Neon Bible
Encyclopedia
Neon Bible is the second album by Canadian indie rock
band Arcade Fire, released in March 2007 on Merge Records
. Originally announced on December 16, 2006 through the band's website, the majority of the album was recorded in a church that the band bought and renovated.
Neon Bible became Arcade Fire's highest charting album at the time, debuting on the Billboard 200
at number two, selling 92,000 copies in its first week and more than 400,000 to date. Being released within a month of similarly successful releases by The Shins
(Wincing the Night Away
) and Modest Mouse
(We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
), Neon Bible was cited as an example of the popularization of indie rock. Critics offered the self-produced Neon Bible mostly favorable reviews. Publications like NME
and IGN
praised the album for its grandiose nature, while Rolling Stone
and Uncut
said that it resulted in a distant and overblown sound.
(2004), which had been recorded in an attic studio known as Hotel2Tango
, Arcade Fire decided a permanent recording location was necessary. Following their tour in support of Funeral, the band bought the Petite Église in Farnham
, Quebec
. Being used as a café at the time of purchase, the Petite Église had once been a church and a Masonic Temple
. Once renovation of the church was complete, the band spent the latter half of 2006 recording a majority of the album there. They additionally recorded in Budapest
, where a Hungarian orchestra and a military men's choir were used. Other sessions included one in New York, where the band recorded along the Hudson River
to be near water.
Having recorded so many different, and sometimes conflicting, ideas for each song, it was decided that for the mixing it would be a good idea to get someone else to come in. The band sent tracks to several well-known mixers/producers to experiment with and after deciding they liked Nick Launay
's ideas best, invited him up to their studio to work on the songs further. For a month Launay worked with the album's engineer and co-producer Marcus Strauss on the mixing of each song, with the band regularly driving up from Montreal to assess their progress. In an interview with HitQuarters
, Launay described the mixing process as a "playful thing".
, born in the United States but having lived in Canada for several years, said that he felt he was observing his homeland from an outsider's point of view. The album is rooted in Americana
themes, with Bob Dylan
, Bruce Springsteen
and Elvis Presley
being cited as influences.
Arcade Fire began recording with what would become "Black Mirror" and a reworking of the Arcade Fire EP song "No Cars Go" as their starting point. Once the title of the album was decided upon, the band was further inspired after they, according to Will Butler, "watched a lot of TV preachers, get-rich-quick schemes on YouTube
." The band was also attracted to using the ocean and television as central images for the album, with Win Butler saying the ocean imagery symbolizes a lack of control; of television, Butler stated that:
These ideas are reflected in the arrangement and composition of the album, which lead to a sound of dread and dissonance. The band used a number of less common instruments to achieve this sound; in addition to the orchestra and choir, Neon Bible features a hurdy-gurdy, mandolin
, accordion
and pipe organ
. Win Butler has said that in conceiving the album he hoped for a more stripped-down sound but the songs demanded further instrumentation.
is caught in mid-flicker. Rolling Stone named the artwork one of the five best of the year. AOL Music
cited the cover as an example of an artist "keeping artwork alive." The artwork would go on to win Tracy Maurice and François Miron
the Juno Award
for best CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year
. Frontman Win Butler stated in an interview that the album title is derived from him being particularly attracted to the image, not from the John Kennedy Toole
novel The Neon Bible.
's Haiti
an ancestry, the band has tried to raise support and awareness for the socio-economic problems in Haiti throughout their career. On December 26, 2006, they supported Haitian charity organization Partners in Health
by releasing the song "Intervention
" on iTunes
and donating the proceeds. However, they accidentally uploaded "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations", the track after "Intervention" on Neon Bible. While the song was quickly removed once the problem was discovered, file sharers quickly circulated it on various P2P
networks. On his blog, Win Butler
quipped, "I guess it is sort of charming that we can send the wrong song to the whole world with a click of a mouse... Oh well."
On December 28, 2006, the band allowed listeners to listen to their first single, "Black Mirror", by calling the number (866) NEON-BIBLE, extension number 7777. The song was also streamed on the band's website beginning on January 6, 2007. The following day, the band revealed a variety of information about the album through a YouTube video. The video, which played a number of sound clips from the upcoming album and featured "Juno award
-winning guitarist Richard Reed Perry", gave the album's track listing, release date, and record label.
