0407. The Beta Band
Heroes To Zeros

With Hot Shots II still fresh in my memory, The Beta Band has a big path to track back. And while it's not just as great due to them pulling back on the spacing out, this final album is just as laid back.

Heroes To Zeros was released after planning and recording for around a hear and a half, in which they had completed a bunch of track neither they nor their label thought were good enough. Going over to the band producing it themselves they were much more satisfied, released the album and a couple of months later announced their split.

Musically it's a good, albeit not perfect, ending.

…and then this was removed from the list.

Replaced by:

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

A couple of songs in and I'm wondering if I put on the right album, cause this doesn't seem to be the band I thought it was: there's a major-league eighties sound (somewhere between U2 and Midnight Oil - who, for some dumb reason aren't on the list).

Recorded in and inspired by a church they bought and rebuilt a bit, they've also taken some hints from Springsteen's huge production days here and there.

I'm actually amazed that this isn't bad at all, cause as opposed to their debut, this is a band that's taken giant steps to get to this second album (I'd hate to say matured, cause that's entirely misleading).

Also, it's a bit sneaky - just when I thought the final track had gone with a bombastic outro, they throw one more our way. No, it's not a hidden track, it's just that No Cars Go is where an album usually would stop, but here they close on an even more grandiose note with My body Is A Cage.

Hell of a recovery by a band I've written off before.