Funeral

Previously rated: The Suburbs (3/5) ********************* Not terrible music, but it's just so generic and forgettable. What do they have against guitar solos or drum fills? All I remember from listening to it yesterday was a whistling tea kettle and a song with strings. I didn't remember anything from the other album either. Arcade Fire makes music that is just there. It doesn't really do anything, and it doesn't do anything for me. Normally I'd give an album like this a 3 like I did The Suburbs, but that generic-ness just annoys me into dropping it a star.

Мне совершенно непонятен поинт одного овощеподобного музыкального критика, что этот альбом создал самые отвратные тренды в инди-роке, и оттого якобы плохо прошел тест времени. Это мои личные абсолютные пять, первые для меня в 1001 (все до этого - пять с компромиссом, так сказать). Да, этот альбом заставляет задуматься о вот этой проблеме разделения артиста и творчества, но честное слово становится абсолютно поебать, когда он самый поет PURIFY THE COLORS, PURIFY MY MIND на первой же песне. Это ультимат камин-оф-эйж альбом, который в моей жизни возник в тот самый период. Он очень по-детски игривый музыкально, и точно также юношески чрезмерно драматичный, но одновременно с этим такой наивно серьезный порой - все пересекается с темами на альбоме, форма и лирика. Это лучший альбом очень хорошей группы как минимум. Лучшая песня - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels).

Not to my taste, disliked the male vocalist's voice in particular

Not more Arcade Fire ......

Whatever my feelings about Win Butler, this is an important album by an important band. 4.5/5

Too cool for me. (?!?) I like indy rock but Arcade Fire is a bit much.

Never heard of them, interresting enough to be added to favorites and explore some more.

Found this one pretty bland

I honestly do not get the mass appraise for Funeral, by Arcade Fire. Yes, I have to give it to the production, which all together is sound and unique for most tracks. But the vocals could have been done much better on many of the tracks. I feel if there was better vocal layering, my thoughts on this album would be far more positive. That being said, highlights include Une aneé sans lumière, Haiti, and Wake Up. In Wake Up, I see the Arcade Fire thats vocals I wanted throughout the album. All in all, Funeral is an alright album. Best Song: Wake Up Worst song: Une aneé sans lumière

For a certain generation (in which I'm included), this album marked a shift in musical taste. It also opened the floodgates for every liberal arts major to go start a bedroom band and not be afraid of making music that they wanted to make. And for that, I'm eternally grateful. But how does this one hold up? While I think the band would go on to make overall better and more cohesive projects, this is quite the way to make yourself known, and most tracks here are indie anthems 20 years on. Too bad Win Butler ruined it all :/

I’ll proudly serve as pallbearer for this triumphant introduction to these instant indie rock icons until my very own final day.

Loved it in 2004, love it now.

Already heard it before, but such an excellent album.

5.5/10 dull again.

Such a pretty album. At times it feels like it's giving you a warm hug. And wake up is a gorgeous anthem of a song. Fav songs: - all the neighbourhoods - Wake Up

Surprisingly ok. Not great, not awful just ok.

Surprisingly good. Half the tracks were meh to me but the other half had a little merit. Not enough to put it up there but enough for me to not turn it off if it was on.

#174. I listened to this yesterday, and as I'm trying to think about it now, I realize I already don't really remember what it sounds like. Arcade fire is just that memorable I guess. I'm pretty sure I remember thinking the girl kinda sounds like Björk on the last song. Not sure if that's a positive or a negative, but that's what I got. 2/5: hipster folk Song added to playlist: In the Backseat I've created a playlist on Spotify that consists of the best and/or my favorite song from each of the albums in this book. This list can be found here if you are interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7MAXDGLWlwLkFLb8veGfkA?si=FqkQQPgZTFWG0jAUJXLFZA&utm_source=copy-link

Pretty decent. There aren't any bad songs on it, but most of the songs just aren't something I'd listen to otherwise. light 7/10

Удивительная группа конечно сочетающая в себе много мало сочетаемых друг с другом вещей. Альбом очень красивый плавное течение музыки на нем то и дело обрывается очень драматизированными надломами. Такое надо переслушать где то в начале сентября.

Ok album but not for me

Some great songs and influential for the time.

great for a debut album

One of the best albums I have gotten so far from this site. Nearly Perfect

The songs are consistently good but there isn't anything that really stands out to me. I can see where people would be fans but I don't think I'll be looking for concert tickets anytime soon.

not a fan of arcade fire.

Pretty good listen. Though I have a hard time putting it above 3 just because there wasn't a lot replayability for my tastes. 3/5

This came out when I was twenty. It was overhyped then, it remains overhyped now. Just a bunch of maudlin, navel gazing, fluff. Nothing interesting musically. Lyrically equivalent of a suburban teenagers diary, which, I guess is the point, but it does nothing for me. Cliché after tired cliché.

There’s an ebb and flow to this album. It’s also hard to detach it from what came after. Wake Up is still their best song.

Odd voice, instrumentation is really solid. Haiti is a nice and chill song. Alright album but I don't think I'll listen to it much again, not my cup of tea.

Sad boi music but weird makes sense its canadien. Fav songs tunnels and in the backseat

A good album with a number of iconic songs, most notably "Tunnels," "Wake Up," and "Rebellion (Lies)." I'm not sure it is Arcade Fire's best work, but it does perfectly encapsulate the angst of its time.

Pretty cool!

I didn’t know I was an arcade fire fan! For some reason I thought they were more like imagine dragons. I thoroughly enjoyed the folk influence and the less produced sound

Surprised but not surprised how good this album is. Obviously, legends start for a reason. Standouts for me were the hit track Rebellion (Lies) and I love Wake Up. A 5/5 album for sure deserves its spot on this list.

Great indie album.

That’s a great record

Actually didn’t hate this album. The music videos are weird though.

good mix of twee and sleaze... weird bjork ending -- not cohesive? idk

Interesting Indie Rock. I almost like the music. 4/5

I don't need to listen to this; I know every word, beat change and guitar riff. I knew this album before I was born, it's in my DNA, It came to me at a very important time in my life and I've loved it since. Regardless of what came after, this is perfect.

Very 2000s, in a good way

Didn’t listen. Not my style

I'd never heard this album before, though I'm very familiar with "The Suburbs." I like their brand of dreamy rock, though in smaller doses.

Funeral was an excellent example of creative experimentation combined with peak musicianship. Each song twisted and turned in ways I never expected and brought something new to the table. I wasn't sure what to expect for the next track. Being released in 2004, this was a highlight for the alt rock and indie genres. This band knows that they're doing. My favorite track is Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles). Album added to my Spotify library.

christ almighty... at least now i know what it was like to sit in a hipster cafe for 50 minutes in 2004. (despise the album art btw)

This album really felt like something new when it came out. I still think it's their best one.

Not bad but not my usual vibe

Totally underwhelmed by this album. I was totally expecting to love this album and it just didn’t resonate with me. It was kind of boring. There are other songs by them that I was more impressed by.

Alright with the album, but not anything special.

I liked Arcade Fire. Saw them at Jazz fest Energetic with some chunky guitars.