On February 2, 2007, all the lyrics to Neon Bible was released on the band's website. Also included was the text and an audio clip of a child reading "The Wolf and the Fox", a French fable allegedly written by 17th century French
poet Jean La Fontaine, an allusion to "The Well and the Lighthouse", which is loosely based around the fable. This was followed on February 5, 2007 with the band releasing a promotional pamphlet as a JPEG
image on their website that included album-related imagery and much of the French and English text from "The Wolf and the Fox".
In October 2007, Arcade Fire created a website at beonlineb.com with the date October 6 displayed on it. After speculation over what the website was about, including rumors of new material or a live streaming of a concert, it was eventually revealed to be a video for "Neon Bible", featuring Win Butler's face and hands, which the viewer can interact with during the song. "Neon Bible" was the first song on the album to have a music video.
and contained 26 dates. This leg contained openings by The National
, St. Vincent
, and Electrelane
. The band then began an 11-date European leg at Glastonbury Festival
on June 22 before returning to North America for 10 more LCD Soundsystem
-supported dates beginning September 15 at Austin City Limits
. The Neon Bible tour continued with 14 more dates in Europe between October 25 and November 19, and six dates beginning January 18, 2008 in Australia and New Zealand as part of the Big Day Out
festival. The tour then ended after three more shows from February 7 in Japan.
, Neon Bible has experienced breakthrough commercial success. During its first week, it debuted at number one in both Canada and Ireland
, and number two in the United States, the United Kingdom and Portugal. Neon Bible was out-charted only by Notorious B.I.G.'s greatest hits compilation
in the U.S. and the Kaiser Chiefs
's Yours Truly, Angry Mob in the UK. It was certified gold by the CRIA
in Canada in March 2007.
Upon release, Neon Bible garnered universal acclaim, receiving an 87—the seventh highest score of 2007 from review aggregator
Metacritic
. NME
reviewer Mark Beaumont commented the album "is a climactic monolith of a record in the grand tradition of melodic transatlantic clamour rock." The A.V. Club
reviewer Kyle Ryan interpreted the album as a commentary on the post-9/11
American world, saying that "the band is seemingly sending a beacon to other reasonable people forced underground by the world's insanity." Stylus
contributor Derek Miller saw the album in similar terms, saying that while the album touches on "violence, paranoia, the falsity of simple labor, the war-call of organized religion—a what's what of indie turmoil after 2003" the band go further to the point where its "thematic threads bind the songs." Robert Christgau
gave the album a rare A+ rating, saying that Butler and co. "thud rather than thunder. But what a loud and joyous thud it is."
IGN
, in giving the album 8.9 out of 10, said "the playing overall seems tighter and more cohesive" and that the album is a "grandiose project, one teeming with jubilant enthusiasm and reverent abundance." Other publications agreed, but felt such was a negative. Rolling Stone
reviewer David Fricke wrote that he was surprised such a large band could "sound so distant here so often," saying that "the result is a huge sound that only sparkles on the edges, leaving Butler alone in the middle." However, Rolling Stone also named it the fourth best album of the year. Uncut
s three-star review of the album said that "at its overblown worst Neon Bible is one of those records that takes itself too seriously to be taken seriously."
Neon Bible was a finalist for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize
. Neon Bible was nominated for Best Alternative Album
for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. It was #4 in NME
albums of the year, fourth in Rolling Stone
s list of albums of the year and album of the year in Q
in December 2007. The album won the 2008 Juno Award
for Alternative Album of the Year
.
Other personnel:
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Arcade Fire, released in March 2007 on Merge Records
Merge Records
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records...
. Originally announced on December 16, 2006 through the band's website, the majority of the album was recorded in a church that the band bought and renovated.
Neon Bible became Arcade Fire's highest charting album at the time, debuting on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
at number two, selling 92,000 copies in its first week and more than 400,000 to date. Being released within a month of similarly successful releases by The Shins
The Shins
The Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, indie rock,...
