Monday, March 29, 2010

Arcade Fire

Another bit from Arcade Fire to keep you amused as you hide from the mosquitoes & black flies in your cottage on a Canadian lake in Northern Ontario or the Maritimes or wherever or just enjoying the fog rolling in which is how I spent part of my vacation in Lunenburg Nova Scotia :




And here is Rebellion by Arcade Fire:



orlink to :

stage six Arcade Fire- Intervention:
Intervention

Stage Six Divx Arcade Fire- Rebellion

Rebellion

Anyway on the lighter side of things I am still entranced by Arcade Fire's " NEON BIBLE" . There are only a precious few good quality videos available on line such as the couple from SNL Saturday Night Live & the British Jools Holland show . But I did find a great video of Arcade Fire live in Paris .

At YOUTUBE I found this video of the group performing in an elevator which I have to share since it is so strange & a bit off the wall.It adds new meaning to elevator music.




& here is a bizarre & funny ad for " NEON BIBLE" which can be seen in full at the Arcade Fire website but this version is found at YOUTUBE . The ad is done in the style of a 70s KTEL TV ad which were rather campy for selling crappy records but made the founder of the company extremely rich . The ad tries to convince the buyer that the lyrics are family friendly & support " Family Values" . Link to their website is in the links list to the side to the right.



And now for something completely different Sen Patrick Leahy in US SEnate speaking about the the two to five million EMAILS the Bush administration have just gone missing - are they corrupt or just inept -
Leahy says this is like saying The Dog Ate My Homework & reminds him of Nixon Tapes in which 20 minutes was missing erased on purpose.
It should be noted during the Plame affair the Bushites claimed that a number of Emails & documents had gone missing.



See article at TRUTHOUT :

Fitzgerald Cited Missing Emails During Plame Probe
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report

Friday 13 April 2007

In late January 2004, Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney appointed as special prosecutor to investigate whether White House officials knowingly leaked the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, sent a letter to then-acting Attorney General James Comey. Fitzgerald was seeking confirmation that he had the authority to investigate and prosecute suspects in the leak case for additional crimes, including evidence destruction.

The leak investigation had primarily been centered on an obscure law that made it a felony for any government official to knowingly disclose the identity of an undercover CIA officer.

Comey responded to Fitzgerald in writing on February 6, 2004, confirming that Fitzgerald had the authority to prosecute those crimes, including "perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses."

Fitzgerald wrote Comey in part because he had become suspicious that White House political adviser Karl Rove had either hidden or destroyed an important document tying him to the leak and the effort to discredit Plame's husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson. The document Fitzgerald believed Rove had destroyed or withheld was an email Rove sent to Stephen Hadley, then deputy national security adviser, in early July 2003. That email proved Rove had a conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper about issues related to the CIA leak. Rove did not disclose that conversation when he was first interviewed by the FBI three months after he had emailed Hadley.

The same day that Fitzgerald received the written reply from Comey, the White House faced a deadline to turn over administration contacts with 25 journalists to the grand jury investigating the Plame Wilson leak. Cooper was one journalist cited in the subpoena sent to the White House on January 22, 2004. Curiously, the email Rove sent to Hadley did not show up during a search ordered by then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales in September 2003. Gonzales enjoined all White House staff members to turn over any communication pertaining to Plame Wilson and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Wilson, a vocal critic of the Iraq war, had accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar Iraq intelligence.

Anyway that's all for now,
stay tune for more updates on these & other important issues - it could save your life,
love you too,
GORD.


Arcade Fire-Music For Driving & Sight-seeing

Anyway I am still on vacation but here's a couple of music videos by Arcade Fire - good driving music when you are heading to the beach or cottage or just sight-seeing so enjoy & don't mention the war or Bush or Cheney or torture etc.

Arcade Fire live - No Cars Go




Keep The Car Running - live eurockeennes 2007 c/o jaro youtube



Arcade Fire at Coachella 2007 - Antichrist Television Blues




Take care,
GORD.

ARCADE FIRE: A REVELATION " NEON BIBLE " MUSIC IS NOT DEAD AFTERALL

PHOTOS ARCADE FIRE
"MUSIC LIVES IN THE REVELATION KNOWN AS ARCADE FIRE
ROCK/POP MUSIC HAS BEEN RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD!!!" My friend says and goes on & on...
There is an intensity & a sense of desperation which says these songs must be written & performed before it is too late. So WAKEUP all those singing poets who seem to have given up for your time has come.

