What I’m Listening To: 5/15/07 Edition
Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
This sophomore effort totally blows away their debut album, which I felt was a fun little record not deserving of the lavish praise heaped upon it. The second this new album kicks in, you know you’re in for a ride very different than the first. “Brianstorm” is twice as fast and twice as loud as anything they’ve released before. I never thought I’d hear this band just plain rock that much. The next handful of songs pretty much fall into the same category as tracks from their first album. Fun songs, but nothing special. “Balaclava” is especially polarizing to me, as it starts off pretty awful, but gets a bit better near the end. Once the album hits “Do Me A Favor” halfway through, it never stops to take a breath. The last half-dozen songs are all great, and a few are phenomenal. “If You Were There, Beware” actually induces headbanging and “Old Yellow Bricks” is one the coolest songs I’ve heard in a long time. Just a freaking awesome collection of songs.
The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
I’m probably different than most in that I listened to both of The Arcade Fire’s albums for the first time very recently. And being exposed to both of them at the same time, I have to say I much prefer this one, their latest album. Win Butler sounds eeriely similarly to Bruce Springsteen on a handful of tracks, and I just prefer the darker, more foreboding tone of this sophomore effort. “Antichrist Television Blues” mixes classic and modern sounds together so damn well and is simply one of the best songs I’ve heard. “No Cars Go,” a re-imagined song off of their debut EP, serves as the magnum-opus of the album, and possibly of the band. It starts off as a damn catchy tune, but by the end transforms into a sweeping, emotional epic of a song. I’ve heard one person compare The Arcade Fire’s transition from The Funeral to Neon Bible to Radiohead’s between The Bends and OK Computer and I can see that. This album is just a more mature effort in almost every single way. The Funeral and The Bends were intimate collections of somewhat traditional rock while their successors definitely search outwardly for a more epic scope. So while Favourite Worst Nightmare is a great, fun album, Neon Bible has it beat in every category except dance-to ability.
I mean honestly…there’s nothing on Neon Bible like this…
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