(Wincing the Night Away
Wincing the Night Away
Wincing the Night Away is a Grammy-nominated album by indie rock group The Shins. It was released by Sub Pop Records on January 23, 2007. It is the band's third album, and the final under their contract with Sub Pop...
) and Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. They are based in Portland, Oregon. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think...
(We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Modest Mouse, released in 2007. The album is the first studio album by the band since their 2004 album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News and is also the first album with former Smiths guitarist Johnny...
), Neon Bible was cited as an example of the popularization of indie rock. Critics offered the self-produced Neon Bible mostly favorable reviews. Publications like NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
and IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
praised the album for its grandiose nature, while Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
and Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
said that it resulted in a distant and overblown sound.
Production
Following the release of FuneralFuneral (album)
Funeral is the debut full-length album by the Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on September 14, 2004 in North America by Merge Records and on February 28, 2005 in Europe by Rough Trade Records...
(2004), which had been recorded in an attic studio known as Hotel2Tango
Hotel2Tango
The Hotel2Tango is a 24-track analogue recording studio situated in the Mile End district of Montreal, Quebec. The current facility is the second to bear the name, and was preceded by a similar operation in the same neighborhood until 2007 when the studio changed locations...
, Arcade Fire decided a permanent recording location was necessary. Following their tour in support of Funeral, the band bought the Petite Église in Farnham
Farnham, Quebec
Farnham is a town located in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Brome-Missisquoi regional county municipality, in the administrative region of Montérégie. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 7,809, making it the second most populated community in the RCM.- History :The...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. Being used as a café at the time of purchase, the Petite Église had once been a church and a Masonic Temple
Masonic Temple
Masonic Temple is a term commonly used in Freemasonry with multiple but related meanings. It is used to describe an abstract spiritual goal, the conceptual ritualistic space formed when a Masonic Lodge meets, and the physical rooms and structures in which a Lodge meets...
. Once renovation of the church was complete, the band spent the latter half of 2006 recording a majority of the album there. They additionally recorded in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, where a Hungarian orchestra and a military men's choir were used. Other sessions included one in New York, where the band recorded along the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
to be near water.
Having recorded so many different, and sometimes conflicting, ideas for each song, it was decided that for the mixing it would be a good idea to get someone else to come in. The band sent tracks to several well-known mixers/producers to experiment with and after deciding they liked Nick Launay
Nick Launay
Nick Launay is an English record producer and recording engineer. He is currently one of the most sought after producers in the world due to his current success with recent albums by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds...
's ideas best, invited him up to their studio to work on the songs further. For a month Launay worked with the album's engineer and co-producer Marcus Strauss on the mixing of each song, with the band regularly driving up from Montreal to assess their progress. In an interview with HitQuarters
HitQuarters
HitQuarters is an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It is noted for in-depth interviews with industry figures, with past subjects including Simon Cowell, Martin Kierszenbaum, Jason Flom, Diane Warren, Peter Edge, Ron Fair and RedOne, as well as its A&R...
, Launay described the mixing process as a "playful thing".
Composition
Beginning work on Neon Bible immediately following a North American tour in support of the band's first album, Funeral, songwriter Win ButlerWin Butler
Win Butler is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire. His wife Régine Chassagne and his brother William Butler are both members of the band.-Life and career:...
, born in the United States but having lived in Canada for several years, said that he felt he was observing his homeland from an outsider's point of view. The album is rooted in Americana
Americana
Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
themes, with Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
being cited as influences.
Arcade Fire began recording with what would become "Black Mirror" and a reworking of the Arcade Fire EP song "No Cars Go" as their starting point. Once the title of the album was decided upon, the band was further inspired after they, according to Will Butler, "watched a lot of TV preachers, get-rich-quick schemes on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
." The band was also attracted to using the ocean and television as central images for the album, with Win Butler saying the ocean imagery symbolizes a lack of control; of television, Butler stated that:
These ideas are reflected in the arrangement and composition of the album, which lead to a sound of dread and dissonance. The band used a number of less common instruments to achieve this sound; in addition to the orchestra and choir, Neon Bible features a hurdy-gurdy, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
. Win Butler has said that in conceiving the album he hoped for a more stripped-down sound but the songs demanded further instrumentation.
