Arcade Fire | 
| Artist: Arcade Fire
Label: Merge Records
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $6.15
You Save: $3.84 (38%)
New (39) Used (15) from $4.25
Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 19655
Format: Ep
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 29569
UPC: 036172956920
EAN: 0036172956920
ASIN: B0009V61ZI
Release Date: July 12, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW Factory Sealed - Ready to be shipped within 24 hrs from California - Average 5 workdays delivery time - Excellent customer service - Buy with confidence!
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| Tracks:
| • | Old Flame | | • | I'm Sleeping In A Submarine | | • | No Cars Go | | • | The Woodland National Anthem | | • | My Heart is an Apple | | • | Headlights Look Like Diamonds | | • | Vampire / Forest Fire |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Arcade Fire fans are an enthusiastic bunch, and they've been hungry for more music from their favorite group. But be forewarned, this EP was actually recorded and released by the band independently in 2003. The EP is an interesting view into the development of these musicians; decidedly less experienced at that point, the band didn't have quite as much oomph as they do now. When you compare these tracks with their first single, "Rebellion (Lies)" from Funeral, you can immediately feel a difference in confidence, from vocals on through to orchestration. That said, there is still plenty for fans to enjoy on this EP; for starters, none of these seven songs show up on their full-length, so that gives Fire fans an extra half hour of music to enjoy. Secondly, husband and wife team Win Butler and Regine Chassagne's vocals and songwriting still shine, most especially on the standout "No Cars Go" and the beautifully fragile "Headlights Look Like Diamonds." Funeral remains the best introduction to Arcade Fire, but this CD is still a great glimpse of a band with a bright future ahead. --Denise Sheppard
Album Description
Recorded on a budget, The EP established Arcade Fire before they were signed. Features the 7 tracks 'Old Flame', 'I'm Sleeping In A Submarine', 'No Cars Go', 'The Woodland National Anthem', 'My Heart Is An Apple', 'Headlight Look Like Diamonds' & 'Vampires Forest Fire'. Rough Trade. 2005.
Album Details
The Debut EP of Original Demos from One of the Most Interesting Bands to Come to the Fore in the 21st Century. The Set is Known to Fans as "us Kids Know".
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 In the beginning July 12, 2005
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
40 out of 45 found this review helpful
It's hard to believe that one of the hottest new indie rock bands first debuted with an unknown EP. The first collection of the Arcade Fire's music -- self-released at their concerts in 2003 -- is now being rereleased, letting fans see the sprawling splendor of their earliest work.
Don't expect just an extension of their full-length debut "Funeral," though. This EP was recorded two years and several personal upheavals before their full-length debut, so it has a very different sound -- the sound of a lush, melancholy band who is figuring out their musical style.
It starts off on a high note with "Old Flame," before stumbling slightly with a mellow, meandering rocker with Regine Chassagne's eerie vocals taking the lead. After that, they dabble in dreamy folk-rock for awhile, before climaxing into the exquisite "Vampire Forest Fire," a painful look at destructive families. "You wanna be set apart?/Burn all of your art/repair the wasteful part/I'm a vampire in a forest fire..."
It's hard not to be smitten with the Arcade Fire. Ever since several nu-psychedelic bands went off the radar, it's become difficult to find bands that are brave enough to experiment, but able to keep it accessable. Enter the Arcade Fire, a Montreal band that does both things, a refreshing change in the world of increasingly stale music.
"EP" isn't quite as wildly unique as their later work; some of the songs have echoes of Mercury Rev or fellow Canadians Broken Social Scene. The thing is, they're really good echoes. And the songs that they echo through are very good work, rich and complex, putting the musical and lyrical talents of Arcade Fire to work.
Much like the later "Funeral," there isn't a lot of happy-happy-joy to be found here. Either the stuff is ambiguous like "I'm sleeping in a battle ship," or the Arcade Fire is musing on loneliness, fear, sorrow, romantic unworthiness, and deserted countrysides. Even the relatively hopeful "Headlights Look Like Diamonds" has a mournful edge: "Tell me how this story ends/Before the fires go cold..."
The Arcade Fire's debut EP is a must-have for fans of this unique band. While not as powerful or unique as their full-length album, it's still a richly engaging EP.
In the beginning June 14, 2005
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
It's hard to believe that one of the hottest new indie rock bands first debuted with an unknown EP. The first collection of the Arcade Fire's music -- self-released at their concerts in 2003 -- is now being rereleased, letting fans see the sprawling splendor of their earliest work.
Don't expect just an extension of their full-length debut "Funeral," though. This EP was recorded two years and several personal upheavals before their full-length debut, so it has a very different sound -- the sound of a lush, melancholy band who is figuring out their musical style.
