Track Listing

1. Like Eating Glass
2. Helicopter
3. Positive Tension
4. Banquet
5. Blue Light
6. She's Hearing Voices
7. This Modern Love
8. Pioneers
9. Price of Gas
10. So Here We Are
11. Luno
12. Plans
13. Compliments

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #623 in Music
• Released on: 2005-02-14
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Styled more along the lines of a revolutionary cell than a band, Bloc Party approach the medium of rock'n'roll with the sort of high seriousness usually reserved for philosophy lectures. Yet on their debut album, Silent Alarm, this "autonomous unit" of smart, wiry London youth don't just succeed in reinvigorating the artform – they come pretty close to reinventing it from the ground up.

Whereas early singles like "She's Hearing Voices" found the band still attempting to chisel their own image out of familiar post-punk reference points – The Fall, Joy Division, and Gang Of Four, to name but three – newer tracks such as "Like Eating Glass" and the prickly "Price Of Gas" find Bloc Party pioneering a freshly-minted template of staccato percussion, expansive soundscapes, and cryptic lyrics that artfully straddle the political and the personal. Russell Lissack has forsaken that overdone hallmark of post-punk, brittle tortured-fretboard skronk, in favour of an effects-laden guitar sound that adds genuine prettiness to Bloc Party's edgy rush. But it's Kele Okereke's vocal that's the band's most flexible facet, morphing from frothing anger to breathless desperation. "Are you hoping for a miracle?" he bays, on "Helicopter". Yes? Well Silent Alarm ably fits the bill. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
'Silent Alarm' is the first album from London-based art-rockers Bloc Party. The album combines punky, staccato style musicianship with poignant lyrical matter, evoking echoes of both The Pixies and Joy Division. Includes the singles 'Helicopter' and 'Banquet'.

Customer Reviews

Better than the new one...
This is astounding music. Energetic but calming, spikey but ethereal.

At it's essence it is pop music, but it has an intelligence to it that cannot be overlooked. And surprisingly for a British guitar band, it isn't a rye, 'knowing' type of intelligence. Yes, Kele Okereke and his band take themselves very seriously, and yes they do look like archetypal students, but this debut is proof that they are making some the most sophisticated guitar pop in music today. The new album has a slightly bigger sound, and the themes are more urban. This album is different, the cover-art captures the shimmeringly austere sounds that are burned onto the disc.

One of my favourite records of the past 5 years.

Everyone tells me this is just another Indie guitar album.
Well, as Indie guitar albums go, it's an extremely clever Indie guitar album.
An impressive opener, 'Like eating glass' sets the tone perfectly for 'Silent Alarm', the debut album from Essex-boys Bloc Party.
The first thing that struck me when I listened to this album was how dynamic it sounds. In a sub-cockney Pixies/duelling banjo's kinda way, the guitars seem to stick together throughout, no matter what they do, and they are doing completely different things throughout. That's before you even get to the second track, 'Helicopter', which illustrates my point perfectly. 'Positive Tension' reminds us that the rhythm section is not just there to keep time either, the punching bass line and even punchier drums lead you up to the massive ending, 'something glorious is about to happen' and indeed it does.

While 'Banquet', the debut single that somehow slipped past everyone, 'She's hearing voices' and 'Price of Gasoline' take us back to the eighties, with echoes of The Specials/Gang of Four/Buzzcocks, 'Blue Light' pulls us back, hinting at more modern influences altogether. Although, guessing the music collection of this band must be some feet, influences seem to come from all directions.

In 'Modern Love' and the (London)Radiohead 'Pioneers' we simply have it all.

By the time I'd got to 'So here we are' (the brilliant current single), I'd forgotten I was listening to the same Bloc Party who are now Radio 1 play-list favourites, and thought I'd just discovered something new and very interesting.
'Plans' then assures me that I have, 'we're all scared of the future', believe me lads you've got no reason to be.

There are so many high points to this album it is hard to sum it up. But I think it's definitely time we got over Franz Ferdinand and gave the credit too something really worth it, Silent Alarm.

Needs a few listens
When i first heard this album, i thought it was massively overrated. After a few listens, i found the album coming back to me during the day. Its amazing, and Playing guitar, Russel Lissacks style interests me hugely. I love Keles voice and lyrics, they are introspective and intelligent yet often anthemic. The drumming is good, particularly on opener "like eating glass". I Love most of the songs on this album. Some of them make you want to move, others are breathtakingly beautiful. Bloc party are a band that take themselves seriously, and they arent a fad. Unlike Kaiserchiefs, they are here to stay. Not in the charts necessarily, but that was never their intention.
This album is not to be missed, but needs a few listens. An awesome debut.