There was one song I liked on this album and after listening to the entire album, I can’t remember it…

Hmmm yeah idk. Just for how big of an explosion this band had I’ll give it a 3. However, let’s subtract 1 because I think they screwed up the indie band influence for a while there

Surprisingly enjoable

Favorite song was neighborhood number 3

moody ass album. Highlights: Crown of Love In The Backseat

Arcade Fire's masterwork of a debut and magnum opus. Wide-eyes, elated, emotional--you name it. 100% deserved the success it met at the time. I've actually discovered most of this album live, during the band's European tour, right after this record came out. It was a joyful riot onstage, and an excellent show. Too bad the band's reputation has recently been tarnished by some allegations regarding Win Butler's private life--at odds with the man's quite self-righteous public image so far. To be fair, if you take into account the testimonies about what had occured between Butler and those "love interests" he has had different sorts of interactions with, it clearly transpires that Butler is a not a full-blown "sex offender". Sure, those testimonies differ in some key moments between what his version of the events was, and what the other involved persons said about them--and yet the whole picture is still cohesive enough to convey the brush strokes of said events. And if what they suggest is mostly pathetic on a personal level, it's not necessarily "malicious". The word "sexual assault" was admittedly mentioned for one case, but it seems that said interaction didn't last for very long and didn't go very far, "technically" speaking. Emotionally speaking, it's a very different animal of course, and I understand if anyone strongly disagreed with me in the interpretation of said "private" events, whose exact nature we will probably never fully understand from the outside. What becomes abundantly clear when you connect the dots, though, is that Butler was at least a self-centered hog at some point--and quite an immature one at that, especially for someone his age. Besides, if you add the "power dynamics" that are inherent to the differences between who Win was and who those "love interests" were, the whole thing does paint him as quite insensitive, and also astonishingly reckless to boot. *Aggressively* sexting with women who are between 18 and 23 is for instance not the brightest move a famous 36 or 39-year-old rock star can make these days. And asking for "secrecy" about his exchanges with those women ("sexual" exchanges or not) sounds a little suspicious as well. It's almost as if Butler had used his celebrity to actually "cover" for the grey areas in those interactions. Where said celebrity could have led him to err on the side of caution for everyone involved instead--if only he had thought a little more about accountability, responsibility, and if he had acted somewhat selflessly of course. In other words if he had truly "cared" about those young women he was supposedly enamoured with... Butler's public response, "explanations" and "apologies" haven't fully dispelled the whole unsavory picture, by the way. The man feels sincere when he states he didn't fully understand what was going on, and when he says he now regrets what he has done. Yet for most of this public response, he spends a lot of time talking bout himself, his marriage, his depression, his sufferings at the time, yadi, yada. But it's not about *you*, damn it! Even there, for his "apology", Butler doesn't process the point of those women calling him out is to let other voices be heard every time they feel pressurized to act contrary to their feelings or better interest, just because a famous male gaze is in the vicinity. Not to mention male gazes that are not famous at all, and yet bring with them their own power dynamics as well. The "objective' description of such an unfortunate situation hits too close to home for Butler, I guess. Even now. So here I am, spending three paragraphs about those recent revelations, instead of talking about Arcade Fire's debut album. The thing is, I needed to precisely address all of this to *also* express why I still CAN "separate the art from the artist" for this particular album, in spite of the importance of those matters. Because... a) Everybody can make mistakes in their lives, have serious lapses of judgment, or act like a selfish fool. I'm certainly taking this subject seriously, and I hope that what I've written up there demonstrates that to en extent. Yet, at the same time, I'm certainly not saying artists *should* be "role models". As long as certain lines are not crossed, at least... b) Those sad events happened LONG after the legendary debut that *Funeral* is was released. So it's still possible for me to listen to it without thinking too much about them. What *Funeral* evokes to me these days, is when I visited my friend Théo on his French island two summers ago; and when, on the first morning I spent at his place, he woke me up by having his stereo blast... "Wake Up". Him all smiles at his little joke, me still confused and sleepy and yet internally laughing as well. Good times. You see, *Funeral* has been ingrained in the consciousness of indie-heads for so long now--far more than lesser album *The Suburbs*, which is where the Grammies and the rest of the mainstream world caught up with AF--that nothing can tarnish the gems in it. Those songs can be played at any moment, and they will lighten up the mood or the room instantly. c) Speaking of the Grammy Awards, I sometimes wonder if reaching that sort of mainstream success is not what made Butler lose his way, on both a personal and an artistic level. And if you only focus on the music in Arcade Fire's latest albums, you can feel like something was "broken". For instance, many moments in *Reflektor* were already quite boring, to be honest. But that couldn't be worse than next album *Everything Now*, a cheesefest of unprecedented magnitude within the Canadian band's discography. And don't get me started on the supposed "return to authenticity" that *WE* was. Sound-wise and songwriting-wise, it felt like a PR ploy, a somewhat artificial attempt to return to the glory of *Funeral*. Yet there's no way to return. Except when you spin that first album again... d) I wish I had more space or time to properly describe the joys of *Funeral*. Alas, this tentative "review" is already too long at it is. I could have ranted on how "Neigborhood #1 (Tunnels) is a perfect emotional opener for the album, on how " Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)" is such a propulsive banger displaying an equally perfect chorus, and on how "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" is so insanely tight, intense and driven--thanks to its massive and relentless rhythm section--that you feel that the walls around might just crumble whenever you play it on a high-fi system. I could also have stated that "Crown Of Love" is a torch song for the ages, that "Wake Up" is obviously another mind-blowing anthem, because of how its heavy guitar riff leads to those incredibly epic "ooooh-oooohh" vocal parts... And the climactic build-up of "Rebellion (Lies)" is also a fantastic moment, as is last ballad "In The Back Seat", a cinematic closer where all the emotions explored throughout the record join in perfect unison. Here, as elsewhere, the string section literally *shines* in ways both elating and melancholic. And Régine Chassagne's vocal contributions are simply, utterly heartfelt AND powerful. Jesus H. Christ, what an album. Even a supposed "deep cut" such as "Haiti" (where Chassagne is also taking up lead vocals duties) is a keeper. It is a somewhat "naïve" composition, in spite of its very topical subject matter. Yet this also harbors great hooks and endearing details aptly conveying the whole Haitian culture and its tumultuous history. So that's it. 5/5. I can totally understand if the latest news about the band and his frontman would have other reviewers dismiss this record for purely ethical reasons. As I said, I believe I take those matters quite seriously. But I still feel that this debut remains "important" for the history of popular music. And I just can't personally "dismiss" my subjective feelings about it, to use the exact same word. Frankly, I just wish Arcade Fire could split as a band so that everyone could move on today. Win's brother Will has already left this sinking boat, by the way, and what he does with his new band is quite interesting... Sorry for the harsh words, Arcade Fire *hardcore* fans. Sometimes, you just know it when an act has *said* everything it needed to say. And with *Funeral* on my music shelves, there will always be one *good* thing to remember the band for anyway. Number of albums left to review: 258 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 325 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 185 Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many other records are more important to me): 238

What a debut this is. There's so many big hits. Catchy hooks. Big choruses. I absolutely love all the layers of instruments, the violins in particular coming through, but also the dual vocals. It has a really big depth of sound and tons of energy to it. Parts of this album are just absolutely joyous. After this album came out I saw them at Brixton Academy London, and seeing everyone on stage at the same time really was something, but having the whole crowd sing back the melody to Rebellion Lies minutes after the song had ended was something else. A great memory, and great collective experience. This is a brilliant album.