Artwork
The artwork for the album is a photograph of a six-foot neon sign that the band commissioned for use while on tour. In the photograph used for the cover, the lighted BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
is caught in mid-flicker. Rolling Stone named the artwork one of the five best of the year. AOL Music
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
cited the cover as an example of an artist "keeping artwork alive." The artwork would go on to win Tracy Maurice and François Miron
François Miron
François Miron is a French-Canadian experimental filmmaker.Miron was born in Montreal in 1962. He obtained a BFA from Concordia University in 1987 and an MFA from The School of The Art Institute Of Chicago in 1990....
the Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
for best CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year
Juno Award for CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year
The Juno Award for "CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year" has been awarded since 1975, as recognition each year for the best album art for a music recording in Canada...
. Frontman Win Butler stated in an interview that the album title is derived from him being particularly attracted to the image, not from the John Kennedy Toole
John Kennedy Toole
John Kennedy Toole was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana, best-known for his posthumously published novel A Confederacy of Dunces. He also wrote The Neon Bible. Although several people in the literary world felt his writing skills were praiseworthy, Toole's novels were rejected...
novel The Neon Bible.
Promotion
Largely due to band member Régine ChassagneRégine Chassagne
Régine Chassagne is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist musician and singer, and a founding member of the band Arcade Fire. She is married to co-founder Win Butler.-Life and career:...
's Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an ancestry, the band has tried to raise support and awareness for the socio-economic problems in Haiti throughout their career. On December 26, 2006, they supported Haitian charity organization Partners in Health
Partners In Health
Partners In Health is a Boston, Massachusetts-based non-profit health care organization dedicated to providing a "preferential option for the poor". It was founded in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, Todd McCormack, and Dr...
by releasing the song "Intervention
Intervention (song)
"Intervention" is a song by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. It is the third single released from the band's second full-length album, Neon Bible. The single was released to digital retailers on December 28, 2006, and was released as a 7" vinyl in the UK under Rough Trade Records on May 21,...
" on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and donating the proceeds. However, they accidentally uploaded "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations", the track after "Intervention" on Neon Bible. While the song was quickly removed once the problem was discovered, file sharers quickly circulated it on various P2P
Peer-to-peer file sharing
P2P or Peer-to-peer file sharing allows users to download files such as music, movies, and games using a P2P software client that searches for other connected computers. The "peers" are computer systems connected to each other through internet. Thus, the only requirements for a computer to join...
networks. On his blog, Win Butler
Win Butler
Win Butler is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire. His wife Régine Chassagne and his brother William Butler are both members of the band.-Life and career:...
quipped, "I guess it is sort of charming that we can send the wrong song to the whole world with a click of a mouse... Oh well."
On December 28, 2006, the band allowed listeners to listen to their first single, "Black Mirror", by calling the number (866) NEON-BIBLE, extension number 7777. The song was also streamed on the band's website beginning on January 6, 2007. The following day, the band revealed a variety of information about the album through a YouTube video. The video, which played a number of sound clips from the upcoming album and featured "Juno award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
-winning guitarist Richard Reed Perry", gave the album's track listing, release date, and record label.
On February 2, 2007, all the lyrics to Neon Bible was released on the band's website. Also included was the text and an audio clip of a child reading "The Wolf and the Fox", a French fable allegedly written by 17th century French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
poet Jean La Fontaine, an allusion to "The Well and the Lighthouse", which is loosely based around the fable. This was followed on February 5, 2007 with the band releasing a promotional pamphlet as a JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
image on their website that included album-related imagery and much of the French and English text from "The Wolf and the Fox".
In October 2007, Arcade Fire created a website at beonlineb.com with the date October 6 displayed on it. After speculation over what the website was about, including rumors of new material or a live streaming of a concert, it was eventually revealed to be a video for "Neon Bible", featuring Win Butler's face and hands, which the viewer can interact with during the song. "Neon Bible" was the first song on the album to have a music video.
