Arcade Fire is once again the band of the moment thanks to their critically-hailed new album, The Suburbs. I’m still not sure whether I’m ready to jump on the bandwagon, though I suspect I should give that album a listen one of these days so I can make up my mind.
I’ve never heard the band’s 2004 debut Funeral, also much-loved by critics, either. My only exposure to Arcade Fire has been through 2006’s Neon Bible, a majestically murky college radio version of a Bruce Springsteen record. I haven’t quite decided if it’s brilliant or boring. After a few more listens recently, I’m leaning toward the former.
It’s interesting when a band is on the brink of hitting it big with me. It’s an awkward courtship phase where the critical hosannas have me simultaneously intrigued and wary. If I don’t love it instantly, does that mean I’ve missed the boat? Or that I haven’t given it enough of a chance? And how many listens equals enough of a chance, anyway?
‘Keep the Car Running’ is one of the first singles from Neon Bible. The verses are a dead ringer for ‘On the Dark Side’ by Eddie and The Cruisers (aka John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band). This is one of the less ambitious songs on the album and I don’t mean that as a negative. Great bands can spin art out of high-minded experimentation and good old-fashioned rock-n-roll.
I think Arcade Fire might be a great band. I’ll let you know when I know for sure.
The same old city with a different name
Men are coming to take me away I don’t know why but I know I can’t stay
There’s a weight that’s pressing down
Late at night you can hear the sound
Even the noise you make when you sleep
Can’t swim across a river so deep
They know my name ‘cause I told it to them
But they don’t know where and they don’t know when
It’s coming
When it’s coming
There’s this fear I keep so deep
Knew its name just before I could speak,yeh
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh
They know my name ‘cause I told it to them
But they don’t know where and they don’t know when
It’s coming, oh when?
But it’s coming, keep the car running
If some night I don’t come home
Please don’t think I’ve left you alone
The same place animals go when they die
You can’t climb across a mountain so high
The same city where I go when I sleep
Can’t swim across a river so deep
They know my name ‘cause I told it to them
But they don’t know where and they don’t know when
It’s coming, oh when?
Is it coming Keep the car running
Keep the car running
Keep the car running
Meet Me In Montauk 
I certainly hear the Cafferty doing Springsteen thing going on here, but I don’t think the mid tempo more polished sound works here. It tilts it over to the boring side for me. A little more grit and speed may have helped, but, heck, at that point, I might as well just play “On the Dark Side” or, better yet, get a taste of the real deal with “Born to Run.”