Good

Ei huono muttei kyllä oo mun lempparibändi. Kaipaan jotenkin jotain isompaa! 3/5

Mitä tästä sanomaan, varmaan tärkeimpiä ellei tärkein indie rock -levy ainakin genren mainstream-nousun osalta. Kaikki bändin hyvät elementit on kertaheitolla kasassa debyytissä. Omalta osaltani vähän väsynyttä, että annan taas näille vitosen. Jälkikäteen Neon Bible olisi ehkä pitänyt jättää neljään. Tämä ja Suburbs kyllä ansaitsevat.

Sitä hyvää indietä

Every song sounds the same, like all the most annoying early '00s indie-pop laying ground for what would become rote radio-fare in a few years. Big, chorus-like songs, with some dude shouting about boring shit. Some of the musicality is interesting, but the vocals are annoying. Aren't there like, fifteen people in this band? Why didn't the other people revolt against the irritating singer? Sometimes a chick sings for a bit but she sounds like she's singing through one end of those yogurt cups connected by string from across a field. 3/5. Don't get the hype. Band seems highly punchable.

Rebellion (Lies) bangs so hard.

One of the most influential indie rock albums of all time.

I can't say that I've ever found Arcade Fire all that exciting as a band. I think, sadly, that the era when I could have gotten really into them might have passed me by. However, I will say that this album helped me understand their appeal much better. The songs are well written, and the production on the album is excellent. I've also heard that the lyrics are very good, though it was difficult for me to catch a lot of the words on the first pass 4/5

3.8

Boring

I like a lot of this album, but not all.

Dystopian hope Enshrined in sweeping dirges Composed in beauty

--

Ja wel mooi chill om naar te luisteren tijdens het leren maar zou het niet perse nog een keer aan zetten

Not as good as I hoped. I bet it could grow on me, as I like the newer stuff you hear on the radio, but not grabbing me by the lapels on first listen.

I feel like I should know Arcade Fire a lot more than I do, but the nice part of that confusion is that I'm pretty sure this is my first listen to an entire Arcade Fire album. I enjoyed it, but didn't fall in love with them or their sound, and wonder whether this is their best album to include (without bothering to follow through on whether there are multiple Arcade Fire selections or to figure out which of their albums is considered their all-time best)? I'm impressed at the band's longevity so far, though not so impressed by recent (and likely justified) "sexual misconduct" allegations that sound a lot like Ryan Adams (but without as much fallout so far). Overall, a strangely forgettable album, especially for one that won a Grammy and has been ranked as the 2nd best album of the 2000s....

Though I got this album over a year ago, apparently I forgot to rate it. Well, it's pretty good--I'd listen on the radio: dramatic, sort of fuzzy rock, but nothing is too memorable other than their clear passion for their sound.

Masterpiece

An ok album

Haven't listened to this for quite a while, great album, atmospheric and some great tunes, love the rhythm section and strings. Also listening to it on a lot better pair of headphones then 20 years ago and it sounds great. I had a couple more arcade fire albums then drifted away from them, this was still my favourite

It has cool songs on it, but at the same time I don't feel that has something that makes it special of other albums of their style. A personal thing Is that I really like the cover, it's nice.

Just barely a 4. A lot of lyrics that I enjoyed but also not my favorite like.. sonically for a lot of songs. Love the opening two songs, especially Neighborhood #2 (Laika), plus the last song.

A bit slow for my liking

Really enjoyed as a whole album

I like arcade fire tbh

I was 19 when this album came out, and obviously it felt like the most important piece of music ever recorded, as things released when you are 19 tend to do. I really resent who I was at the time so I expected to hate this, but it brings me no pleasure to announce I am incorrect and misty-eyed while listening to it in my driveway. Five stars.

Absolutely beautiful album. Pleasant, cohesive, emotional

Likely the most formative album in my music listening career. Six stars.

Nicht geil, aber auch nicht scheisse.

Had heard some of the songs but didn't know who it was until now. Fun album to listen to

Forgot how much I love this album, not a single song i'd change from it. If the 4 Neighbourhood songs don't get you going then I don't know what will, especially Tunnels and Power Out, both give me goosebumps every time. Then you've got the singalong chorus on 'Wake Up', the ending of 'Crown of Love' with that sick disco drum beat, and the way 'Haiti' transitions into 'Rebellion'. What an amazing album experience, peak of 2000s indie right here.

Wow. Actually wow. It sounds like Nostalgia

Early '00s indie classic and began an impressive run from Arcade Fire. Uniquely alone in their catalog, Funeral carried a childish nostalgia that wasn't recaptured.by the band. Hopeful and naive at times. The band would become a little darker from this point out. On this listen, maybe the first start to finish intentional listen since I listened on CD. I noticed a lot more texture, especially as the album ended. Listening to the sounds slowly escape from the band and merge into silence. An impressive and important album for its time.

Have heard before. Doesn't hold up as well as I expected.

Absolutely raucous crazy breakthrough in its moment and still makes me sing along. Love this one.

Entertaining lo-fi indie-rock with some nice flourishes. The track Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) really reminded me of New Order for some reason.

I remember when this came out, I remember the first time I listened to Rebellion (Lies), it really is a Proust madeleine. This kind of albums introduced me to a part of indie music I still love today. There is kind of too much of everything: too much instruments, too much people singing at the same time, mostly out of tune but it has its intrinsic quality. You can feel the collective listening to the album, and they tend to swap instruments from time to time which is also nice. It carries some nostalgia in the sound itself, even more so years after its release.

Pleasant to listen. Not spectacular, but a great debut.

One of those bands that I knew I had heard before but couldn't have told you what they sounded like. Turns out, I like them! I've heard at least a couple of songs from this album, and I think the band is even better heard in a full-album context. Pretty solid album.

Easy listening, fun presentation. Favourite track: Crown of Love.

Love love love this album.

Never was a big fan. I think the blogotheque show ruined it for me. Guy seemed like an ass

Early 2000’s alt. Seriously not bad I like maybe 2 or 3 songs here.

Very nice, it surely help me go through the day at work ;-)

Meaningless is the only word that comes to my mind when listening to this. I see what they were trying to do but they really didn't hit the spot. Seems like the band you really want to like but simply can't. Unfortunately it's absolutely not memorable. I almost had a hard time listening through the whole thing.

This is really not my cup of tea. The whole album sounds kind of pretentious, as if the band wanted to appear sophisticated, without really being so. And above all is the wailing voice of the singer, who always sounds like he's in sever pain. Personally, I don't really see, why this album was so well received when it first came out. It's neither something new, nor something special

A few good ones but not really my thing

Anthemic, again! This is the 3rd AF, I've had pop up. I'm still struggling with getting to like them. I'm sure they're great live.

Football

I could not wait for this to be over, from about song 2. I hate to rate it so low because I think this is more personal preference than a comment on it's quality, but I found this super annoying.

Good

Pretty good! Not my usual groove, but liked it!

Step 1 - listen to The Moon and Antarctica. Step 2 - ignore that you don't have Modest Mouse's sense of bizarre whimsy or ability to mold atonality. You just have a singer with a squeaky voice. Try to be like Modest Mouse anyway, Step 3 - ????? Step 4 - profit Arcade Fire has always seemed like the band you are supposed to admire. I try, I really do. But I'm not sold on the quietly restrained, driving eighth notes, supposedly building up to something that never quite gets there. And I have this sinking feeling that this and The Suburbs aren't the only albums of their waiting on the list to disappoint us . . .

