Product Description

The sophomore full length album from Kele Okereke and co isthe follow-up to their hugely popular 2005 debut 'Silent Alarm.' Produced by Jacknife (Kasabian, Snow Patrol), 'A Weekend In The City' brings Bloc Party another step closer to world domination with a stunning collection of songs showcasingtheir unique style of multilayered intensity. This is a more lyrically focused, emotionally exposed album which brings with it a more rounded overall sound whilst retaining the raw power of their debut. Includes the single 'The Prayer.'

Track Listing

1. Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
2. Hunting For Witches
3. Waiting For The 7.18
4. Prayer
5. Uniform
6. On
7. Where Is Home
8. Kreuzberg
9. I Still Remember
10. Sunday
11. SRXT

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3320 in Music
• Released on: 2007-02-05
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Critical adulation and commercial success hasn't changed Bloc Party. On A Weekend In The City, they're still rolling with the punches, frustrated by small minds, social inequality, and a world that reduces the life's wonderful possibilities to a grey routine. "East London is a vampire," sings Kele Okereke on the opening "Song For Clay (Disappear Here)", "it sucks the life right out of me." This, unmistakably, is Kele's album. Whereas the group's debut, 2005's Silent Alarm, felt powered primarily by the sturdy rhythm section of Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong, here the whooshing groove recedes slightly, allowing for more lyrical reflections: see "Waiting For The 7.18", which finds Okereke pondering the quiet hell of the daily commute, or "Where Is Home?" – a thoughtful, bruised song about racism given a special bite by stint of Kele's background as a second-generation Nigerian immigrant. Also notable is a move towards more synthetic, electronic textures, thanks in part to the presence of producer Jacknife Lee. If before, Bloc Party sometimes sounded like they were trying to be machine-like, now they actually do, drums arranged in dense loops, guitars gasping robotic feedback. All in all, it's a less gripping album than Silent Alarm - but it's definitely a growth, and in the long run, it may prove easier to love. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

missing main ingredients
Ok, silent alarm is an amazing album and not easy to follow up and i don't think trying to make silent alarm 2 is the way to go but what made silent alarm so good was it didn't sound like coldplay,doves,snow patrol etc-however good those bands are. one of the main reasons fo this is Kele,s vocals. on silent alarm they are like another instrument and immediately make you listen. it was so refreshing to hear silent alarm for the first time partly because of this. However, with a weekend in the city, i think a decision was taken to use the album to push bloc party up a notch in popularity which i think is why they produced it so differently. Kele,s vocals are toned down and altogether the music is smoother than silent alarm. This is really dissapointing that they seemed to have done away with the main characteristics of the band that made me like them in the first place. All that said there are some really good songs on the album with a constant theme running through them. After many listens i now really like a weekend in the city albeit for totally different reasons as to why i love silent alarm, i just wished they had kept some of the "differences" that set them apart from other bands around at the moment. Fortunatley, the next album will redress the balance somewhat but overall a weekend in the city is worth buying but don't expect it to come anywhere near the debut.

Unfortunately A Weekend In the City isn't Silent Alarm
I think i explained it with the title, Silent Alarm was such a great hit that they tried too hard to reproduce the same result. There were many songs that hit the hard political and social problem in Silent Alarm that it left Kele with very little to sing about. This has left Kele singing a few very boring songs about rubbish and all the songs having the same rythmn. 4 out of 5 is being generous (I gave this score on the basis that i like what Bloc Party is all about)

A Weekend in the city
After being a major fan of bloc party for a considerable amount of years, I awaited the new album with much anticipation, and was not disappointed.

the two guitars working together to create a whirlwind of speed went perfectly with the lyrics, and the bass just added the extra .. oomph :)

obviously, like the last album the drums were the most amazing part.

whilst, in my opinion awitc wasn't quite as good as silent alarm, i still thought it was a great album, and is well worth buying- although the major downside is that it's not silent alarm, the upside is that it's still a great album.