Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

If Arcade Fire were a girl in your high school class, they would have been the drama chick all of the nerds were after before she realized she could get the cool kids to chase her around too. But on Neon Bible, Arcade Fire has proved that they are less affected by popularity than your average fickle high schooler. It's everything that most albums in the digital music era are not -- sophisticated, ambitious, coherent and enjoyable. It's bigger than the sum of its parts and you won't appreciate the weight of it until you sit down and listen to the whole thing through at once. But if you're pressed for time and you have to pick and choose, "Keep the Car Running" is the best place to start. This track combines the free-spirited sounds the band perfected on earlier releases into a haunting three-minute package. So don't be turned off by all of your friends who recently anointed Arcade Fire as their "new favorite band." If you really must know -- they really are all that and a bag of chips. [www.arcadefire.com ]