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Funeral (Arcade Fire album)

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Untitled

Funeral is the debut full-length album by 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. It was given its title because several band members had recently lost members of their families: Régine Chassagne's grandmother died in June 2003, Win and William Butler's grandfather (swing musician Alvino Rey) in March 2004, and Richard Reed Parry's aunt in April 2004.[1]

Preliminary recordings for Funeral were made during the course of a week in August 2003 at the Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Quebec, and the recording was completed later that year.

The album produced five singles. The most successful, "Rebellion (Lies)", peaked at #19 on the UK Singles Chart. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Alternative Music Album. It received wide critical acclaim and topped many year-end and decade-end lists. It was ranked eighth in Bob Mersereau's 2007 book The Top 100 Canadian Albums, #3 on Paste's 50 Best Albums of the Decade list,[2] and #2 on Pitchfork's 200 Top Albums of the 2000s.[3]

Reception

Funeral has received almost unanimous praise from music critics, and it is hailed as a modern classic. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 90, based on 30 reviews. It is listed at number 24 on Metacritic's list of highest scored albums of all time.[4] Allmusic reviewer James Christopher Monger gave the album a rating of four and a half stars out of five. He described it as "brave, empowering, and dusted with something that many of the indie-rock genre's more contrived acts desperately lack: an element of real danger."[5] Rock critic Robert Christgau gave the album an A-, saying that Funeral was "...too fond of drama, but aware of its small place in the big world, and usually beautiful."[6] Pitchfork Media gave the album a 9.7 out of 10 rating, a score that has not been matched since.[1] Pitchfork ultimately ranked the album #2 on their Top 200 Albums of the 2000s list, after Radiohead's Kid A.[3] Rolling Stone ranked "Funeral" as the 6th best album of the 2000's.

Drowned in Sound also highly praised Funeral. Reviewer Jesus Chigley called the album "...empowering and hopeful and euphoric all at once", saying that "it says everything there is to say about mortality and it does it in 10 tracks."[7] Stylus's Josh Drimmer gave Funeral an A, calling it "celebratory, emotionally rich and life-affirming".[8] Tiny Mix Tapes gave the album five stars out of five; "Funeral," the reviewer wrote, "is like nothing you've heard before, and altogether familiar."[9] Dave Simpson of The Guardian called it "one of the year's best already, by a mile."[10] Zeth Lundy of PopMatters complimented Funeral on its eccentricity, calling it "bizarre at turns and recognizable elsewhere, equally beautiful and harrowing, theatrical and sincere, defying categorization while attempting to create new genres."[11] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "Funerals are generally somber affairs, but the Canadian indie rockers' emotionally charged 2004 debut mostly just made us smile. And, okay, mist up a little."[12]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Arcade Fire

No.TitleLength
1."Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)"4:48
2."Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)"3:31
3."Une année sans lumière"3:40
4."Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)"5:12
5."Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)"4:49
6."Crown of Love"4:42
7."Wake Up"5:35
8."Haïti"4:07
9."Rebellion (Lies)"5:10
10."In the Backseat"6:20
Bonus disc (Japan only)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."My Buddy" (Alvino Rey Orchestra)  
2."Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" (August Session)Arcade Fire 
3."Brazil"Ary Barroso 
4."Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" (Live at the Great American Music Hall)Arcade Fire 

Personnel

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b Moore, David (2004-09-13). "Funeral". Retrieved 2008-08-04. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help) Cite error: The named reference "pitchfork" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Paste: The 50 Best Albums of the Decade (2000-2009)".
  3. ^ a b "Pitchfork: Staff Lists: The top 200 albums of the 2000s".
  4. ^ "Arcade Fire:Funeral (2004): Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
  5. ^ Monger, James Christopher. "Funeral". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-08-04. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Funeral". Retrieved 2008-08-04. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  7. ^ Chigley, Jesus. "Arcade Fire:Funeral". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 2008-08-04. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  8. ^ Drimmer, Josh. "Funeral". Stylus magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-04. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  9. ^ WYATT. "Arcade Fire, Funeral". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
  10. ^ Simpson, Dave (2005-02-05). "Arcade Fire, Funeral". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-08-04. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  11. ^ Lundy, Zeth (2004-09-14). "The Arcade Fire: Funeral". PopMatters. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  12. ^ Geier, Thom; Jensen, Jeff; Jordan, Tina; Lyons, Margaret; Markovitz, Adam; Nashawaty, Chris; Pastorek, Whitney; Rice, Lynette; Rottenberg, Josh; Schwartz, Missy; Slezak, Michael; Snierson, Dan; Stack, Tim; Stroup, Kate; Tucker, Ken; Vary, Adam B.; Vozick-Levinson, Simon; Ward, Kate (December 11, 2009), "THE 100 Greatest MOVIES, TV SHOWS, ALBUMS, BOOKS, CHARACTERS, SCENES, EPISODES, SONGS, DRESSES, MUSIC VIDEOS, AND TRENDS THAT ENTERTAINED US OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS". Entertainment Weekly. (1079/1080):74-84
  13. ^ "Rhapsody's 100 Best Albums of the Decade" Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  14. ^ "Alt/Indie’s Best Albums of the Decade" Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  15. ^ "Top 50 Albums of 2004". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  16. ^ "Top 200 Albums of the 2000s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  17. ^ "Metacritic:Best Albums of 2004". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  18. ^ "The Top 50 Albums: 2000-2005". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  19. ^ "The Top 40 Albums of 2004". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  20. ^ "Top 100 Albums of 2004". Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  21. ^ a b "Top 100 Albums of 2000-2008". Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  22. ^ "NME Albums of the Year 2005". Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  23. ^ "100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever". Blender Magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  24. ^ "#6 Arcade Fire-Funeral" Rolling Stone's 100 Best Album of the Decade. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  25. ^ [1]
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