Tour
Arcade Fire began their tour in support of the album in January and February 2007, playing a series of concerts at churches and other small venues in Ottawa, Montreal, London and New York. This was followed by a 23 date European tour in March and early April, though the last 9 dates of this were cancelled due to illness. The first North American leg of the tour began April 26 in San Diego and April 28 at Coachella Valley Music and Arts FestivalCoachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
and contained 26 dates. This leg contained openings by The National
The National (band)
The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone...
, St. Vincent
Annie Clark
Annie Erin Clark is an American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter who performs as St. Vincent. She was a member of The Polyphonic Spree and also part of Sufjan Stevens' touring band, prior to forming her own band....
, and Electrelane
Electrelane
Electrelane are a British all-female indie rock band, formed in Brighton in 1998 by Verity Susman and Emma Gaze. The band comprised Susman, Gaze, Mia Clarke, and Ros Murray. Their music draws from wide range of influences including Neu!, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, and The Velvet Underground...
. The band then began an 11-date European leg at Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
on June 22 before returning to North America for 10 more LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem was a prominent American dance-punk band from New York City. It was fronted by American singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy, co-founder of record label DFA Records...
-supported dates beginning September 15 at Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States...
. The Neon Bible tour continued with 14 more dates in Europe between October 25 and November 19, and six dates beginning January 18, 2008 in Australia and New Zealand as part of the Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
festival. The tour then ended after three more shows from February 7 in Japan.
Reception
Compared to the band's debut, FuneralFuneral (album)
Funeral is the debut full-length album by the Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on September 14, 2004 in North America by Merge Records and on February 28, 2005 in Europe by Rough Trade Records...
, Neon Bible has experienced breakthrough commercial success. During its first week, it debuted at number one in both Canada and Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, and number two in the United States, the United Kingdom and Portugal. Neon Bible was out-charted only by Notorious B.I.G.'s greatest hits compilation
Greatest Hits (The Notorious B.I.G. album)
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by The Notorious B.I.G. The album was released on March 6, 2007 by Bad Boy Records, three days before the 10th anniversary of his death....
in the U.S. and the Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 1996. They were named after the South African football club Kaizer Chiefs....
's Yours Truly, Angry Mob in the UK. It was certified gold by the CRIA
Canadian Recording Industry Association
Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada...
in Canada in March 2007.
Upon release, Neon Bible garnered universal acclaim, receiving an 87—the seventh highest score of 2007 from review aggregator
Review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services . This system stores the reviews and then uses them for purposes such as: creating a website for users to view the reviews, selling information to third parties about consumer tendencies and creating databases for...
Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
reviewer Mark Beaumont commented the album "is a climactic monolith of a record in the grand tradition of melodic transatlantic clamour rock." The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
reviewer Kyle Ryan interpreted the album as a commentary on the post-9/11
Post-9/11
Post-9/11 is a term used to describe state of living in the United States or other parts of the world after the September 11 attacks, in reference to the many changes that have occurred due to the attacks...
American world, saying that "the band is seemingly sending a beacon to other reasonable people forced underground by the world's insanity." Stylus
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
contributor Derek Miller saw the album in similar terms, saying that while the album touches on "violence, paranoia, the falsity of simple labor, the war-call of organized religion—a what's what of indie turmoil after 2003" the band go further to the point where its "thematic threads bind the songs." Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave the album a rare A+ rating, saying that Butler and co. "thud rather than thunder. But what a loud and joyous thud it is."
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, in giving the album 8.9 out of 10, said "the playing overall seems tighter and more cohesive" and that the album is a "grandiose project, one teeming with jubilant enthusiasm and reverent abundance." Other publications agreed, but felt such was a negative. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
reviewer David Fricke wrote that he was surprised such a large band could "sound so distant here so often," saying that "the result is a huge sound that only sparkles on the edges, leaving Butler alone in the middle." However, Rolling Stone also named it the fourth best album of the year. Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
s three-star review of the album said that "at its overblown worst Neon Bible is one of those records that takes itself too seriously to be taken seriously."
Neon Bible was a finalist for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize
Polaris Music Prize
The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label...