This album rules. I see much hate for it but i think its genius, the songwriting is top tier and its just a fun, beautiful, emotional listen all the way through.

damn.

This is pretty great.

Not a fan of Win's voice. Music is interesting, but replay attraction is low.

New to this band. I like it but nothing standout or that would make me want to check out the rest of their albums.

Paar hits, bisschen Kitsch

Flashbacks. Mag die Produktion und gute Songs dabei

like indie rock opera vibes, at least first two songs; will see how it progresses. 1st song has the good piano in it. Second song has a lot of energy. Lyrical melodies remind me of modern The National. End of track 3 a an energetic vibey drive. The music isn't really bad by any means. Not necessarily my tastes. Wouldn't really listen again honestly. 3/5

I really liked this album. I listened to it all weekend, probably 4-5 times through. It was mellow enough to fit into any situation. Had a few love songs that fit well with other media I was consuming. One of my favorites of this journey so far.

Not really my type of music it's too twee Rebellion is ok in small doses.

Not my favorite of theirs but I like it

Loved this album in high school and love it still!

Love this album. Very consistent.

Great band great album.

A little better than expected as someone who never really "got it" with Arcade Fire. This was solid.

Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) // (Power Out) // Crown of Love // Wake Up //

this was the first album I heard by Arcade Fire and what a joy, plenty of great racks and with two singers adds that little variety. Lots of favourite tracks, all the Neighbourhood, Wake Up, In the basement and especially Rebellion (Lies)

a partir da sexta música você começa a mergulhar nas melodias.

cutesy rock album 8/10

This is a perfect album, IMO. It was one of my favorites growing up and I have it on vinyl in my house. Each song is so gorgeous and has its place. It's hard to even name a favorite because there are no mediocre songs on this album, but Tunnels, Haiti, and Wake Up are all special. The shitty thing about this album is that Win Butler (front man) was accused of being an abusive and shitty person to women in 2022. For an album that's so pure, this makes the music hard to listen to now. Overall: 8.5/10

Pretty good album. I liked most of the songs but nothing stood out to me. - 8/10

I'd heard of Arcade Fire because they've performed 5 times on SNL, and after reading the wikipedia article for the album I had high hopes. At first all the songs have the same blaring instrumental with some guy shouting in the background. But after multiple listens I did enjoy a lot of the tracks. Edit -- I don't see myself listening to anything on this again, listening to it for a week straight kind of drained me.

trying to catch up on the albums I missed and I just listened to a 70s album that sounded like every other rock album ever and was boring. ik this is like 30+ years later and maybe its time maybe something else but this feels elevated compared to a lot of the other rock albums on this list. there's some monotony but its monotonous good if that makes sense... 8.4/10

Didn’t listen super closely but it had some cool moments. 7/10

6/10 - It was pretty good. Nothing stood out a great deal but nothing was terrible. I liked a few songs.

I liked it ok, wake up was good 7/10

These songs all kinda sound like the same song, so it loses some points for that. That one song is pretty good though 8.5/10

solid album i liked haiti a lot but over that it never went that high again... 3.0/5.0

i don't remember what i thought of this one. Reminded me of my dad to

So many songs which I do love. Love how the piano makes me sad. And also I never really grew up in the suburbs yet I think it must've been a very melancholic experience.

It is crazy that this is almost 20 years old and doesn't sound dated.

This is a great album right here. I feel like I've been getting a weirdly high amount of indie rock lately. I'm not complaining, I'm just noting that it's a thing. And why would I complain? Funeral by Arcade Fire is an amazing album. This album is very consistent in its tone, but in a good way, rather than a mind-numbingly repetitive way. There's common theming throughout the album making it a light concept album of sorts. The sound is very good. There really isn't a bad song on here. The writing is thoughtful, which makes sense given that a lot of the theming on this album comes from some of the band members having recently lost some of their relatives. I like the singing. The balance between the two main singers is nice. It's crazy to think that this was Arcade Fire's debut album. I can totally see why this is considered one of the best albums of the 2000s. I like it. 5/5.

Remember when that Big Brother contestant said she was into a new kind of music called indie? (I checked the date and it was 2007). Everyone thought it was the most hilariously stupid thing to say. Because, obviously, indie was a 1980s thing. But reading the reviews on the Wikipedia article, and some of the reviews here, there does seem to be support for the idea that indie started in the 00s. This album, and the Big Brother comment, may mark the start of a cultural fragmentation, alternative versions of reality existing in their own bubbles. Fittingly enough, Arcade Fire address just this kind of problem. Their response is to build tunnels connecting people by returning to childhood. The primary emotion is nostalgia, in its original sense as a kind of homesickness. They’re not the first indie band to do this, REM got there first in the 1980s, obviously. They didn’t invent this kind of music, or this kind of sensibility, but they do it very, very well. And listening to it, you’d be forgiven for thinking that indie did in fact start in 2004.

Very, very interesting. Never heard of them before. Wish there was a 3.5 rating.

It’s growing on me and I’m glad I listened to it. I probably won’t listen again but I’m glad I gave it a shot. Worth it.

I like Arcade Fire. 3 albums on this list is a bit much.

it was fine. i wouldn’t be mad if you put this on but i wouldn’t care about it either could i write poetry to this? n

Dear Mr. Dimery, We get it. You like Arcade Fire. It's your book and you can do what you want with it. But, of all the recordings made in the past 74 years, you felt the need to include no less than THREE Arcade Fire albums? Even AF themselves probably don't think they are that important. And I'm guessing that they are some real pretentious, self-absorbed fucks. Do better, Bob. Do better. One half-star. Bumped up from a zero because I once pretended to like this album to impress a girl. It worked and I never had to listen to it again.

Meh

I really like 4 songs on this album (Neighborhood 1 & 3, Wake Up, and Rebellion). The rest is boring and points to the boring direction they went in after.

Can't quite believe this came out 20 years ago. I was 17 when Funeral came out so the 00s indie rock period is what I'd consider "my" era of music. For it to be 2 decades ago makes me feel old. Anyway introspection aside, I saw AF live several times and consider myself a fan. I am probably slightly biased because of my rose tinted glasses, but I still like this a lot. The highlights (Tunnels, Wake Up, Rebellion) are great tunes and Arcade Fire really had a distinctive sound that stood out among lots of indie bands competing for attention at the time. Loved it on the re-listen

Pretty decent album but a tad too mellow for me at times. Still all around something decent to listen to.

Only liked two songs, Kettles and Wake Up. The album was quite irritating, wanted to skip a lot of it. Sounded like a lot of songs belonged in tv/film. 1/5

I was just hoping for some sort of melody or hook or something, but, alas, it’s just looping shit with whining vocals, like Radiohead.

Ididid

N: 3 J: 4

Wonderful album, plumb full of world influence and indie pop know how. Influential for a reason.

Yeah, this is yet another one of those albums that was part of my formative years and will receive 5 stars based on that alone. Even now, it's such an anthemic listen that I can't help but get fired up by it. The album has such a great flow to it (which makes sense, considering the "Neighborhood" concept that connects several of the tracks on side 1). The instrumentation is dense and epic, like a rising. Yet, they feel right at home when they slow things down too. The entire feel of the album conveys the charming nature of the band's humble roots. It feels huge, but it still feels kind of Canadian. And it makes my Canadian indie-boy heart proud to see this one on the list. A true classic of the genre, and it deserves to be.

