The Albums of 2004: Arcade Fire: Funeral

Release Date: September 14, 2004
Active Members: Win Butler, Regine Chassagne, Richard Reed Perry, Tim Kingsbury, Howard Bilerman, William Butler

Track listing: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels); Neighborhood #2 (Laika); Un annee sums lumiere; Neighborhood #3 (Power Out); Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles); Crown of Love; Wake Up; Haiti; Rebellion (Lies); In the Backseat

On their ironically titled debut album Funeral (attributed to the inordinate amount of losses members of the band experienced during the time of recording), Arcade Fire fired an opening salvo into the heady music scene of the 21st Century, one rife with fragmentation, segmentation, and the much written about decline of "the album."

Funeral set the tone for the albums to follow: emotive, cinematic, flush with surreal sublime imagery, culturally dynamic, and bold statements. Strands of the past intermingle: 1960s pop, avant garde influences from Velvet Underground to Brian Eno, punk sensibilities, and throw in all of Phil Spector's ambition. 

The "Neighborhood" sequence of four songs possibly take place at different points in history, or at alternating places at similar points in the past. "Neighborhood 1 (Tunnels)" may take place in the 1960s with the lyrical clue:

We let our hair grow long and forget all we used to know
Then our skin gets thicker from living out in the snow

Musically "Tunnels" brings the bombast of Bruce Springsteen's 1970s albums. Told from the point of a young man who who will be leaving the neighborhood with his girlfriend (a Springsteen trope), as he leaves friends and family behind. The story ends years later with him wondering what happened to everyone. 

"Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" begins with infectious pop with accordions, bells, and a child like punk Greek chorus:

Alexander, our older brother
Set out for a great adventure

A popular interpretation is that Alexander was a rebel living behind the Iron Curtain who tries to escape to the West. Win Butler has stated "Laika" is a reference to the dog the Soviets sent to space. Others see parallels to A Clockwork Orange or Into The Wild.  Like the narrator in "Tunnels" Alex escapes the neighborhood, but ends up right back where he began. By the last verse the rush of pop in the first verse settles into an acidic key as Alex fights with his father, ending on a note of sarcastic disillusionment as police lights turn the street into a disco, "Now the neighbors can dance." 

"Une Annee Sans Lumiere" is the interlude in the Neighborhood sequence, a suite that begins as a French pop song and ends with an onslaught of guitars.

"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" has a heavier pop intro with an industrial sound. Here the imagery gets more dystopic with lyrics of kids swinging on the power lines and families freezing to death with no hopes or plans. Possibly inspired by the power outages across Canada in 1998.

"Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)" may take place in the near future with our lonely narrator once again contemplating what's to come. Butler's vocal here is weary, almost defeated, pondering spiritual malaise and whether it's worth bringing children into a broken world "there's some spirit I used to know, that's been drowned out by the radio."

The second half of Funeral opens with "Crown of Love," a beautifully arranged folk ballad of loss and love. "Wake Up" would become an anthem for Arcade Fire, David Bowie himself would join them onstage at the Grammy's to perform it. "Wake Up" has the theatrics of Queen, The Who, and Bowie's 1977 triumph "Heroes." 

"Haiti" is about Chasagnne's native country and growing up in the shadow of authoritarianism. The soft Caribbean rhythms with Chasagnne's tender vocal sets a lighter tone for the rest of the album.

"Rebellion (Lies)" examines children, parents and the dynamics of rebellion. What leads to children to rebel? Is it the lies of adults? The song is obsessed with youth as many of their albums are, specifically the pain of being young. "Rebellion" also connects to the "Neighborhood" sequence from a more detached perspective.

"In the Backseat" is a tender meditation on loss and learning how to live, ending the record on a subdued and cautiously optimistic note.

Funeral launched Arcade Fire into the stratosphere, evidenced by the high anticipation for their 2007 follow up Neon Bible. Embraced by both hipsterdom and the rock establishment, Arcade Fire would plunge on ahead into maelstrom of the troubled years ahead, reeling between high fueled theatrics, jaded critics, treacherous political fault lines, and epic campaigns for relevance. 

