Best Songs of 2013 – #8
I still don’t know what to make of Arcade Fire’s newest album, Reflektor, a record that has shown up on an equal number of top ten and “most overrated” lists.
One thing is certain — these guys are ambitious. In a music landscape dominated by fizzy pop and hip-hop retreads, we need bands like this to push the boundaries, even if they sometimes push them to places we don’t want to go.
Eight months ago I horrified my most loyal readers when I spent three weeks on a song-by-song exploration of Arcade Fire’s Grammy-winning 2010 album The Suburbs.
I wanted to better understand what made the band such critical darlings, and I actually did emerge from that experiment with a much deeper appreciation of the craft that went into that album.
Tears For Fears has released one album in the past 18 years, and that was nine years ago. Now the band is back in the studio working on a new record, so I guess the ‘once every nine years’ pattern is working for them.
This is actually a great time for new Tears For Fears music, assuming it’s as good, and in the same style, as their 80s hits. Today’s pop music is very much influenced by the 80s and I can imagine songs like ‘Shout’ and ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ succeeding wildly were they released in 2013.
This might not be a popular decision around these parts, but I was intrigued enough by my three-week exploration of Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs that I’ve decided to continue the experiment.
Over the next three weeks I will dissect each song on Arcade Fire’s 2007 album Neon Bible, starting with the first single, ‘No Cars Go.’
And so we come to the end of my three-week exploration of Arcade Fire’s Grammy-winning The Suburbs. Dana, you can breathe easy once again (until you see what I serve up next… you might be begging for a little Arcade Fire a week from now!).
Like many concept albums, The Suburbs ends with a short coda that echoes the album’s beginning. That must be written in a concept album handbook somewhere.
Meet Me In Montauk 