Not my style, too loud

I like this album a lot. It feels a little samey after a while and compared with their earlier albums, but I love their sound and lyrics

Solid.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. The album just gets better the longer it plays. IMO it’s a masterpiece. Stunning album.

Good record, loved it when it came out

All time favorite

Couldn’t even finish it. Whiney as fuck, with an underlying hint of sexual predation and narcissism.

Meh

Sind schon einige sehr bekannte und renommierte Songs auf der Scheibe, die auch meinen Geschmack treffen. Einiges ist mir aber zu theatralisch und aufgeplustert

4.75/5

I found I got more into this record towards the end. Not sure why it took so long. Definitely an "indie" feel to it. Perhaps it is worth another try down the road...

It just felt like music my mom would play in like 2014 or something. I did not listen to the whole thing.

Arcade fire- I knew the singles but I don’t think I ever heard the whole album. The string arrangements are cool on songs like kettles. Cool how songs flow into each other. “Wake Up” is a great song. “Rebellion” is cool too. I like when bands have multiple singers and I like the songs Regine sings like “In the Backseat.” I don’t know how to rate this one 4, 4.5?

Objectively a pretty decent album, I’ve just never really liked this style/phase of music and I hope it doesn’t ever regain popularity. For me it lives in that world of stomp clap Mumford and lumineers and it just doesn’t work for me. But it is a decently made album. The drums in track one feel distractingly terrible to me but they didn’t bother me on the rest of the record

Wake up is super catchy but I feel like every other song is a lesser version of the song. His voice is cool.

Found it pretty pedestrian

Meh

Not my style

fun

Podría haberlo puntuado antes, pero hacía muchos años que no lo escuchaba entero y quería saber si lo bueno era el recuerdo de años felices de conciertos y mucha música, pero me he llevado un sorpresón porque me ha gustado igual o más. Un disco muy bien cohesionado aunque hay saltos y cambios de estilo que se integran fenomenal. Lo voy a recuperar.

It's OK, but not really something I'll listen to often

Not my music. A bit boring...

I had them pending... At some point I have listened to U2 and at other times to ELO... But a lot of personality!

1. 3.3 2. 3.1 3. 2.7 4. 3.6 5. 3.8 6. 4 7. 4.7 8. 4.7 9. 4.8 10. 4.7

died for a bit but im back now hi (im gonna stop rating individually im lazy) like: tunnels, the french one i think i have to be in a very specific mood to enjoy this and its not my current one fs

it felt so dreamlike at times but i found it hard to focus while listening but it was good. i really liked crown of love and in the backseat

Started a 2 (pretty derivative and I don't like when high vocals back a main vocal but just an octave up) but then Crown of Love was a banger with a great ending and upped it to a 3, and the rest of the album carried that momentum all the way up to 4. Good stuff, was just what my run needed.

This album shaped my musical taste during my formative years. Sent me on an indie-rock journey and opened my world to a whole new genre! Songwriting, originality and performance (especially live performances) are all top notch. Knocking off 0.5 for sub-par production/mixing. 4.5/5

Listening to the band after all the allegations around the lead singer hits differently. But objectively this is an incredible album and I think one of their best Strong albums from 1st to last and stood out so much in its day when first released 4

den var sgu meget fed! Aldrig hørt Arcade Fire før

En af de absolut bedste. Skrev for et par uger siden at Tigermilk måske havde det bedste åbningsnummer på en debutplade nogensinde, det var slef fordi jeg havde glemt at tænke på Neighborhood #1

Klassiker 👌

No me gustó

The first descriptor that came to mind for this record is theatrical rock. Elements of folk throughout, but it also reminds me of a circus at times with its vibrant and wacky sounds. Enjoyable listen still.

This album was indeed fire. I think Arcade Fire is that upbeat type of sound that can brighten anyone's day. It landed on a day when I needed it, so the timing was great. Definitely interested in more Arcade Fire!

It's aight. A few exciting songs, although I didn't listen to the album very closely in terms of lyrics. I feel like I would have liked this album more a few years ago, but unfortunately some songs are overplayed now. Crown of Love and Rebellion are still great tracks

One doesn't hear the krautrock and bossa nova the editors claim to hear, and one does hear emo-adjacent vibes (which editors try to claim they don't, revealing the axe they pretty clearly wish to grind). Overall, this is a intense, driving, rock-centric sorta record that sounded fresh and new a decade-plus ago and retains much of its energy today. Solid all the way around, though slightly overwrought at times.

It's ok. Nothing really stands out for me. Bit too many droning sounds.

This felt try-hard when I was 25 and it still does 20 years later.

Kedelig første halvdel. Muligvis acquired taste. Jeg bliver ikke fan af det her album. Rebellion lies er fed, men ikke ventetiden værd.

Et album der holder dig på tæerne. Det kræver ens opmærksomhed ved konstant at skifte i stemning og og retning eller ved at smide små finurlige guitar-figurer ind fra højre. Det har ikke så mange massive sange som The Suburbs har, men den aktive lytter keder sig aldrig.

one of the best

alt goodies

Wie Talking Heads, aber durch den Lead-Sänger hektischer. Trtzdem finden sich coole Lieder!