The Albums of 2018: Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel

Release Date: May 18, 2018
Produced by Courtney Barnett, Burke Reid, and Dan Luscombe
Special Guests: Kim Deal and Kelly Deal

Side One: Hopefulessness; City Looks Pretty; Charity; Need A Little Time; Nameless, Faceless

Side Two: I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch; Crippling Self Doubt and a General Lack of Confidence; Help Your Self; Walkin' on Eggshells; Sunday Roast

The songs on Courtney Barnett's follow up to her 2015 debut Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit, lean towards introspection, self analysis, and weariness.

On the opener "Hopefulessness" Barnett impels listeners to take their broken hearts and turn them into art. The song's steady build up ends with a tea kettle going off and into "City Looks Pretty," a self-deprecating rocker on struggling to live to high expectations we place on ourselves, "Sometimes I get sad/It's Not all that bad/One day, maybe never/I'll Come Around." 

"Charity" may be addressed to a more successful contemporary with a sarcastic chorus "You must be having so much fun."  She feels both envy and sympathy for song's subject, "Meditation just makes you more upset." "Need A Little Time Out" calls for everyone to slow down, take stock, and gather strength. 

Side One ends with the "Nameless, Faceless," a song addressing trolling and fragile masculinity:

Don't You Have Anything Better To Do
I wish that someone could hug you
Must be lonely
Being angry
Feeling over-looked
You sit home alone in the darkness
With all the pent up rage you harness
I'm real sorry
Bout whatever happened to you

Barnett muses on not being able to walk in the park at night and holding the keys between her fingers. Lack of empathy and narcissism are what drives the trolls.

The second side begins with the declarative "I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch," a punk screed that sets a less compromising tone. "Crippling Self Doubt" closes with an anthemic chorus, "I don't know, I don't know anything" that brings catharsis. "Help Your Self"  features another catchy hook, once again pleading with the subject to slow things down. 

Penultimate track "Walkin on Eggshells" speaks to the exhaustion of fighting and not letting things go. On "Sunday Roast" Courtney confesses, "I spend a lot of my time/Doing a whole lot of nothing," a sort of taboo these days. The song ends with a full on McCartneyesque singalong.

Fueled by guitar driven power pop and lyrics with punch, Tell Me How You Really Feel showcases one of the decade's great singer-songwriters. 

The Albums of 1978: Johnny Thunders: So Alone

Release Date: October 6, 1978
Produced by Johnny Thunders and Steve Lilywhite
Special Guests: Many from the punk and hard rock scene took part in the sessions for So Alone including Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy), Steve Marriot (Small Faces), Peter Perrett (Only Ones), Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Paul Cook (Sex Pistols)

Side One: Pipeline; You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory; Great Big Kiss; Ask Me No Questions; Leave Me Alone

Side Two: Daddy Rollin' Stone; London Boys; (She's So) Untouchable; Subway Train; Downtown

Bonus Tracks added to 1992 Release: Dead or Alive; Hurtin': So Alone; The Wizard

Johnny Thunders led a chaotic life. A key figure during the early days of punk (or pre-punk), he was a founding member of the New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers. So Alone marked Johnny's solo debut, an against all odds triumph. 

A near masterpiece, So Alone runs the gamut of emotions from the euphoria of pure freedom to the deepest depths of despair. The LP also works as a history of rock and roll, a work offering depth and passion.

A cover of "Pipeline" from The Chantays sets the tone, a guitar driven thrash through an "oldie" still pulsing with life. 

Then the brilliant "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory," used to great effect in Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead. An existential rocker about loneliness, addiction, frustration, bordering on spiritual, the epic chorus supplies the defiant hope (essential for dark times.)

Another 50's homage, "Great Big Kiss", is all camp with heavy guitars and suggestive theatrics. "Ask Me No Questions" adds a ominous tension, a desperate yearning for connection with Johnny's pleading vocal driving the song. "Leave Me Alone" is all punk, rude and confrontational.

The second side opens with "Daddy Rollin' Stone", a bluesy rocker with hints of doo-wop. "London Boys" attacks the punks who scoffed at the "pre-punk" The New York Dolls. A Sex Pistols pastiche, Thunders does his best Johnny Rotten imitation. "(She's So) Untouchable" brings soul to an unrequited love ballad, the album version lightens the mood with backing guitars and saxophones, acoustic versions on bootlegs are more desperate. 