. Neon Bible was nominated for Best Alternative Album
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative rock genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. It was #4 in NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
albums of the year, fourth in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s list of albums of the year and album of the year in Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
in December 2007. The album won the 2008 Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
for Alternative Album of the Year
Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year
The Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year is presented annually at Canada's Juno Awards to honour the best album of the year in the alternative rock and/or indie rock genres...
.
Accolades
| Publication | Accolade | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... |
Staff Consensus 2007 Albums of the Year | 2 |
| Blender Blender (magazine) Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities.... |
2007 Albums of the Year | 2 |
| NME NME The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles... |
2007 Albums of the Year | 4 |
| Pitchfork Media Pitchfork Media Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock... |
2007 Albums of the Year | 27 |
| The Onion A.V. Club The A.V. Club The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its... |
Staff Consensus 2007 Albums of the Year | 1 |
| Q Q (magazine) Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology... |
2007 Albums of the Year | 1 |
| Rolling Stone | 2007 Albums of the Year | 4 |
| Spin Spin (magazine) Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard... |
2007 Albums of the Year | 2 |
| Village Voice | Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics... : 2007 Albums of the Year |
5 |
| Q Q (magazine) Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology... |
250 Best Albums of Q's Lifetime | 74 |
Editions
Neon Bible was released in three versions. They included:- A traditional compact discCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
. - A deluxe compact disc packaged in a paperboard clamshell box with a lenticularLenticular printingLenticular printing is a technology in which a lenticular lens is used to produce images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles...
front cover and accompanied by two 32-page flip bookFlip bookA flip book or flick book is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be...
s designed by Tracy Maurice. - A double LPLP albumThe LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
that featured the album on three sides of the vinylGramophone recordA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
at 180-gram quality and an etching on the fourth side. This release also came with a code to allow purchasers to download the entire album in MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format. Due to manufacturing delays, this release came out more than two months after the previous versions, on May 8, 2007.
Track listing
- "Black MirrorBlack Mirror (song)"Black Mirror" is the first single by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire in the US from their second album Neon Bible ....
" – 4:13 - "Keep the Car RunningKeep the Car Running"Keep the Car Running" is a song by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. It is the second single released from the band's second album, Neon Bible in the UK . This song was #22 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007...
" – 3:29 - "Neon Bible" – 2:16
- "InterventionIntervention (song)"Intervention" is a song by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. It is the third single released from the band's second full-length album, Neon Bible. The single was released to digital retailers on December 28, 2006, and was released as a 7" vinyl in the UK under Rough Trade Records on May 21,...
" – 4:19 - "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" – 3:57
- "Ocean of Noise" – 4:53
- "The Well and the Lighthouse" – 3:56
- "(Antichrist Television Blues)" – 5:10
- "Windowsill" – 4:16
- "No Cars GoNo Cars Go"No Cars Go" is a song by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. It is the fourth single released from the band's second full-length album, Neon Bible...
" – 5:43 - "My Body Is a Cage" – 4:47
Personnel
Arcade Fire (mixing, production, arrangement):- Will ButlerWilliam Butler (musician)William Pierce Butler is a multi-instrumentalist who is best known as a member of the indie rock band Arcade Fire. William plays synthesizer, bass, guitar and percussion. He is known for his spontaneity and antics during performances...
- Win ButlerWin ButlerWin Butler is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire. His wife Régine Chassagne and his brother William Butler are both members of the band.-Life and career:...
- Régine ChassagneRégine ChassagneRégine Chassagne is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist musician and singer, and a founding member of the band Arcade Fire. She is married to co-founder Win Butler.-Life and career:...
– Orchestral arrangements (tracks 1, 2, 10) - Jeremy GaraJeremy GaraJeremy Gara is a Canadian drummer originally from Ottawa, Ontario. He currently plays with successful indie rock band Arcade Fire. He has played in many other bands in the past, including "slow-core" band Kepler and math rock band Weights and Measures. He also had a part in the self-titled album...
- Tim KingsburyTim KingsburyTim Kingsbury is a Canadian musician and member of the indie rock band Arcade Fire. He plays bass guitar, guitar, and occasionally keyboards.He spent his early years living in and around Guelph, Ontario. His peers would become indie names such as Gentleman Reg and Jim Guthrie...