Meh

I've written about this album before: Despite its deadly title, 2004’s Funeral by Arcade Fire comes across as quite the lively beginning for a band. From the first few seconds of ‘Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)’ with its flowery prancing pianos running around in rich reverberant riffage, it’s clear there’s something strong and serious powering up. The chords shift solemnly along a full-band build-up, everyone chuggin’. That pulse is pregnant with child. Indeed, it is the childlike why, wonder, and worry for the end of kid-dom that fills out the central theme of this dreamy sadsong—in a neighborhood besieged by snow where families are frozen, the kids must tunnel out into the chilly wilderness and make ends meet all on their own. It’s a cold coming-of-age: “we let our hair grow long / and forget all we used to know / then our skin gets thicker / from living out in the snow”. Another verse concludes with the compelling vision: “sometimes, we remember our bedrooms / and our parent’s bedrooms / and the bedrooms of our friends / then we think of our parents / well, what ever happened to them?”; and that straightforward kind of commentary can instantly generate any number of memories in the minds of listeners, too. But even if times are tough, there’s love enough to make mysterious amends: “you change all the lead / sleeping in my head / as the day grows dim / I hear you sing a golden hymn”, this romantic-toned vague language sung with gusto to a lover. And with a passion comparable to that of the high-flying singing, the instruments also seemingly rise up above a cold snow-capped mountain and transcend time to reach a shining summit of glorious mandolin-style quick-picking heaven. And the hot-sun disco drums hit hi-hats on off-beats to keep the pulse perversely danceable! Ah, all in all, it’s an inspired song to start a superb album. There are some drums darkened by a shade of sleigh bells to open ‘Neighborhood #2 (Läika)’, a song with unhappy harmonic jangle guitars and even a crying accordion. Vocals shout out all energized and frantic about Alexander, an adventurous older brother who left the neighborhood-nest never to return (like Läika the space-dog). Choruses claim: “our mother should have / just named you Läika / it’s for your own good / it’s for the neighborhood”. Slyly, the crying accordion theme comes back twice: once from a weepy sweepy string section and later as a sung chant as the neighbors evidently dance “in the police disco lights”. Overall, the song rocks hards with many little general dynamic uppings of the ante over the course of its three swift minutes. ‘Une année sans lumière’, or “a year without light”, mellows the mood with a gentle repetitive riff. It’s a language-trading tale of metaphorical lightlessness. In this shadowland of burnt-out lamps, people wear blinders over their eyes (“porte des oeillères”); but the narrator alone can see with his eyes “shooting sparks” into the night. And musically, the song’s really not so-sad-sounding. It’s all the more confident come chorus: “hey, your old man should know / if you see a shadow / there’s something there” perhaps implying that the singer’s love is real and that it’s not really his fault if people lack the sense to understand it. Some slidey guitar-type-tone takes your attention after the singing stops; and here the fast ballad, hitherto gentle and silken, erupts in the end: choppy strums and drums come to a super-charged conclusion as if aligning to make bright lightning strike in the land of ever-night. But lightning only illuminates the land for a brief bit before it’s back to black: ‘Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)’ crashes down with huge horrible chords and another dancing drum-beat. ‘Though those drums stay the same, the verses emerge in sudden crazy contrast to the doom-laden introduction—a new key comes in optimistically with twinkling mallet-y music and sunshine chugging quick business in the guitar parts as the singer describes the situation: “kids are swinging from the power lines / nobody’s home, so nobody minds” and also urges “light a candle for the kids / Jesus Christ, don’t keep it hid!”; and with that, we’re back to the distorted chords, the dark parts, the powerless parts that actually sound the most powerful. Here comes a funky riff. The band can make a sense of apprehension and fear swell up sonically—in the bridge, as strings rise over the scene in minor melodies and you hear the heartfelt cries of “the power’s out in the heart of man / take it from your heart, put it in your hand”, you might realize it’s all about personal failure and aimlessness—the music drips with the dread you’d expect to accompany lines like that. All dark, all dark. ‘Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)’ brings the four-song theme-sequence to a close in a tranquil way. The track rides in from the winds as wild violins warble and seven kettles whistle. An acoustic guitar comes in with a little riff very much like a famous song about the “end of September” that came out exactly six days later! Disregarding such a silly coincidence, the song does indeed revolve around the tricky business of time. Here’s a line: “time keeps creepin’ through the neighborhood / killing old folks, waking up babies just like we knew it would”. The titular kettles come into play in the chorus where the words use the old adage about how a “watched pot won’t ever boil”; and tearful guitars strike down and strings rise most emotionally in this fragile and feely piece. Here’s the weariest waltz ever in ‘Crown of Love’, another song utilizing the band’s ace ability to hypnotize with a simple rhythm. This time it’s piano putting out the hypnotic pulse over a couple of extra emotional chords with vocals calmly declaring dramas such as “I carved your name across my eyelids / You pray for rain, I pray for blindness”. On chorus cue, strings appear as almost expected to do their distinctive duty of tension-building—rising high in a skyscraper of sad sound to accompany the titular take-away: “if you still want me, please forgive me / the crown of love has fallen from me / if you still want me, please forgive me / because the spark is not within me”. Those feelings have fled and the love is dead—or at least, that’s what one side of the relationship thinks; the song continually shifts perspectives back-n-forth. This unfortunate chorus continues to build until it all spills out into a fast disco-drummed dance-break play-out, absolutely a sweet yet strange surprise as if dancing is the only reasonable response to lost love in this mystifying life. Crunchy stuff comes chugging strong in ‘Wake Up’, the heaviest hitter on this album. Who can resist hollering along to the wordless whoa-whoa wailing anthem of the wowing power chorus? It’s complete catharsis. Ultimately, it’s another ode involving a child’s charge of responsibility and the grim business of growing up in a weird world. Hear sung in the second verse a broken throat summary: “we’re just a million little gods causing rain storms / turning every good thing to rust / I guess we’ll just have to adjust!”. The song’s epic enough to include a harp, but no note’s ever out of place in this dramatic thing. Even towards the end, when the music morphs into something like dancey doo-wop, it just seems like the right reaction—instead of sulking or whining why not celebrate what little life we all have to live? It’s with a great big generous serving of strong optimism that you hear the fragile-voiced twinkling singing of lines like: “with my lightning bolts a-glowing / I can see where I am going”. Wake up and take charge of your own life—that’s what this exceptionally lovely and uplifting big ballad seems to be saying. Here we take a trip to ‘Haiti’ where spooky siren sounds haunt the hills. Tea kettle mellotron toots a tune, sharp and whistly. The beat keeps bobbing with bass drum and dance-inducing cymbals as two chords strum some, just a standard major-minor rise-n-fall perpetual pattern, nothing particularly sinister or sad about this sound despite the eerie lyrics. Words flip between French and English again to describe the very bad history of Haiti, ancestral homeland of the singer. The ghosts of stillborn children inhabit this atmosphere and wage spiritual warfare against abusive autocrats of the past; but amid these spectral scenes, here’s a hopeful vision: “tous les morts-nés forment une armée (translation: all the stillborn form an army) / soon we will reclaim the earth / all the tears and all the bodies / bring about our second birth”. Yes, this lament doesn’t succumb to dumb defeat. Even death can’t keep the spirits from quitting their mission or surrendering hope. Maybe that standard major-minor rise-n-fall two-chord acoustic guitar perpetual pattern is the perfect progression for all underdogs: never resolved but forever rovin’ and hopin’. Fading in from the phantom haze of the last track, ‘Rebellion (Lies)’ kicks off with bass things. Punchin’ punctual snare strikes and piano stays on the same clacking chord, but that sinuous bass weaves between three different sectors of its fretboard. Something huge is brewing even if that something is only a small defiant child—the song uses the big debacle of bed-time as a metaphor for repression and the spreading of lies that parents (and less specifically, society) are sometimes inclined to try in order to keep kids in line. At the same time, it’s also the naive child who shares the tale, so we only see the lyrics from behind his inexperienced eyes; but nevertheless, he senses a sham. With one simple convolution of chord, hear the refrain go from sleepy-time cheerful (with the rootin-tootin lullaby-like “lies, lies!” in the background) to sudden serious-business all over the repeated “every time you close your eyes”. Things are false. Things are hidden. Too many people hide the “night”, their “lies”, their “lovers”, all these things “under the covers”. This dancey anthem advocates no more sleepy deceit! We ride out the last track ‘In the Backseat’, at once a mournful yet magnificent rock-song that manages to express loss and gain in the same strain. Fitted with a lyric that beautifully balances the disparate innocence of youth with the finality of death, the symphony-of-a-song soars straight into the head and heart of every sensitive listener—both its tune and its talk catch on tight to the ear and the emotions! A first verse imparts its delicate tidings amid twinkling pretty piano and ambiguously-shaped cloud-passing chords of string-sound: “I like the peace / in the backseat / I don’t have to drive / I don’t have to speak / I can watch the countryside / and I can fall asleep”, perhaps the perfect poem to summarize the burden-free business of childlike simple-living. Nevertheless, termless time administers aging and fading: “my family tree’s / losing all its leaves”. Yes, the guitars come to commiserate with the unanticipated tragic news of the chorus: “Alice died / in the night / I’ve been learning to drive / my whole life”. The knowledge of how to take charge of one’s own way seems to last a lifetime, the wisdom always weaving in-n-out. And all this happens again-n-again as the song’s just a big crescendo of power and passion; and on a larger scale, it’s a cycle of life. By the big finish, the song has swelled to both heaven and hell; and the singing has occupied many octaves, ultimately resorting to a primal wordless wailing for woe and for hope. Everything now. The tune takes an entire two minutes to calm down, all the strings slowly scrambling off; but what a rapturous unravelling it is. Funeral is an infinitely listenable album jam-packed with intriguing lyrics about power, time, childhood, and dying; all of those sorry affairs etched into a strong sonic palette. Most notably, and perhaps this is its most effective element, Funeral focuses on the feels. Each tastefully-played tune emanates and sustains a spirit of hope despite all the dramas alluded to in the lyrics. Don’t delay! Attend [to] the Funeral right away.

