06 April 2007

Don’t judge an album by its jewel case...

…Or however the old adage goes. So, last Saturday, R-bone and I were at a Best Buy, and I finally picked up the two albums I’ve been meaning to buy: Modest Mouse’s “We were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank” and Arcade Fire’s “Neon Bible.”

While standing in line:

LG: "The real question now is which one do we listen to first in the car?"

R-bone: "Modest Mouse."

LG: "Wow. Well, I was going to go with Arcade Fire."

Well, since I bought the CDs and because R-bone was in no position to fight me while driving, I started unwrapping Neon Bible. Cellophane wrapping came off fine, but the jewel case itself was wrapped in a thin layer of decorative cardboard that—no joke--took me a solid 10 minutes and multiple finger muscles to remove. I gave up and re-tried several times. I even handed it over to Rachel when my hand got tired and she had no luck getting it to budge either. It got to the point where I thought I was going to have to rip the artwork, but R-bone had a serious objection to that. And just then, about 9 minutes into my fight with the CD packaging, the cardboard started to budge. Slowly, but surely, I shimmied it off.

After removing the customarily irritating plastic sticker, I opened the jewel case and the entire front came off like a lid. My jewel case was now in two pieces and the plastic prongs that normally keep the disc in place were scattered in pieces and the disc just fell into my lap while I stared at it in disbelief.

LG: “This is the most shoddily packaged disc I’ve ever encountered.”

R-bone: “Just put it in.”

R-Bone’s Jetta’s CD player: “Scanning…Scanning…Error.” [Spits disc out].

LG: WTF?

R-bone: “Try it again.”

R-Bone’s Jetta’s CD player: “Scanning…Scanning…Error.” [Spits disc out].

LG: "OK. This is going back. I’m putting in Modest Mouse."

For the record, I really enjoy the Modest Mouse CD. But it’s really being overshadowed by the superiority of Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible. When I got home, I tried the AF disc in my computer and it worked fine (which is really all that matters to me since my I-pod is my music player). Also, when I got home and it works, I had a fucking rock session in my room. A few of my initial thoughts on the album:

Is it weird that two of the tracks remind me of Bruce Springsteen? “Keep the Car Running” and “(Antichrist Television Blues).”

Another thing you might know about me is that I LOVE piano rock. Something Corporate. Phantom Planet. Jack’s Mannequin. HAS ANYONE HEARD JASON SCHWARTZMAN’S NEWEST BAND PROJECT “Coconut Records?” I’m cising that just about as much as this Arcade Fire album—but they’re totally different and for different musical moods, so maybe I’ll blog about J-Schwartz’s new side project another time…Anyway- my point: Piano Rock is my jawn. But Arcade Fire has really opened my eyes to the awesomeness of PIPE ORGAN ROCK. "Intervention" is the best (and my favorite) example of this. See also “My Body is a Cage.”

My fave tracks overall, though (subject to change): “The Well and the Lighthouse,” "Intervention," and “No Cars Go.”

By the way, credit to Todd and Charlotte for their musical suggestion that I add Neon Bible to the collection. I’d say my favorite suggestions to receive are musical suggestions, so keep them coming.

7 comments:

Rachel said...

I said I wanted to listen to Arcade fire first and you said Modest mouse.

Just thought i'd set the record straight on that one.

LG said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LG said...

ERRONEOUS! Erroneous!

I may not have the best memory but i DO remember that. I even used the fact that I was the one buying to justify that I got to pick.

Rachel said...

no way, i very clearly wanted to listen to arcade fire over modest mouse b/c i had recently heard new modest mouse stuff on the radio and wanted to listen to arcade fire instead! Then you were being nice by putting in what I asked for because they were both yours so you'd get to listen to both after so you put in what I suggested.

LG said...

I stand by my story.

(although let's not get into our agreement that your instinct is always right. That turned out to be disastrous.)

MY BLOG, MY ACCOUNT.

Keep this up and see if I burn either disc for you!

Charlotte : ) said...

I am so glad you said that about Bruce Springsteen! I think Win Butler's voice is remarkably similar to "The Boss."

Also, you are totally sleeping on Black Waves/Bad Vibrations. Best song Ever.

J said...

I like the song windowsill from arcade fire. I think they are both excellent cd's though.