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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just give me moments, not hours or days..., 21 Mar 2007
It's taken me a while to get into Bloc Party. I first encountered them at Leeds festival - and I wasn't impressed. They appeared to me to be just another wannabe indie-cool art band whose creative talent had been channelled into their dress sense instead of their music. However, after hearing some tracks from their debut album, Silent Alarm, and finally purchasing the album for myself some months ago, I have been forced slowly to admit that I was wrong. That album combined some infectuous motifs with some very effective musical arrangemnts that are by turns easy on the ears and great fun to dance to, coupled with some surprisingly clever lyrics (surprising because they're difficult to make out without the sleeve-notes).
This follow-up album is something entirely different - and so much the better for it. It seems the band have completely reinvented themselves and come up with something entirely unexpected, but just as good, if not better than their debut album.
The opening track has an incredibly inventive refrain (just try singing the line `Oh how long our parents they suffered for nothing' - it never does what you expect it to) and `Hunting for Witches', which follows it, similarly builds on its air of lurking menace and jaunty discontent (albeit with lyrics that are perhaps a tad unsubtle). The next two songs are linked, using the rythmic similarities between the verses of `The Prayer' and `Waiting for the 7.18' to generate a sense of alienation that links the situations of the two songs: one is constantly defeated, constantly looking for something more to life, whether `waiting for the 7.18' or `standing on the packed dancefloor'. `On' continues this theme, with a melancholic evocation of the lure of cocaine, at once leading to great nights out, but also reminding us that `when it runs out, we're chasing something we'll never catch'. `Uniform' takes up the theme of the difficulty of rebellion and true expression in the modern age, building from a slow, moody verse to a screaming chorus of frustration.
`Where is Home', influenced by recent incidents of hate crime, especially the Stephen Lawrence trial is genuinely uncomfortable to listen to. Not since the Manic Street Preacher's `The Holy Bible' has such vitriol against social injustice (`I want to stamp on the face of every young policeman, to break the fingers of every old judge') rung so true.
In the final section of the album, the songs become more reflective, with the beautiful `Kreuzberg', in which the singer ponders of the illusion of love obtained in numerous `strangers' bedrooms' before deciding that `at twenty-five, something must change'. The song then ends on a haunting chorus dealing with the discontentment in love that we have all surely felt at one point or another, sung over a wonderful guitar riff - a riff which is echoed in `Saturday', whose beautifully optimistic chorus is the very reverse of `Kreuzberg', suggesting that when true love does come, not only is it wonderful, but touchingly ordinary (`I love you in the morning when you're still hungover'). I think `forget about those melting ice caps, we're doing the best with what we've got' must be one of my favourite lines from any song ever.
Sandwiched between these two tracks is the album's high point, `I Still Remember', in which the singer recalls an unrequited love from his school days, regretting that he hadn't made his feelings known at the time. It's a cliched concept made new here by the simplicity of the lyrics - `Every park bench screams your name, I kept your tie' - which tells you, at once, both nothing at all and everything you need to know.
Ending the album on a thoroughly depressing note is SRXT, which appears to be about a suicide - `Tell my mother I'm sorry and I loved her'. After the optimisim of the preceding two tracks it brings you down to earth with a bang, forcibly reminding you that though life can be wonderful, the uncomfortable note of the first seven tracks never completely goes away.
So all in all a beautiful, profound and moving album, with something we can all relate to. Different from `Silent Alarm' it may well be, but all that means is that its virtues are different too. Extraordinary stuff.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An effective change of direction, 7 May 2007
I confess I loved Silent Alarm (I still do), so was eager to hear A Weekend in the City. On first listen, i'll admit, I wasn't exactly blown away. There were a few tracks that stood out immediately - Song for Clay, Hunting for Witches, Waiting for the 7:18 and I Still Remember, but a lot of the other tracks were fairly anonymous, or so i felt (like a fool!), and I was completely bemused by The Prayer. However, over the course of another couple of listens, I began to notice how good the other songs here were. Sure, they were mostly slower than the majority of Silent Alarm, but there was an emotional depth to the songs that was largely absent from their debut, and a sincerity in Kele Okereke's vocals which not many singers manage. The drumming, as previously, is excellent, with great rhythms running throughout the whole album. The guitars feature far less prominently in many tracks, but this does still work, and when they are used, they're still very effective, and there's some great playing by the band on show here. Overall then, not a 5 star album, but a very good one, which admittedly does take time to grow, but if you do take the time to do so, you'll find very rewarding, and be glad you did so (and yes....I do now "get" The Prayer!).
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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Intelligent, vitriolic album, 30 Mar 2007
Far be it from me to say anything controversial, but frankly, any album which contains the lyrics: "I want to stamp on the face of every young policeman, to break the fingers of every old judge" is alright by me.
Kele Okereke is an angry young man, and justifiably so. In this, Bloc Party's second album, he rails against a cornucopia of social and political injustices. This is uncommon in the year 2007, and that's why Bloc Party are so utterly refreshing.
The opening song, 'Song For Clay (Disappear Here)' is undoubtedly the stand-out song of the album, with a furious, intense riff, which seems to fit Kele Okereke's current mood perfectly. Besides pounding drums and urgent guitars, this song sounds perfectly iconic. The song is also basically an overview of life in Britain in 2007, and lets be honest, that ain't no picnic. So Kele tells it like it is - shame others can't do the same.
Next song 'Hunting For Witches' uses a myriad of sound-effects that wouldn't seem out of place on a Public Enemy album, proving that Bloc Party have managed to raise their game on that notoriously difficult second album. The song's lyrics concern racial prejudice in Britain, which is spreading like wildfire. The lyrics are direct, honest and bitter.
'Waiting For The 7.15' and 'The Prayer' are two of the more listener-friendly songs on the album, especially the latter, which is really the only semi light-hearted song on the album.
The rest of the album, however, plays out in a much more serious way, exploring the issues which matter most to Kele. 'Where Is Home?' in particular is brutal and seething, in which Kele imagines striking out violently against various authority figures. Kele also discusses how he feels out of place in modern Britain, and ashamed to be British. Naturally, the simpler listener will probably be infuriated by this, because it is too near the bone. Those who prefer to harbour delusions should avoid this album.
That said, Kele proves he is multi-faceted, and finds time to explore his romantic side, in 'I still Remember', where he describes a romantic interlude of the past which still has great meaning to him. It is a subtle yet sweet lyric.
Kele is simply one of the most articulate young men in British music in 2007. No-one will be able to credit the likes of The Twang, The View or any other such hackneyed band as having a thousandth of Kele's intelligence and sensitivity. They are not deep thinkers or particularly honest. Instead, these bands, and others of their ilk like to pretend that life is perfectly rosy, when we all know fine and well it isn't.
Kele Okereke isn't afraid to highlight this, and to my mind, that makes him, and this album very valuable.
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