A bit much don't you think I tell my friend.

No you see all we hear is all this rather empty-headed vapid shallow phoney balloney pop crap written for rich spoiled kids & the wannabees who pray at the feet of the beautiful people who haven't got a clue.

So beware this music might make you feel something real & you might be surprised & a bit frightened at first but let it go -just go with it-
---- Well that's about enough of that I think; so bye for now...GORD.



Here is part of a review of NEON BIBLE from Alexis Petridis in THE GUARDIAN:

...The first intimation of coming Armageddon arrives fewer than 90 seconds in and Neon Bible is still waving its End is Nigh placard as it draws to a close. Every song is replete with dread, nameless or otherwise: you're never far away from a rising tide or a grim prognosis or persons unknown kicking in your door in the dead of night. The sources of the apocalyptic disquiet are diverse - Windowsill manages to finger both "a holy war", and, more originally, MTV - but the end result never varies: "a time is coming - all words will lose their meaning", "not much chance of survival", "nothing lasts forever".

Nor does there seem much chance of the end of days being enlivened by the reappearance of a Messiah. The Christian figures on the album are subject to mockery. Building Downtown (Antichrist Television Blues) scornfully depicts a God-fearing father who seems to believe he can escape the horrors of the post-9/11 world by pushing his teenage daughter into showbusiness. Intervention is musically breathtaking - it opens with a pipe organ playing a portentous fanfare that quickly resolves into a sort of garage-rock riff, then gradually builds into an utterly glorious climax - but it's fuelled by withering disgust at anyone claiming God is on their side.

Intervention is perhaps the prime example of Neon Bible's masterstroke, which is to set all this doom-mongering to joyously uplifting music. There are soaring string arrangements, beautiful backing vocal harmonies, harps and French horns, great welling choruses and, perhaps more surprisingly, thwacking, propulsive rhythms. It's hard to think of another album that rocks in such an epic manner without sounding completely ridiculous. The effect is of a kind of triumphant gloom. The music implies you should be throwing a party at exactly the same time as the lyrics suggest you should be hiding under the table with your jumper pulled over your head. Throughout, it's difficult to work out what the Arcade Fire might have been listening to: a rare and satisfying sensation in 2007, when virtually everything sounds a bit like something else. The album's originality carries you through the odd moment when ambition outstrips ability, not least the closing My Body is a Cage, which rather overdoes the church organ in service of a lyric that sails perilously close to the perennially disheartening topic of how terrible it is being in a successful rock band.

But that's a rare misstep on an otherwise remarkable piece of work that at times seems magical. An album this mired in fathomless darkness shouldn't sound so dazzling, but it does. Like the band who made it, Neon Bible is a thrilling enigma.




Anyway here are the lyrics to:

Antichrist Television Blues

I don't wanna work in a building downtown,
no I don't wanna work in a building downtown
I don't know what I'm gonna do,
'cause the planes keep crashing,
always two by two.
I don't wanna work in a building downtown,
No I don't wanna see when the planes hit the ground.

I don't wanna work in a building downtown,
I don't wanna work in a building downtown,
Parking their cars in the underground,
Their voices when they scream, they make no sound.
I wanna see the cities rust
and the trouble makers riding on the back of the bus

Dear God, I'm a good Christian man,
In your glory, I know you understand,
That you gotta work hard and you gotta get paid,
My girl's 13 but she don't act her age.
She can sing like a bird in a cage,
Oh Lord, if you could see her when she's up on that stage!

You know that I'm a God fearing man,
You know that I'm a God fearing man,
But I just gotta know if its part of your plan
To seat my daughters there by your right hand
I know that you'll do what is right, Lord.
For they are the lanterns, and you are the light.

Now I'm overcome,
By the light of day.
My lips are near but my heart is far away.
Tell me what to say,
I'll be your mouthpiece!

Into the light of a bridge that burns
As I drive from the city with the money that I earned.
Into the black of a starless sky,
I'm staring into nothing and I'm asking you why:
Lord, will you make her a star?
So the world can see who you really are.

Little girl, you're old enough to understand,
That you'll always be a stranger in a strange, strange land.
The men are gonna come while you're fast asleep,
[ Lyrics found on http://www.metrolyrics.com ]

so you better just stay close and hold on to me.
If my little mocking bird don't sing,
Then daddy won't buy her no diamond ring.

