How do the Arcade Fire follow-up not just one of the best debut albums ever, but possibly also one of the best indie albums of all time? Well, Neon Bible is a good place to start. After the success of Funeral, expectations were high for a follow up. But really, how could any band be expected to repeat that level of achievement twice in a row? And who can fault a band for setting their own standards so high? If there's one criticism of Neon Bible (named after author John Kennedy Toole's first novel), it's that it's not Funeral. But any other band would consider Neon Bible a towering achievement, for the simple reason that it is. "Keep the Car Running" displays all of the trademarks of the Arcade Fire's best work, building to a crescendo by adding layers and layers of synths to a deceptively simple tune. "Intervention", meanwhile, is easily the biggest-sounding song they've yet recorded, exploding with pipe organ over strummed guitars, strings and a choir. Occasionally, lead singer Win Butler risks being lost behind all of this noise, particularly as his voice has lost some of the strained intensity that made Funeral so affecting (and in fact, on "(Antichrist Television Blues)" he even sounds a bit like 80's-era Springsteen). But there's no denying that Neon Bible is a stellar album, from a band worth discovering. --Ted Kord

Making a second album was never going to be an easy thing for Arcade Fire, Funeral was possibly the worst type of debut album a band could make being that it was absolutely amazing and possibly the best album of the last 20 years. The logical thing to do after making an album that good is to realise it's impossible for you to top it and just not even try...luckily this is not what Arcade Fire do. The band fully realise they can't ever make another Funeral, so instead of trying to make Funeral Part 2, the band instead decide to head in a different musical direction. The thing you've got to realise is that this album is not and will never be Funeral, you can't even really compare the two they're leagues apart and both are completely brilliant in different ways.

The album opens with the haunting "Black Mirror"; the song doesn't just open the album but also sets the tone and atmosphere for the album. The band still uses strings, a lot actually, so if you're not a fan of them this album really isn't for you. The amount of times I've heard about how Arcade Fire over rely on strings is just not even funny; if Arcade Fire do over rely on them then so does Mozart, the strings are a key part of their music so either accept that or don't bother listening.

I never thought I would ever use the word overrated or overplayed when talking about an Arcade Fire song but the album's second song is just that. Don't get me wrong I think that "Keep the Car Running" is a great song but it's probably my second or third least favourite on the album. The song just gets way too much hype.

Sometimes songs are best when kept simple and the album's next track "Neon Bible" is a prime example of this, the song is simple, short and great. Part of me wishes the song could have been longer that it could have become a classic song but it's not and never will be longer. It's just over two minutes long and it's great the way it is.

The first song I heard from this album was the epic "Intervention", and straight away I thought it was amazing. The song is easily the best thing Arcade Fire has ever recorded and that's pretty high praise considering how amazing their albums are. It's a song I could listen to forever and never get sick of and the way things are going I probably will listen to it forever.

"Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" is R??gine's song on the album, well half of it is anyway. Halfway through Win takes over and part of me wishes he doesn't, the first half of the song is much better than the second. The second part just sounds a little uninspired especially when compared to the excellent first half and for that reason this song is probably my least favourite one on the album.

"Ocean Of Noise" is another amazing and beautiful song and the next song is just as amazing too. "The Well and the Lighthouse" is probably the band's best use of backing-vocals on the entire album, they really help lift the song from simply being great to being excellent. "(Antichrist Television Blues)" (Another song which makes great use of backing vocals) and "Windowsill" are great acoustic songs, a kind of return to the style of their debut EP. "No Cars Go" on the other hand is actually from the EP and showcases the reasons why they really should rerecord the songs from it, with the higher production standards and better vocals the song really is a classic anthem.

The album's closer "My Body Is a Cage" is probably its second best song, especially for anyone who has seen this song live it really is just amazing, the perfect way to end such an amazing album.

Overall this album may not be as good (song for song) as Funeral but like Funeral the majority of the songs are simply amazing and the album also has a great atmosphere throughout which helps lift it up to being another masterpiece.

Well most bands fail to even achieve one masterpiece in their entire career Arcade Fire have already released two , they've shown they don't need to stick to one style and they've shown they can improve as musicians (especially vocally) and also they've shown themselves to be one of the best live bands there is. If they can keep making albums of this quality there's nothing stopping them from becoming one of the greatest bands of all time.

I must confess that I have only just discovered Arcade Fire - and what a find! For me it is like Echo & the Bunnymen and Talking Heads thrown into a pot and mixed around with a huge mix of other sounds - out comes a fantastic album full of urgent, dark, intelligent music. If you haven't got this yet, don't wait any longer!

I don't think that there were many other albums released in 2007 which were as eagerly anticipated as Arcade Fire's second full-length album, Neon Bible. The huge success of 2004's sensational Funeral left many people approaching this album with very high expectations and, juding by the reactions and reviews, not that many people were. Unfortunately, although there are at least three excellent songs on this album (Intervention, No Cars Go, My Body Is A Cage), at least the same number of very good tracks and with Intervention we have a contender for song of the year, to me Neon Bible didn't completely deliver on the great promise showed by Funeral. Nearly, but just not quite.

This isn't a very instantly accessible album. To really appreciate the indivudual character and the complexity of each track, you will have to devote serious amounts of your time listening and re-listening to it otherwise there are a few songs on this album which have a tendency to either sound samey or, at least, follow a certain formula which is repeated throughout Neon Bible. Don't get me wrong, this is certainly a good album and the dynamics and subtleties of each song reveal themselves in time, but I can understand why some of the reviews I have read have been lacking in enthusiasm for this album as a whole.

It would be interesting how somebody who listened to Neon Bible without ever hearing Funeral would feel about this album. Without a point of reference or comparison to their debut, this piece of work would probably stand alone quite respectably and, had Win Butler's Arcade Fire not been already catapulted onto the international stage, Neon Bible would have undoubtably done it for them. That's the measure of an album a cut above the ordinary, and Neon Bible is certainly that - you'll just have to forgive me for being slightly disappointed that it didn't quite live up to my personal expectations.

This is definatly one you should have in your collection!
it is catchy - it is a classic - it is brillient
I am not the biggest Arcade Fire fan - but I will sing praise for this!
If you are toying with buying an album -
If you like catchy tunes with a bit of angst -
you wont go far wrong with this.

What a treat, album of the year by miles. Darker and more intense than its joyous predecessor. In some ways it's a bit like a concept album, but don't let that put you off.
Chronicles a fantastic moment for the band... ie where to next, world domination that lasts briefly, like Talking Heads ala " Stop Making Sense", or the start of an era like U2 .
Any way, buy it and enjoy, its fantastic