"Subway Train" continues in a similar vein with some blistering Chuck Berry riffs, featuring one of the best lyrics, "I wrote you an epic letter, but it never got sent." "Downtown" outdoes the Rolling Stones, ending the album with some more addled blues.

The exuberance of 1950s jukebox rock gets reconfigured into the downbeat and existential.  Moments of levity appear, yet most of these tracks deal with frustration and loss. So Alone, one of the ultimate comedown records ever recorded, containing all the contradictions of the late 1970s.

The Albums of 1968: The Rolling Stones: Beggar's Banquet

Release Date: December 6, 1968
Active Members: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts
Guests: Nicky Hopkins on Piano
Produced by Jimmy Miller

Side One: Sympathy for the Devil; No Expectations; Dear Doctor; Parachute Woman; Jigsaw Puzzle

Side Two: Street Fighting Man; Prodigal Son; Stray Cat Blues; Factory Girl; Salt of the Earth


Beggar's Banquet brought a charge to the turbulent rock scene of 1968. Like their contemporaries The Beatles, The Rolling Stones were moving on after a brief dalliance with psychedelia, going back to a more traditional rock and roll sound, albeit, with a darker edge. The ten songs on the album deal with evil, death, desire, revolutionary politics, working class malaise, and an ongoing exploration of the blues.

Side one begins with "Sympathy for the Devil."  The Stones tell the story of Lucifer as he joyfully reflects on the chaos he's wrought throughout history. The Dionysian beats and pagan chanting add to the ominous, yet attractive, mood of the song. Like Charles Manson, who would become known to the world the next year, the song ends with an entreaty to conciliation and then shifts to violent threat promising death to all who cross his path. A historical marker flower power's demise.

"No Expectations" is a beautiful track, a highlight of the album. A reflective meditation on the end of a relationship/era featuring Brian Jones on slide guitar and Nicky Hopkins on organ, one of the best collaborations in the Jagger/Richards catalog. 

"Dear Doctor" is a country-western ramble on drinking, broken hearts, and exhaustion. "Parachute Woman" is a thumping R&B tune with some Anthony Burgess Nasdat speak from A Clockwork Orange (Stones wanted to adapt their own version of the novel).

The aptly titled "Jigsaw Puzzle" is an observational song featuring pastiche blues and surreal imagery. Some have compared it to Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile (with the Memphis Blues Again).

Side two opens with "Street Fighting Man," often considered the most "political" single the Stones ever released. "Street Fighting Man" definitely hit the zeitgeist of 1968, released as Chicago blew up during the Democratic convention. The Nihilist spirit of the song suggests youth have nothing better to do but storm the barricades, foreshadowing the punk ethos of a decade later. A sitar from Brian Jones echoes the psychedelia of 1967. 

"Prodigal Son" was a delta blues song written by Robert Wilkins, an appropriate parallel to "Street Fighting Man." "Stray Cat Blues" features a return to the vintage Stones style, heavy blues riffs with some taboo content. 

"Factory Girl" is a bluegrass ode of industrial romanticism. A similar sentiment prevails on the closing track "Salt of the Earth." A well produced track, even though the lyrics admit the working class are:

A swirling mass of grey
Black and White
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange

In a year packed with legendary albums, Beggar's Banquet is a solid LP from start to finish. A marked contrast to the chaos of the Beatles White Album, capturing the Stones as they were about to enter the zenith of their creativity. Just as Dylan's early records reflect the changing culture of the mid 1960s, the Stones were defining the latter stage of the decade. 

The Beatles: Let It Be (1970)

Release Date: May 8, 1970
Active Members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Guests: Billy Preston on Keyboards
Producer: Phil Spector

Side One: Two of Us; Dig A Pony; Across the Universe; I Me Mine: Dig It; Let It Be; Maggie Mae

Side Two: I've Got a Feeling; One After 909; The Long and Winding Road; For You Blue; Get Back

The Beatles 12th and last album of new material to be released, Let it Be may not be their best, but it still captures the four of them at the height of their powers. As has been well documented, by 1969 the band was hitting a cul-de-sac in their epochal, but all too brief, recording career. Tired of recording epic studio albums that took months to complete (the White Album sessions took the better part of six months), they returned yet again to the studio in 1969 with what was intended to be a new approach, writing new songs on the fly with the goal of performing them before a live audience. 