Dear God, would you send me a child?
Oh God, would you send me a child?
'Cause I wanna put it up on the TV screen,
so the world can see what your true word means.
Lord would you just send me a sign?
'Cause I just gotta know if I'm wasting my time!

Now I'm overcome,
By the light of day.
My lips are near but my heart is far away.
Now the war is won,
Howcome nothing tastes good?

You're such a sensitive child!
Oh, you're such a sensitive child!
I know you're tired but it's alright,
I just need you to sing for me tonight.
You're gonna have your day in the sun;
You know God loves the sensitive ones.

Oh! My little bird in a cage!
Oh! My little bird in a cage!
I need you to get up for me, up on that stage,
and show the men that you're old for your age.
Now ain't the time for fear,
But if you don't take it, it'll disappear.

Oh! My little mockingbird sing!
Oh! My little mockingbird sing!
I need you to get up on that stage for me, honey,
And show the men it's not about the money.

Wanna hold a mirror up to the world
So that they can see themselves inside my little girl.

Do you know where I was at your age?
Any idea where I was at your age?
I was working downtown for the minimum wage.
And I'm not gonna let you just throw it all away.
I'm through being cute, I'm through being nice,
Oh tell me, Lord, am I the Antichrist?!




[ Lyrics found on http://www.metrolyrics.com ]
UPDATE: also check out review at CBC
ARCADE FIRE REVIEW



GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK

GORD.

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ARCADE FIRE " NEON BIBLE " ENDTIMES & NEOCON PARODY ???

Anyway little did anyone know that Arcade Fire would release such a great new album called NEON BIBLE . Listening to NEON BIBLE is somewhat infectious or addictive . The tunes repeat themselves over & over in my head. I found their earlier work also hypnotic but these songs & the music is to say the least awesome & prove ARCADE FIRE’s sound is original & unique& not just some one hit wonder or even a “Nine Day Wonder” but a force to be reckoned with & enjoyed .

Their sound is as energetic & original as any of the Great rock & roll bands in the history of Pop & rock & roll .But they are far & above most of what passes as Pop or Rock & Roll these days. & they are beyond most labels or categories of music since they have a Grunge- Goth-Folk & a wild energetic experimental sound with some of the most interesting & captivating lyrics this side of Nick Cave or Tom Waits or The Dead Can Dance or even a Lou Reed or John Cage & whatever else they might throw into the mix.

The thing of it is as they say is that Arcade Fire uses certain repetitive sounds or musical phrases combined with repetitive words as in the phrase “ NEON BIBLE ” repeated over & over til it sounds like a child’s nursery rhyme which you had learned as a child & are now reminded of it or as if they had coaxed it out of some long lost memory so the tune & words stay with you for days after just hearing it once. But listen & judge for yourself.
A number of the songs are already available on YOUTUBE so check them out.

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Here is a short bio from Answers.com :

Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Richard Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Win's kid brother William Butler formed the Arcade Fire in summer 2003. The experimental indie rock quintet, who hail from Montreal, initially began when the elder Butler spotted Chassagne singing jazz standards at a local art exhibit at Concordia University in their hometown. From there, two became inseparable, both professionally and personally. Gathering Parry on organ, Kingsbury on bass, and the younger Butler on synthesizer and percussion, the Arcade Fire fleshed out an eclectic mix of bossa nova, punk, and classically tinged songs.


Here is a sample of the reviews the album is getting:

Arcade Fire parodies with Neon Bible
Justin Smith
March 8, 2007
The Daily O’Collegian
Oklahoma State University

Arcade Fire is back with Neon Bible, the Quebecois band’s new album on Merge Records.

The seven band members, including violinists, an organist/pianist and a horn player, introduced themselves to the world in 2004 with an interestingly titled first album, Funeral. While that album was more introspective, with songs about personal experiences of loss and redemption, Neon Bible is more evangelical, with outreaching messages of warning.

The band’s sound has many folk sensibilities with touches of punk in the lyrics and, this time, a more gothic quality.

Here gothic means the album was recorded in cathedrals, capturing the atmosphere. Fans experienced this gothic element during the band’s January and February church tour in Montreal, London and New York City.

The music is very important, conveying a feeling of paranoia and uncertainty about the world’s future. But, like any good folk-based album, the music takes a supporting role to the lyrics’ message, sung with the distinctively quavering vibrato of lead singer Win Butler.

