Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

[Toilet Duck]

Well? ...what do people reckon? On first few listens I'm pretty much hooked (though I've even dug out Neon Bible recently in preparation for Rock en Seine, so I'm back on a bit of an Arcade Fire buzz anyway)...some great songs on the new one though, especially Empty Room, Ready to Start, Sprawl II, We used to Wait...Suburban War has a kind of Ocean of Noise feel to it, and for some reason I can get Supergrass's St Petersburg out of my head while lietening to the title track (I know they don't really sound the same!). All in all it'll be interesting to see whether they break new ground in terms of popularity with this record, it'll certainly cement the support of those that already like them though...

[Alcatraz]

All the songs pre-released sounded fantastic

The title track is brilliant

Edited July 26, 2010 by Alcatraz

[windy_miller]

I had a listen to this yesterday. I thought it started off well but became a bit rambling and lost its way pretty quickly. There are far too many tracks on it and it is too long.

I'll give it a few more listens though. Hopefully its a grower.

[Langdale Wolf]

I think it's fantastic. Better than Neon Bible, but never quite reaching the heights of Funeral (which I never expected it to).

Windy - give it a few goes. It soon grew on me - it's a cracking album.

[Toilet Duck]

After a couple more days of listening to the album, I'm still hooked!...I agree it might be slightly too long, (personally, I feel the half light songs are a bit of a lull, but they're not exactly bad). The run from Deep Blue to the end is just specatcular (I think Deep Blue might actually be my favourite song, just love the way the guitar builds up at the end...funny as it's seems to be regarded as a throwaway track in most reviews I've read...each to their own I suppose!). Can't wait to see them in a few weeks, doesn't seem like it's been 3 years...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_-pm6DFmrA

[Paul ™]

Gave it a couple listens, it's definately a grower.. not as good as Funeral and on par with Neon Bible (so far for me anyway)

Looking forward to hearing the new stuff live at Reading.. check out some videos on youtube from the Hackney Empire gig for a taster

[//ross]

amazing, in between Neon Bible and Funeral. I don't think they will ever top Funeral.

[Langdale Wolf]

amazing, in between Neon Bible and Funeral. I don't think they will ever top Funeral.

[Uncle Liam]

Amazingly underwhelming

[glastofun]

Do you think they'll do a full UK tour for the album, with venue sizes permitting people to get tickets (rather than tiny venues)?

[Wooderson]

Though I do love Mountains Beyond Mountains. Beautiful stuff.

[Uncle Liam]

Do you think they'll do a full UK tour for the album, with venue sizes permitting people to get tickets (rather than tiny venues)?

[funkymp]

^ arena tour end of the year, it'll be 02 / wembley / men size places

love the new album so much, 'the sprawl 2' is so awesome

[DaveMac]

Yes. Dont expect them to play Nottingham though.

[When Jokers Attack]

Gets better with every listen.

[OneLittleFish]

Given it three listens, personally think it's very poor aside from three or four key tracks. Cluttered, messy, uninspired, covering up a lack of ideas with the same f**king swelling strings and instrumentation and considerably overlong.

Arcade Fire are such a hype band - the first album was as good as the sum of its singles, the second was nothing special at all, and this is their weakest yet.

Might give it one last listen tomorrow, but not in the least bit impressed by it.

[Steve P]

Is it only me that expects them to rip into a version of Delilah at the beginning of We Used To Wait?

Had a couple of listens now and like it, but just find the whole album a bit uninspired. To me it feels like they're treading water. They've now made (to my mind) 3 very similar albums and I just don't see where they can go from here.

[evilhasnever]

Arcade Fire have announced details of a UK arena tour for December.

The band, currently Number One in the UK albums chart with 'The Suburbs', will play five dates on the gig run, starting at the O2 Arena in London on December 1.

Arcade Fire will play:

London O2 Arena (December 1)

Birmingham LG Arena (

Cardiff International Arena (9)

Manchester Central (11)

Glasgow SECC (12)

AWWWW YEAH!

[windy_miller]

Listened to it for the 3rd or 4th time last night and I think its finally started to grow on me.

[frankblack]

I've only listened to it 1 and a half times so far, so not formed a proper opinion.

As for the tour, I can't commit to that as the dates are around when work Christmas parties happen.