Let it Be put the group's issues under a microscope. They were getting older and weary with each other. George remained frustrated with his limited role and would temporarily leave the band a few days during the sessions. Camera crews were recording their every move for an intended documentary, thus adding to the pressures they were facing (early morning 8am sessions did not help either). The haphazard rooftop concert that concluded the sessions made for a great ending to the movie, but it got cut short and left incomplete (a fitting ending for the project). 

The album would sit on the shelf for over a year and go through many iterations. Glynn Johns produced the original mix, tracks that were without overdubs, even including mistakes. Members of the band could not agree on a final mix, just as the album was ready for release in the summer of 1969. Phil Spector was brought to do a mix, crafting a more polished sound that somewhat captured the spontaneity of the recording sessions. 

The initial cover had the four of them replicating the cover of their first album, but was replaced with the so called "funeral" design cover with four snapshots of the band members as individuals. For a generation the cover symbolized the demise of the Beatles. No longer a cohesive unit, the four headed monster Mick Jagger spoke of, but four young men about to go their separate ways.

"Two of Us" opens the album on poignant note, with John and Paul harmonizing on a folk-pop ditty Paul wrote about the joy of traveling with friends. Although Paul wrote the song about his relationship with Linda, hearing him and John sing the chorus: "You and I have Memories, Longer than the road that stretches far ahead" adds a bittersweet undertone.

John's "Dig A Pony" features surreal lyrics set to heavy and erratic guitars. One of the most exuberant tracks on the LP, don't miss the cover version performed by St. Vincent back in 2009. "Across the Universe" may one of Lennon's most beautiful compositions. Spector added strings and background vocals on the album version. John's hopeful and transcendent spirituality comes through on the track.

Harrison's "I Me Mine" maybe hit too close to home, a sarcastic song about ego and self destruction. Perhaps the lyrics are too straight forward, but the sting still comes off the record, possibly George's own protest against the machinations of John and Paul.

"Dig It" was originally over five minutes of improvised lyrics. Spector included a mere fragment as sort of bridge to the next song, still that fragment leaves the listener intrigued. John yells out random names and quotes "Like a Rolling Stone."

The title track opens with Paul's piano and offer a spiritual message of hope. Background choral vocals and organ music give the song a hymn like feel. George's guitar solo is a highlight and exemplified how all members could still make great contributions to each other's songs. Paul's lyrics have an eloquent simplicity, much like a Psalm.  "Maggie Mae" closes side one on an absurd note, an old Liverpool standard.

Side Two opens with "I've Got a Feeling" was one of the last true collaborations of John and Paul. An old fashioned rocker; the track may be the closest to what the Beatles were trying to accomplish on Let it Be. "The One After 909" was an early Lennon/McCartney collaboration from their schooldays they finally put on record.

"Long and Winding Road" marked another high point in Paul's songwriting, one of his crowning achievements as an artist. A fitting song to bring closure to the Beatles career.

George's "For You Blue" feels like an intended b-side, with some slight lyrics, but sounds like he's having fun on it. "Get Back" closes the album on a rocking note.

While the final version of Let it Be did not reflect the initial vision for the project, the four still sound magical when they play together. But there's also a sense of exhaustion in the music, a finality to songs like "Across the Universe," "The Long and Winding Road," and "Let it Be." Abbey Road, recorded later that summer for financial reasons, would allow George to take center stage and bring the Beatles recording career to a pleasing conclusion, Let it Be reminds us they were human. 

Welcome to Eric Talks Albums

Welcome!

Eric Talks Albums will offer a variety of album reviews from all eras of rock and roll. The decades of the 1960s and 1970s will get particular attention. New releases will be covered as well. I use the term "reviews" in the general sense, there will be appreciations, criticism, history, and much more.

As this decade enter its final stretch, it feels as if rock itself is on trial. Will the form continue? Should it continue? Pete Townshend's unfinished rock opera Lifehouse imagined a future where all entertainment is experienced through screens and simulated environments. Today the world seems to be in the opening (or closing) of something, a duel between the real and unreal. 

Albums are real. Talismans with their own significance to all who experience them, the back beat to life.