A Weekend In The City

This album is absolute quality. Its kinda chilled, yet somewhat upbeat, building brilliantly on their first album. Definitely a grower this one, had this in my car for months now and still not bored of it.

the two other positive comments are spot on ..... i do agree silent alarm has that little edge over this album, but i played it again and again and the songs get into your head, i love Bloc Party they seem to have more meaning like coldplay they seem to have that aura and for a fiver you would not be wasting your money!

When first played we were a bit disappointed. BUT saw them live at Summercase and the tracks really work. Listen to it more than once before condemning it. These guys are putting something a bit special together.

A Weekend In the City has cemented Bloc Party as one of the best bands around at the moment without question. And despite not having the musical edge that Silent Alarm did they have really progressed in terms of their music.
Their use of more electronics and voice effects adds more layers to the songs and opens up a door that could lead Bloc to produce great track after great track after great track.
This album has some brilliant songs such as 'I Still Remember' a cracker of an opener 'Song for Clay', 'Hunting for Witches' and 'Uniform'. If you've heard 'The Prayer' and was impressed then there is a lot more to offer in the album.
Their live performances are amazing and this album helps you to re-live the moments. It definetely grows on you and if you give it a chance, it will become the soundtrack of your summer.

Where as Silent Alarm was a stereotypical Indie album, Bloc Party's second ventures ever so slightly into radio friendly rock.

After severl listens you have worked out the pattern of the tracks, most of them start quiet and build to a climax, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. The main exception being I Still Remember, which is, as i said, a prime example of the radio rock sound.

Waiting for the 7:18 is an electro oddessy, SRXT is a generic ending track, and Uniform is a synical, albeit true, commentary on young people, with a delicious modern prog-rock ending.

For all the pitfalls, this album is actually very good, and what with it being unimposing you can bung this on the CD player at whatever time of day, or mood you're in, and find it fits perfectly.

If I had to decide I would say this isn't as good as Silent Alarm, but not by much. The last few tracks don't do it for me as much as Plans and Compliments did. But the opening 5 tracks are solid gold.