It starts off on a high note with "Old Flame," before stumbling slightly with a mellow, meandering rocker with Regine Chassagne's eerie vocals taking the lead. After that, they dabble in dreamy folk-rock for awhile, before climaxing into the exquisite "Vampire Forest Fire," a painful look at destructive families. "You wanna be set apart?/Burn all of your art/repair the wasteful part/I'm a vampire in a forest fire..."
It's hard not to be smitten with the Arcade Fire. Ever since several nu-psychedelic bands went off the radar, it's become difficult to find bands that are brave enough to experiment, but able to keep it accessable. Enter the Arcade Fire, a Montreal band that does both things, a refreshing change in the world of increasingly stale music.
"EP" isn't quite as wildly unique as their later work; some of the songs have echoes of Mercury Rev or fellow Canadians Broken Social Scene. The thing is, they're really good echoes. And the songs that they echo through are very good work, rich and complex, putting the musical and lyrical talents of Arcade Fire to work.
Much like the later "Funeral," there isn't a lot of happy-happy-joy to be found here. Either the stuff is ambiguous like "I'm sleeping in a battle ship," or the Arcade Fire is musing on loneliness, fear, sorrow, romantic unworthiness, and deserted countrysides. Even the relatively hopeful "Headlights Look Like Diamonds" has a mournful edge: "Tell me how this story ends/Before the fires go cold..."
The Arcade Fire's debut EP is a must-have for fans of this unique band. While not as powerful or unique as their full-length album, it's still a richly engaging EP.
 Exceptional debut of an excellent band October 1, 2006
Nathan Andersen (Florida)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Arcade Fire has become one of my favorite bands, and I still find lots of people who haven't heard of them. They have a very distinctive style and some of their best songs are able to touch a primitive chord in the soul and at the same time feel distinctively fresh and unprecedented.
This album may not be as good as Funeral, but it's much better than almost anything else out there in the alternative/pop/rock arena these days. Listening to this album now feels like catching Radiohead at the time of Pablo Honey or the Bends; or even like catching Echo and the Bunnymen way back when releasing Heaven up Here or Porcupines. Someone else said that this feels like a band learning their own sound, and I think that's right; but I think you might also say that the sound of this album is open, in the sense it could be taken in several directions and they chose a route that was perhaps less ethereal and light and more "meaty" and rhythmic and beat-driven than some of the songs on this album. I like the direction they chose, and love their subsequent album (and tracks); but sometimes listening to this album makes me wonder what kind of music might have emerged in some of the other directions suggested by this early album. Maybe some of that music can still happen. In any case, if you haven't heard them yet, it's time, whichever album you choose to begin with.
Arcade Fire's Promising Debut, Remastered August 14, 2005
Juan Mobili (Valley Cottage, NY USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Solinas is right when he says that "it's hard not to be smitten" with this band. Having listened to Funeral, a few months after its release -lost months I feel, given how grand that album is!- and in the absence of any new material, I felt compelled to buy this EP.
Certainly, although I would not give it five stars, I was far from disappointed, and I believe that in it you will find some of the basic musical DNA that made their first full album such remarkable feat.
Although their sound does not have the emotional conviction that Funeral exudes, there's enough here to expect greater things from this band, which indeed they proved to be the case with the above mentioned full-length release.
For instance, "Old Flame," the opener, already shows some of the band's trademark arrangements and carries you away with the kinnd of fierce nostalgia they will perfect later.
As far as the alledged missing confidence of this debut, you may find that that's not quite the case. Win Butler and Regine Chassagne's vocals are passionate and poignant respectively already, although they may not reach the urgency and deep murning that informed Funeral.
For me, there are two gems that deserve enough praise to warrant purchase of this EP, "My Heart is an Apple" -that grows in intensity as the song develops and includes a touching passage beautifully sung by Regine- and "Vampire / Forest Fire," probably the best song in this EP and worthy of the best of Funeral's, in which Butler sounds like Neil Young circa OnThe Beach.
All in all, this is more than a respectable debut, and worth having, if you fell under the Arcade Fire's spell.
A Wonderful and Completely Overlooked Start November 25, 2006
Catherine Rubsam
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The Arcade Fire exploded in flame recently, with a quasi-hit with Rebellion/Lies and a critically hailed debut album. But what of their beginnings? Thankfully, the band took the time to have this re-released, and what a reissue it is!
While not quite in the league of Funeral, this is a melancholy, sweeping experimental record that has its ups-and-downs, but still ends in a great place. The obvious best in No Cars Go, but that's out of the question. Still, the other songs are more than competent, with beautiful lyrics and vocals that draw you in and trap you for the full time of this EP.
While not perfect, definetly a wonderful step foward for the sad, sad, sad rock music scene at current. With bands like My Chem. and Fall Out Boy having smashes with barely there records recorded simply for the cause of making money, a band who actually strives to make good music is becoming increasingly endangered. Odd how Canada would save America AGAIN.
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