One of the best of all time.

Fair

Not bad.

I really enjoyed this ethereal, moody album!

I've tried to like this band and got some reason I just can't get into it. It's fine and enjoyable but just not ever memorable.

It's fine. Just flaccid.

Meh. Was intrigued, but felt it underperformed.

I really liked it and I will be listening to it more

Meh. Lead singers voice was a little annoying for me.

It's got that early-mid 200s distorted vocal, pushing drums, and chugging lightly deistorted rhythm guitar.There are momentas that are really nice (the opening of Une Annee Sans Lumiere for example) but it's just not that interesting to me. The music is largely unispired and lacks anything particularly unique to peak my interest. This album just kind of happens, inconsequentially, trotting along without a care in the world to you or I. It's not bad, it's beige. Harmless, meh.

So much better than the other Arcade Fire album I’ve listened to

One of the first albums I ever listened to all the way through. It's been a while since I've listened to it all the way through again. It still takes me to such a specific time in high school and brings up more emotions in me than maybe any album I can think of. Nostalgia aside, so many great tracks. After listening again, gonna give out my third 5.0 rating after 200 albums. Every song is fantastic and couldn't even choose the weakest track if I tried. Rating: 5.0

Solid sound, enjoyable

This album blew my little artsy high school mind when it came out almost 20 (!!) years ago. Though I stopped paying attention to the Arcade Fire around the time of The Suburbs and I haven't listened in many years, I can't believe how much I enjoyed coming back. It sounds like emotional euro dance club music for the Great Depression. Was this the blueprint for the next decade's worth of "hey ho stomp clap" to follow? Maybe. Did it change the game for myself and all my artsy hipster friends forever? Absolutely.

I love this album. I loved it when it came out and I love it now. Shame Winn Butler turned out to be such a douchebag.

Arcade Fire is one of those bands that I would put on a 'chill party background music' playlist. Their stuff is fine, but it's nothing exciting. It doesn't make me feel anything. It's just kind of... there. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Bonus star because this album does include one of my favorite Arcade Fire songs, if it's possible to have one -- 'Wake Up'. I like the intro.

Liked every song. Good listening

I was originally turned off from this band after a performance they did at an awards show, i think it was the grammys. I thought they were terrible. But I Enjoyed this. Would listen to them some more.

mid millennial core. 2/5 not the worst but i wouldnt listen to it again

Pretty cool, friend gave me this back in 04

New top 5 album, holy shit this is perfection

My teenage angst. Introduction to adult themes and feelings before I had actually experienced them. Reminds me of being young and having hope for the future.

This was an absolutely phenomenal album, genuinely one of the best things I've listened to 4.8/5

Who and what is arcade fire? Is a question I used to ask myself back in high school. I now realize those ppl had a MUCH better taste in music than me and my “dad rock until I die”. Superb!

Basic "Indie" whininess. Melodies are decent. Vocals both male and female are awful. Overwrought and dripping with sentimentality.

Very fun album with lots of emotional rides. Starts slow and ends on a higher note.

Wall of sound made lyrics indecipherable. Slower songs were fine.

This album is kind of just fine. The songs are okay a little bland and not to my taste. Kind of reminds me of a more boring Foals or Everything Everything

more mitski vibes? but with like crazy electric guitar backing and weird screaming vocals so no

I love Arcade Fire.

fuck these guys

Notable tracks: Une Annee Sans Lumiere, Crown of Love, Wake Up, Rebellion (Lies), In the Backseat

A genre defining album for Indie Rock, laden with lush soundscapes and drama. Lots of lyrics about change, curiosity about feelings, and growing up hit me at just the right time when I got my hands on this. Such a strong start to their career, it's a shame they couldn't sustain it forever

Sounds like David Burns

I've listen to that before and I can tell you that it is a classic!

Not my style

Not too bad. I like it.

five stars just for the lyric: \"You change all the lead sleeping in my head to gold\"

Good album musically..not exactly my cup of tea

Probably my favorite Arcade Fire album. Each song just ‘sounds’ unique, and of their time. Good lyrics, instrumentals, and all around great. This album has and will age great. 4.2

Good listen. Fav tracks - Neighborhood #1, Crown of Love

Been ages since I played this. Lovely listen. Think Rebellion (Lies) was an ABC staple. Seems like a hard sound to get right as there was a lot of shite around then that tried to copy the style (The Decemberists 🤮)

Not a bad listen, enjoyed track 3 "une Annie sans lumiere". Good background music but not mindblowing

Long-time one of my favorite albums and arguably Arcade Fire's best, with Neon Bible in contention. It has relaxing, exciting, sad, happy.

It's alright, just not my style.

Good

honestly, this started off a lot worse than it ended. I at first was annoyed by the album because I immediately thought I’d be bored or annoyed which at the first few songs I was, and it wasn’t until Crown of Love where it picked up and I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately it was half and half for me so they average out, but if the whole album was more like the second half it would be very good.

I've tried with this band a few times over the years and have never come close to connecting with this music in any way. It's hard to explain. Complex and dense, dramatically building... this should be right up my alley. I actually end up hating this album. I think it's a combination of the vocals (always) and yet more something/everything with the arrangements and/or mix. It's all so dense (and unclear) that it becomes impersonal and bland to the point of having no personality whatsoever. You often can't single out particular instruments - it just becomes an Arcade Fire Sound which ...ehh... credit to them I guess; that should be the dream of every act - develop your own unique sound. It's just too much and in a weird roundabout way leaves me at best devoid of absolutely any emotion while listening to them and quickly devolves into irritation. It's a weird dichotomy that I can on one hand appreciate the craft that went into each of these tracks (which all sound like 1 long slightly annoying emotional "journey") and on the other at the same time feel like I'm being forced to watch some overwrought Netflix 3 part documentary on *tragedy-followed-by-searching-for-myself-through-van-life-through-the-prairies* - goodgodman. Can I call this music pretentious? It's terribly terribly uninteresting while still being ponderous. It's just not ever happening Arcade Fire. We just need to see other people. Lose my number please and don't call again. ...I'd been hanging on a 2 rating until the last few songs and have long resisted giving 1s to something that's at least creative and talented, not lo-fi, etc, but this is just irritating to the point where it's no longer tolerable passive music. If it were a 7 song EP it'd be a 2 but the nerve of injecting themselves into my earholes for nearly an hour - the sheer audacity - goddammit take the 1. 3/10 1 star.

First time I listened to this one, I prefer the suburbs.

makes you want to run around the neighborhood at dusk and jump into the nearest lake. it's an album full of melancholy, happiness, hurt, joy, sadness and the feeling of running away, knowing you'll come back. it's a short escape from whatever is chasing you. no matter if you're driving around in your car or laying in your bed. you'll either feel like crying or taking a shower afterwards. 10/10

Solid album, nothing noteworthy. A couple goodsongs, very good flow. 7

7.5 This album has some songs that are still popular today and are catchy. The album flows very well from one song to the other.

