Arcade Fire - Everything Now (2017 album)

Bono never had that kind of traditional great voice, where he could belt something out with perfect phrasing and whatnot, but he was sure was a helluva singer in his prime. Just about any live rendition of Bad in the 80s will demonstrate that.

The review said the album is joyless? What a stupid comment. Not every album has to be full of joy. I guess that reviewer would think The Wall (Pink Floyd) sucks too because it is "joyless."

I think most have figured out that music critics, in general, are dopes.

 

everything on McCartney II is brilliant.

 

Seems to me like Arcade Fire have gone from being all earnest and po-faced to being all glib and cynical.

 

"Everything"? Is that a bonus track? Surely love the instrumentals and "Temporary Secretary" but a lot on that album is standard McCartney fare.

 

A line like

"She dreams about dying all the time
She told me she came so close
Filled up the bathtub and put on our first record"

made me laugh out loud, it's hilarious. But "cynical"? Isn't the album rather a celebration/ reflection of being married in a successful band?

 

Funny you would mention "Bad" because my girlfriend just played me that very song. U R right. Bono's vocals on that are great.

Concerning Pitchfork, here's what they wrote: "The pale, joyless songs don’t transcend their social critique—they succumb to it."

Seems like there won't be any concensus on "Everything Now" too soon. Maybe this is why the released it with "Day" and "Night" artwork

 

That's life

 

Where the problem lies in the second part of the sentence, not the first.

 

Can't comment on any of the individual songs, as I've just been listening to the LP while driving, but I'm really enjoying it.

Some of it's a bit LCD, some of it's a bit New Order. All of it's worth listening to.

And I really like how the last track segues straight into the first
track if you listen to the CD on repeat.

 

Yeah love that eliptical thing too. Not many albums have that. Bizarrely enough the first one that comes to mind is "Afternoons In Utopia" by.... errrrr.... Alphaville. There must be more.

 

On the LP, side 1 ends with the track "Infinite Content". On a record that's a loose concept album with the subject being endless consumerism, it seems that a key opportunity was missed: side 1 should have ended with a locked groove. That, combined with the way the EN reprise loops the album back to the beginning, would have made for a cool "infinite" feeling.

 

David Bowie's "Scary Monsters" is another one

 

And The Wall.

 

Yeah I was totally expecting a locked groove at the end of side A as well.

Side C of Suburbs ends in a locked groove, at the end of "We Used to Wait."

 

I guess they thought it was a gimmick they couldn't repeat then.

 

And I always thought a locked groove repeated itself automatically

 

It bears repeating.

 

Sorry, I meant SONGWRITING with PASSION. The album really is repetitive and joyless. I can appreciate that this was their intent; I get it, that's the vibe they're going for. But I just think they can (and have) done much, MUCH better.

EDIT: Also, maybe NME and the rest of Europe is really digging the Euro-vibe of the album, and it's just not playing well in the States...?

 

every new band/artist I have heard for the past 20 years or so
well...

 

REM did that on final album.

 

I've listened to this from back to front about 9 or 10 times by now. Once on vinyl (which sounds fantastic, BTW). I frickin' love it. Better than Reflektor, which as I said in a previous post is just too long. This one is just the right length. So many earworms, too. However I'm not very keen on the run from Chemistry->Infinite Content x2. But then Electric Blue comes on, and all is forgiven. I don't think I can put it up there with the holy triptych that is their first three albums, but to this longtime fan it's definitely a worthy addition to the catalogue.

 

I've played the **** out of this and still really like it... in fact I'm gonna have to put it on right now.

Side B is pretty fantastic.

 

Sounds like typical music journalist tripe. Who cares about the social critique? Enjoy the music for what it is.

I think this sums it up pretty well.

 

On their final album? Now that.... sounds like a threat

 

Well... I'm not sure why people think this is "songwriting without passion". Some of my favourite music is "repetitive" (Can, Neu!, The Fall) and I don't think "Everything Now" is "joyless". Even though I couldn't think of any music I would refer to as "joyless".

Pitchfork seems to have found a new adjective to describe records