Arcade Fire - Everything Now (2017 album)

Everything Now, in my opinion, is the first great album Arcade Fire has made. I've tried to like each of their previous albums, but failed. I've played Funeral a lot, but I just can't see what people like about it. I used to like Neon Bible a little, but it always seemed like a lot of work. Same with The Suburbs. Reflektor just seems too long to me with out enough payoff for the time it takes to play the whole thing.

But with Everything Now, it finally all clicks - this is music I can really get in to and enjoy. But I guess I can see how someone who loved their earlier albums that I've struggles so much with might not appreciate it as much. But to me, the music and the lyrics of this new album finally allow me to really feel like Arcade Fire are a band I can connect with instead of just a band that other people say is good.

 

I don't understand why anybody wouldn't want critical success? Especially artists. These guys came from art and music schools...not exactly places that put a lot of value on pop music. I see their career progression as an attempt to reconcile their grand ambition with their artistic integrity. That's not an easy combo to maintain in the 2000's.

 

Hey now, there's no reason to get that mean with your responses.

 

Now this is a bit of a fascinating theory. So "Boy" wasn't considered a "peak" in 1980 because there were time travelling journalists fully aware what they would do in the future?

Cum un! I'm not talking about filling stadiums but "Funeral" definitely established Arcade Fire as major players. That didn't happen for U2 until.... well... "The Unforgettable Fire"? Maybe even "The Joshua Tree"? Before that they were hardly regarded as anything more than a decent band.

But "Funeral" stood out.

 

I'd argue that it wasn't until The Suburbs that Arcade Fire got to be THAT big. I mean, even the Neon Bible tour stop in Chicago was at the Chicago Theatre, which while a nice bump from the previous Funeral tour stop at the Riv, was still only to 3,600 people.

 

"Chemistry" has really grown on me... I originally thought it was the worst track they ever released... but I love that track now.

 

U2's commercial breakthrough was War, specifically Sunday Bloody Sunday. Boy was absolutely a big album in terms of the indie/alternative scene at the time, the same as Funeral was in its time.

Around the time of Boy/October, U2 were opening for the J.Geils band in arenas. Around the time of Funeral, Arcade Fire was opening for U2 in arenas. I'm not arguing the merits of the albums - Funeral is better, more unique and more of a landmark IMHO than Boy (although Boy is excellent), but Funeral is much closer to Boy than it is to Unforgettable Fire in terms of where the bands were in popularity at the time.

Today, virtually every Arcade Fire fan loves Funeral, wehereas Boy is more hit and miss among U2 fans. If Funeral was Arcade Fire's 5th album rather than their first, they'd be as big as the Stones. It's all about timing. U2 put out their masterpiece as a 5th album...Everything Now is Arcade Fire's 5th. While I like it, it won't be Arcade Fire's Joshua Tree, that's for sure.

 

.... but "Boy" definitely wasn't regarded as an era defining album in 1980. It didn't win a Grammy nomination, it didn't top several "Best" lists. To quote Wiki: "According to the website Metacritic the album had the second most appearances on end-of-decade Top 10 lists, only behind "Kid A""

And if I remember correctly "War" wasn't that uniformly loved in the UK in 1983 either.

U2 are more like The White Stripes in that respect, they needed to grow a little.

 

Looks like there is chemistry between you and this band

 

Once again, I'm not talking about commercial success. I'm talking about critical acclaim. And that was there from the very beginning.

And unlike The Strokes - or maybe because of The Strokes - AF certainly didn't sit on their asses.

BTW: I don't think this necessary has to do with being educated. Look at The Killers, their parents were all working in Las Vegas.

 

Yeah, Boy was just another post-punk LP, ploughing a similar furrow to Joy Division or the Bunnymen, but not as well. Bono's impassioned vocals were the biggest differentiating factor.

I bought the LP at the time, but was never bowled over by it.

Mind you, October was even more pedestrian!

 

One note on this, they played three consecutive nights at Chicago Theatre for a total of 10,800 people.

 

Man, I'm still on the "worst track ever" side of the fence. I hope that changes for me like it did for you. Otherwise I'm LOVING this record.

