments. A heavy, mind-blowing rock song delivered with AF's typical sound, this is a thunderous, relentless, overwhelming song that hits like a full-force hurricane and never lets up. As a narrative, as a heavy rock song, as a powerful piece of music and as proof that Arcade Fire are one of the best bands at work today- everything about this song works perfectly. As well as being the best song in their entire discography, it was also the best part of Arcade Fire's live Portugal performance.
Thanks for reading!
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