Arcade Fire

Neon Bible (Merge Records) Grade: A-

The 2004 debut Funeral was a fine start, but Montreal's Arcade Fire gets close to perfection with Neon Bible. Sweepingly grand in spots with strings and church organs, delightfully minimalist other times, the album takes a dreamy look at religion, family, war, desire, paranoia and hope.

"You've got your reasons and, me, I've got mine / But all the reasons I gave were just lies to buy myself some time," Win Butler sings in Ocean of Noise.

Antichrist Television Blues has a Bruce Springsteen Open All Night vibe, as Butler frantically contemplates his life and daughter before concluding "Oh tell me, Lord, am I the Antichrist?" Keep the Car Running manages to be hypnotic and upbeat at the same time, despite lyrics around dreams, fears and mysterious men coming to take you away.

Neon Bible runs out of steam toward the end, but by then it's gone through more styles and thoughts than most artists do in a career. An early candidate for a 2007 top-10 list.

• Bright Eyes: Four Winds (Saddle Creek Records). Grade: B+

Technically, Four Winds is the first single from Bright Eyes' next album, Cassadega, due next month. But prolific Conor Oberst fills it out to near-album-length with five extra songs that won't appear on Cassadega.

It's a low-key folk/country romp, containing some of Oberst's catchiest, most accessible writing, highlighted by Reinvent the Wheel and the weary Tourist Trap. Think Wilco, but sometimes even darker. If these songs didn't make the cut, fans are in for a treat when the full 13-song Cassadega is released April 10.

New cds this week

Also new this week:

• Mary Chapin Carpenter: The Calling (Rounder)

• Notorious B.I.G.: Greatest Hits (WEA)

• Ry Cooder: My Name Is Buddy (Nonesuch)

• Coming March 13: Neil Young, Live at Massey Hall CD/DVD, (Reprise); Aqualung, Memory Man (Columbia); Marc Ford, Weary and Wired (Ryko); Graham Parker, Don't Tell Columbus (Bloodshot)

Top five sounds

From national sales reports by SoundScan

SINGLES

1 This Is Why I'm Hot: Mims

2 Don't Matter: Akon

3 What Goes Around . . . Comes Around: Justin Timberlake

4 The Sweet Escape: Gwen Stefani (featuring Akon)

5 Cupid's Chokehold: Gym Class Heroes (featuring Patrick Stump)

ALBUMS

1 Not Too Late: Norah Jones

2 Daughtry: Daughtry

3 Infinity on High: Fall Out Boy

4 Kidz Bop 11: Kidz Bop Kids

5 Konvicted: Akon

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