I enjoyed the second half of this album more than the first half. Sometimes I was reminded of the Talking Heads or Mumford and Sons. Not bad.

I am 3 songs in and I already absolutely love it. The instruments, the vocal, even the lyrics are just so good. The best part is that they blend just right. This is a whole new listening experience for me.

NA

Not enthusiastic about this album

Reninder

Had not listened to this in several years. Good stuff and will return to it more frequently.

I love this album, but I don't really have anything to say about it.

Arcade Fire’s first album is damn near perfect and remains one of my favorites. Crown of Love remains a deeply romantic song with just the right amount of inner torture. I have such fond memories of seeing them open for the Strokes after this album came out nearly 20 (!!!) years ago.

Never got in to them first time around and I could understand that this got overplayed and annoyed people. but it is a phenomenal piece of work.

Cannot describe with words!

Still their best, although slightly weaker in the middle, but finishes very strongly.

Not The Suburbs, but it's close

Acceptable but unfortunately modern and overexposed. Hearing this music and style just makes me think of commercialization and product placement.

This was fine, but I don't get it. Nothing made me want to relisten 3/5

I only think I’ve heard a couple of their songs before, and definitely not off of this album. I was pleasantly surprised! It all slaps real hard. Very nostalgia and emotion inducing (for high school era love). Good vibes, kind of a gentle, mellow pixies vibe. Didn’t hate, kinda enjoyed!

Heard of the band before and the music is familiar. Didn't expect much from the album and was pleasantly surprised really enjoyed it. Favortite songs: Crown of Love, Wake Up

Was fine. A few good tracks, didn't feel the album as a whole though

Pretty solid, will listen to again

This was a good album, just not particularly memorable. “Neighborhood #1-4” and “In The Backseat” would have made a really solid EP that I probably would have rated 5 stars. But it felt like the rest of album seemed like filler. Not bad, but nothing else stood out.

Ah si si me gusto, no es mi favorito pero esta mono

Von den 1001 Alben. Ich mochte mal ein Album von denen, aber insgesamt sind sie mir ein bisschen zu viel. Also das geht auf jeden Fall klar. Es nervt auch gar nicht. Ich höre aber natürlich auch nicht so richtig bewusst zu. Och joah also keine Ahnung. Bin immerhin schon fast halb durch.

A distinct and iconic indie rock album

Arcade Fire is the most complicated punk band around, but strip it down it’s just great punk music and Funeral is their masterpiece. Funeral is full on, heart on your sleeve from the opener. Even when it slows down, the emotion and intensity doesn’t. Tunnels, Laika, Power Out, Crown of Love, Rebellion, Haiti, In The Back Seat are all 10s. Easily one of the greatest of all time and the best of their generation 9.7/10

Never been a fan of Arcade Fire. This didn't change that. But I may have accidentally listened twice? This felt like 2 hours, not 50 minutes. I don't think it sucks THAT bad. But it does suck.

I already know this and I know it’s good. Thanks for nothing.

Neighborhood 1: Tunnels- 🤮 Neighborhood 2: Laika- 🤮 Une Annee Sans Lumiere- 🤔🤷‍♂️ Neighborhood 3: Power Out- 😴 Neighborhood 4: 7 Kettles- 😴🥱 Crown Of Love- 🤔🙂 Wake Up- 🤮😴 Haiti- 🤔 Rebellion Lies- 😐 In the Backseat- 🤮🤮🤮 Half of the songs were like 5 minutes long and had 90% instrumental. Vocals weren’t very good either. Overall not good/ would never listen to. :( 1/10

This is an album that I have listened to many times, but that I haven't listened to recently. I never really gave much thought to the lyrics of this album on previous listens, but it was really nice to go through this album with a more critical ear, and try to decipher what the lyrics mean. I thought the lyrics were an absolute homerun; I loved the themes of growing up, loss, and the evolution of familial relationships over time. This album is really beautiful as well; the arrangements are unique, and no one else in 2004 was putting out music that sounded like this (at least not that I can think of). Also, there are a few of songs on this album that are so great and massive that they stand alone on their own really well: "Neighborhood #3," "Wake Up," and "Rebellion (Lies)." Those three songs are easily the highlight of this album for me. For the longest time, "Wake Up" was my favorite track; I love its fantastic opening guitar riff, booming drums, and great synthesizer sounds that fill in the background. But eventually, "Rebellion (Lies)" took over as my favorite, and two things influenced that: 1) There was an episode of 6 Feet Under where Nate and Brenda are having an argument and this song plays in the background. As the argument escalates and intensifies, the song gets louder and more intense as well. It was just a perfect way to use it 2) Arcade Fire closed out ACL in 2011 with "Rebellion (Lies)," and the energy from that as the closing song was absolutely perfect, and it gave me a new appreciation for it. Going into this album today, I assumed it was going to be an easy five star review for me, but I don't think I love this album as much as I used to. Some of the songs are pretty boring and drag on for too long, and the production is pretty lacking as well. This is a self-produced debut album on an independent record label, and it sounds like it. The lyrics are hard to make out for most of the album, because the vocals are so drowned out by everything else, and that's a bummer, because the lyrics are great. However, this album is massive in terms of its influence. When this came out, FM radio still pretty much ruled the roost, and there was nothing like Arcade Fire being played to a wide radio audience back then (at least not that I can remember). But this album created a large fan base for Arcade Fire, showing that people were interested in this kooky band comprised of a gaggle of hipsters, and I think it helped indie rock reach a larger audience. Sometimes the critics and the masses align, and popular music scored a big win that this album was popular and also well reviewed.

Yoa

Give them their due, at least they try to make music and introduce some melody - and it’s all sweary like so much tripe around.

This is peak Arcade Fire and a huge influence on a lot of the paint-by-numbers indie bands that came after. It is a good album on its own merits.

Beautiful composition, excellent song writing and album cohesiveness, brilliant raw emotion throughout. Insanely relistenable.

nice 4*

2004, инди рооооцк Arcade Fire как я знаю были оч популярны у девочек лет десять назад. Это, видимо, их восхождение к этой точке треки очень проникновенные, у певца отчаянный голос. Музыка лёгкая. Ещё и лирика, похоже, подростковая. Всегда смешно ещё комменты читать, под любым альбомом. Там всегда люди, которые слышали этот альбом в детстве и ностальгируют. Так и тут В целом звучит хайпово. Разрывная. Унывать под это тааак легко, даже если текст не знаешь. Погуглил текст, под него ещё проще. Проблемы неразделённой любви, одиночества, взросления. Думаю, это 4. Может даже 5? а к чёрту, это пять. Я с кайфом прослушал

I think a lot of people would like this album. Very solid.

Listened

A couple bangers, a couple odd balls, overall a fairly funky album.

Very spheric, for sure nothing to listen to every day.

I'm not sure I've ever listened to this record from start to finish (though I recognize just about every song on it). A gem of an indie rock album that is chockablock with awesome tracks. I don't think it's quite a 4 star for me, but I'm giving it that because 3.75 is not an option.

I lived some somgs on here but not sure about all of them. Still an awesome album

Great and anthemic chamber pop.

Loved this album since it's release. All of the songs are really really good and well written. They will definitely be in my head for a while.

Smooth sound that doesn't get old. Can easily throw on this band and listen all day.

Classic arcade fire action