The band continues to play off its moniker, presenting more songs about the loss of innocence and coming of age. The songs also call attention to the disconnect between common sense and the world’s current reality.

Every chapter and verse of Neon Bible, printed as such in a Bible-inspired booklet, reveals a different view and opinion on governments and religions. In the right margin of the pages are images that form a flip book, which seems blasphemous of the sacred text of the Bible. But, when taken with the context of the lyrics printed just to the left of the images, it’s revealed as more of a parody of the current, sometimes flippant, handling of the Bible’s message by its followers.

Nearly every song uses a Biblical reference to illustrate contemporary events: “cause the planes keep crashing/ always two by two” from Building Downtown (“Antichrist Television Blues”) and “MTV, what have you done to me?/ Save my soul, set me free,” from “Windowsill.”





ARCADE FIRE NEON BIBLE

Arcade Fire Neon Bible Lyrics
A vial of hope and a vial of pain,
In the light they both looked the same.
Pourred them out on into the world,
On every boy and every girl.

It's in the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival,
If the Neon Bible is right.

Take the poison of your age,
Don’t lick your fingers when you turn the page,
What I know is what you know is right,
In the city it's the only light.

It's the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival,

If the Neon Bible is right.

Oh God! well look at you now!
Oh! you lost it, but you don’t know how!
In the light of a golden calf,
Oh God! I had to laugh!

Take the poison of your age,
Don’t lick your fingers when you turn the page,
It was wrong but you said it was right,
In the future I will read at night.

In the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival,
If the Neon Bible is true.

“ WINDOSILL ”




Arcade Fire Windowsill Lyrics
Don't wanna hear the noises on TV,
Don't want the salesmen coming after me,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't want it faster, I dont want it free,
Don't wanna show you what they done to me,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't wanna choose black or blue,
Don't wanna see what they done to you,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more

'Cause the tide is high,
and its rising still,
and I don't wanna see it at my windowsill.

Don't wanna give 'em my name and address,
Don't wanna see what happens next,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't wanna live with my father's debt,
You can't forgive what you can't forget,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't wanna fight in a holy war,
Don't want the salesmen knocking at my door,
I don't wanna live in America no more.
'Cause the tide is high,
and it's rising still,
And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill.

MTV, what have you done to me?
[ Lyrics found on http://www.metrolyrics.com ]

Save my soul, set me free!
Set me free! What have you done to me?
I can't breathe! I can't see!
World War III,
when are you coming for me?
Been kicking up sparks,
we set the flames free.
The windows are locked now,
so what'll it be?
A house on fire, a rising sea?

Why is the night so still?
Why did I take the pill?
Because I don't wanna see it at my windowsill!

Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!



Arcade Fire Intervention Lyrics

The king's taken back the throne.
The useless seed is sown.
When they say they're cutting off the phone,
I tell 'em you're not home.

No place to hide,
You were fighting as a soldier on their side.
You're still a soldier in your mind,
Though nothing's on the line.

You say it's money that we need,
As if we're only mouths to feed.
I know no matter what you say,
There are some debts you'll never pay.

Working for the Church while your family dies.
You take what they give you
And you keep it inside.
Every spark of friendship and love
will die without a home.
Hear the soldier groan, «We'll go at it alone.»

I can taste the fear.
Lift me up and take me out of here.
Don't wanna fight, don't wanna die,
Just wanna hear you cry.



Who's gonna throw the very first stone?
Oh! who's gonna reset the bone?
Walking with your head in a sling
Wanna hear the soldier sing:
«Been working for the Church while my family dies.
Your little baby sister's gonna lose her mind.
Every spark of friendship and love
will die without a home.»
Hear the soldier groan, «We'll go at it alone.»

I can taste your fear.
It's gonna lift you up and take you out of here.
And the bone shall never heal;
I care not if you kneel.

We can't find you now,
But they're gonna get their money back somehow.
And when you finally disappear,
We'll just say you were never here.

Working for the Church while
your life falls apart.
Singin' hallelujah with the fear in your heart.
Every spark of friendship and love
will die without a home.
Hear the soldier groan, «We'll go at it alone.»
Hear the soldier groan, «We'll go at it alone.»

Lyrics found on http://www.metrolyrics.com ]
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Bye for now,
GORD.




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