 

You are correct, I meant to go back and edit mine to mention that it was more than one night (but I recalled it being two nights). Still, I do think it's fair to say they weren't yet at "arena" levels of popularity at that point. It was part of their steady growth, by the Reflektor tour they were hitting the United Center (iirc, I haven't seen them since the Neon Bible tour).

 

Wanting critical success, and actively seeking it out by making your art a certain way, which seemed to be what you were suggesting, are two different things. If that is not what you meant, then I misunderstood.

 

Art schools are a natural progressioninto rock bands and they all in their heart wanted commercial success : Beatles, Stones, Talking Heads , Belle & Sebastian and on and on.

 

If anything, this discussion shows how hard it is to compare bands from different eras.

That being said...here I go

The White Stripes were an underground band in the internet era up until the success of White Blood Cells...after which people went back and checked out the back catalog (which was widely available and inexpensive as soon as White Blood Cells had some success) and enjoyed it. They were far more in the "underground" than either Arcade Fire or U2 were in their day, despite existing in the internet era.

While Funeral rightly topped many best-of's by the end of the decade...when it was a current album, even here in their hometown, only active music fans knew who they were. The critical acclaim came right away for Funeral, but the reference to it as a landmark and the added sales came later. It was a groundswell over a long time, not an explosion.

Boy came out in 1980, and immediately cemented the band's sound of emotive singing and a delay pedal - at a time when it was very hard for a band not from the US or UK to have immediate success. There was no internet, no Pitchfork, and no expected audience in North America...and yet even here they filled clubs and opened for big-name artists in arenas on the Boy and October tours. War was quite the hit, as was the Under A Blood Red Sky live album - I was 7 when they came out, and remember hearing them regularly over here on mainstream radio. U2 were big very early, and just kept getting bigger.

It'll be interesting to see if Everything Now has commercial success in excess of the critical reviews...I like the album and don't really understand the negativity...but I recognize that it's not the career-defining album that the band needs to get to the next level.

 

Well.... actually a lot of the stuff we are discussing here indeed has to do with different eras. Not only 1980 and 2005 but also the huge paradigm shift between The White Stripes' debut and "Funeral".

Namely The Strokes and the advent of the internet. Which obviously had been around before but suddenly you had file sharing devices, Internet journalism written by enthusiastic young bloggers. And a certain apathy from major labels and mainstream music papers.

Words and music spread much quicker by 2003/4. And thanks to The Strokes there was a market for a certain sound again. Love 'em or hate 'em but they kicked the door open through which others would gladly - and in some cases much more determined - walk in.

And I guess I'll leave it at that. Otherwise we might derail the thread

 

Gives me hope as I think it's a total stinker. The rest of the album I'm quite enjoying though - expectations were low after the reviews but it's a good listen imo.

 

Can't see this asked elsewhere, so should there be a download card with the vinyl? Finally got round to breaking the seal on my 'night' version today and can't find a card or a code printed anywhere. Not a dealbreaker, just curious. Cheers.

 

Everything now. Everything except for a free download.

 

Yeah - super irked about that.
MERGE gave you both 320k mp3s, and FLAC.
Columbia... can't be bothered. With Dylan releases they'd at least include a CD.

 

Which is odd, because I've gotten at least a couple of Columbia LPs that came with downloads. Kinda wonder if withholding it here was an intentional choice by the band. Especially lousy when I think I paid about $28 for the single LP.

 

Pheeww. That was hard work. I loved 'Reflektor' and adore 'The Suburbs', but this one really took a good few listens to appreciate. I almost considered trading it back in last week, but gave it a couple more good listens and now i really enjoy it. The electronic textures work their way into your brain and there are 3 or 4 excellent songs here and a few more enjoyable ones. Not their best, but not a dud like (most of) 'Neon Bible'. So by my reckoning they have produced 3 great albums, one good one and one mediocre one so far. Not bad score overall.

 

Like it too and almost bought a second copy yesterday when I came face to face with the German "Alles Jetzt" sleeve. I behaved myself but I think it's hilarious, Alles Jetzt!!!!!