- Sarah NeufeldSarah NeufeldSarah Neufeld is a Canadian violinist and a member of the popular indie rock band Arcade Fire. She is also a member of the post rock band Bell Orchestre, alongside Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry and former Arcade Fire member Pietro Amato...
- Richard Reed Parry
Other personnel:
- Mélanie Auclair – Cello
- Hadji Bakara – Effects
- Owen PallettOwen PallettMichael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist from Toronto, Ontario. He won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds....
– Violin, orchestral arrangements (tracks 1, 2, 10) - Liza Rey – Harp
- Marika Anthony ShawMarika ShawMarika Anthony-Shaw is a Canadian violist/violinist who is a touring member of the band Arcade Fire and played viola on their second album Neon Bible and most recent album The Suburbs. Prior to her current role, she was an Orchestra teacher at Lindsay Place High School...
– Viola
- Brass: Pietro AmatoPietro AmatoPietro Amato is a Montreal French horn player. He plays with three bands: Torngat, Bell Orchestre, and The Luyas. Amato is also involved with Arcade Fire providing studio contributions and occasional touring....
, Edith Gruber, Margaret Gundara, Jake Henry, Laurent Ménard, Geoffrey Shoesmith, Colin Stetson, Andreas Stolzfus, Jacob Valenzuela, Martin Wenk - Vocals: Shauna Callender, Joanne Degand, Chantel Gero, Tasha Gero, Jean Sherwood
- Peter F. Drucker – Choir conductor
- István Silló – Orchestra conductor
Technical personnel
- Frank Arkwright – Mastering
- Scott Colburn – Engineer
- Markus DravsMarkus DravsMarkus Dravs is a music producer, programmer, engineer, and mixer.After hearing Brian Eno's collaboration with David Byrne "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts", he decided to get into engineering....
– Engineer, mixing (tracks 3, 5) - Nick LaunayNick LaunayNick Launay is an English record producer and recording engineer. He is currently one of the most sought after producers in the world due to his current success with recent albums by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds...
– Mixing (tracks 2, 4, 6–9, 11) - Jean Luc Della Montagna – Production assistant
- Mark "Spike" StentMark StentMark 'Spike' Stent is a British record producer, and audio engineer who has worked with The KLF, Björk, Keane, Depeche Mode, Muse, Erasure, Hard-Fi, Massive Attack, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson, Pet Shop Boys, Dave Matthews, No Doubt/Gwen Stefani, CSS, Beth Orton,...
– Mixing (tracks 1, 10)
- Other assistants: François Chevallier, Alex Dromgoole, Dave Emery, Doctor Brian A. Evans, Mike Feuerstack, Tommy Hough, James Hanna Ogilvy
- Christophe Collette – Photography
- Katherine Cram – Coordination
- Daryl Griffith – Copyist
- Olivier Groulx – Web design
- Csaba Lokös – Orchestra contractor
- Tracy Maurice – Director, artwork, package design
- François Miron – Photography director
- Renata Morales – Costume design
- Vincent Morisset – Web design
- Michael Paert – Coordination, editing
Charts and certifications
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
1 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
1 |
| CMJ College Music Journal College Music Journal, commonly known as CMJ, is a music events/publishing company which hosts an annual festival in New York City, the CMJ Music Marathon, as well as a weekly magazine of and for the music industry and college radio stations in the United States and Canada. It publishes top 30... Radio 200 |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
2 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
2 |
| Portuguese Albums Chart | 2 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 3 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 5 |
| Iceland Albums Chart | 5 |
| Australian ARIA ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... Albums Chart |
7 |
| French Albums Chart | 9 |
| German Albums Chart | 11 |
| Danish Albums Chart | 11 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 13 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 14 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 16 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... Albums Chart |
20 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 23 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 25 |
| Italian Albums Chart | 44 |
| Country | Certification | Sales/shipments |
|---|---|---|
| Canada Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada... |
1x Platinum | |
| UK British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Gold |