Silent Alarm

Bloc Party | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 22, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Vice Records
• ASIN: B0007NFMDK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (154 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,671 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Like Eating Glass - Bloc Party

2. Helicopter - Bloc Party

3. Positive Tension - Bloc Party

4. Banquet - Bloc Party

5. Blue Light - Bloc Party

6. She's Hearing Voices - Bloc Party

7. This Modern Love - Bloc Party

8. Pioneers - Bloc Party

9. Price Of Gas - Bloc Party

10. Little Thoughts (bonus track)

11. So Here We Are

12. Luno

13. Plans

14. Compliments

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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 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 favor 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

Product Description

Bloc Party are one of the great indie-crossover bands that keep popping up. 'Silent Alarm' includes the singles 'Helicopter', 'Banquet' & 'So Here We Are'. Vice. 2005.

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Brilliant April 30, 2005

By Connie W. Sowa

Format:Audio CD

Bloc Party's debut album Silent Alarm is without a doubt a masterpiece. One of the best new bands to emerge from the UK alternative rock scene, post-punk Bloc Party create a stream of eloquent songs so good I swear they all seem to be potential singles. Even the "slower" songs are full of energy.

Bloc Party's strength lies in creating fast, funky rhythms with a punk feel. As a drummer, I know a good drummer when I see one and Matt Tong is a good drummer; his beats are all innovative and almost give the effect of a drum machine, they're so precise. Although I'll admit it took me a while to get used to Kele Okereke's very unique voice, after a few rotations on my cd player I really grew to like it. Both Kele and Russell Lissack are strong guitarists, and each song has a very distinct guitar line that will make you want to dance or at least nod your head until it feels like it will fall off. Gordon Moakes, the bassist, adds a lot of the funk to the band, providing steady yet fun beats that will get stuck in your head.

The best songs on this album are "Positive Tension," "Pioneers," "Plans," "Helicopter," "This Modern Love," and their debut single "Banquet." "Banquet" has been a huge dance hit in the UK this summer, and for good reason. "Plans" is the most haunting song on the album, and it is reminiscent of the creepiest songs on Radiohead's OK Computer; it's quite dark and saddening. "Helicopter" is just plain fun, while "Pioneers" is powerful and engaging. "This Modern Love" serves as something that I think sets Bloc Party apart: a slow song with gloomy lyrics but with quick drums. They're one of the only bands I've heard who can do that. "Positive Tension" is probably my personal favorite; it's smart and purposeful, fast and driven, enjoyable and danceable, and has an absolutely amazing guitar solo that makes me nod my head in the middle of class to it, since I can't get it out of my head! There's really no other word for it other than "cool." However, in the end it really is difficult to choose the "best" songs, as every song is astoundingly good and it all depends on what you personally like.

If I may go off on a side tangent for a moment....Upon having a chance to see the band live in DC, I took it... and wasn't disappointed in the slightest. They're even better live than on record, so I'd highly recommend seeing them if you ever get a chance.

In the end, Bloc Party is a very talented, innovative new band with refreshing songs that have never been done before. This album is energetic and fun, and Bloc Party makes many statements throughout it without the listener even realizing they're doing it. I highly recommend this band if you're a fan of Brit rock/Indie guitar rock/Post-Punk; the bands Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Razorlight, the Killers, Radiohead, and Gang of Four; and are still mourning the devastating break-up of the Libertines. I guarantee that no matter what you listen to over the next few months, you'll keep turning back to this cd... that is if you ever take it out of your cd player long enough to listen to anything else.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is truly a 5 star album. May 7, 2005

By H. Slater

Format:Audio CD

Bloc Party is the band that has touched me the most sine the Mars Volta in 2003. Bloc Party are amazing musicians, though there isn't a lot of lead guitar on the album, there are plenty of tasty textures to keep your ears happy. The lyrics are solid, if occasionally juvenile, but overall very poetic, beautiful, enlightening, and charming.

Matt Tong is an amazing beast on the drums and Gordon Moakes bass playing is very solid much like Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The hype is justified but be warned, Bloc Party is not New Order, they are not the Cure, they are not Franz Ferdinand or any other band that they have been compared to. My advice would be listen to the samples here on the web and if you don't really like what you hear, then DON'T buy it. But if you are intrigued and like what you hear, then hopefully you'll be like myself and the others and put under Bloc Party's magical spell.

Don't go into it like your mind will blown, go into it skeptical, therefore you can not be let down. Don't give them the credit and make them prove it to you over 14 tracks that they are an amazing band.

I won't insult them with anymore comparisions of other bands, but to me Bloc Party are completely unique in that they have fused their various influences into a cohesive sound that is truly their own.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best... August 18, 2005

By English Reviewer

Format:Audio CD

Bloc Party is the perfect in more than one way! Let's talk about what I just said - I said, perfect in more than one way! Now here's why:

1) Their sound is the first to successfully create the union of new wave music and indie rock. There have been a lot of great bands surfacing ever since The Strokes became popular in 2001, but I do believe that Bloc Party has finally perfected what the 5 boys from NYC were trying to do with their first album, and that is re-create the past in both a musical and a fashion sense. If you dissapeared for 15 years (be it a coma, or kidnapped by aliens), and then returned and was told to listen to Bloc Party and try to guess what year they're from, you'd probably have a difficult time determining that, due to Bloc Party's over-excessive admiration for the best and rawest forms of new wave music. Yes, Stellastarr*'s debut album from 2003 was also very, very close to accomplishing what Bloc Party has done here in 2005, but that's a whole different group and a whole different story. Every time I hear "Banquet" on college radio, I honestly feel like it's 1985 again and I am listening to Men At Work, Big Country, Icehouse, or Split Enz.

2) Their music is electric, it's exciting, it's everything you want it to be! And most of the songs have intelligent lyrics that aren't annoying or idiotic. Just think of "The Price Of Gas", which is blatantly exploiting the automobile and gasoline industry's. What they say in that song, which is probably over a year old, is so true for today.

3) Bloc Party's entire album offers music that sounds circa mid-80's, but at no point in the album does any song sound like a copycat of another song or artist, just the general style and instrumentation that Bloc Party uses is reminiscent of the sound of new wave music. We all know that groups like Interpol are the modern Joy Division, The Strokes are the modern Richard Hell or Iggy Pop, and The Killers are what Duran Duran would sound like today if they were still young. But Bloc Party is.. Bloc Party. They simply took an era of music that was intense and simply built on it with bigger, better quality songs than you'd find in the height of new wave.

While I am praising Bloc Party, I also thought I'd suggest 2 other great groups that I would say are just as good as Bloc Party (and if you are interested in either, just look them up on Amazon, there are 100's of reviews on both acts): Arcade Fire and The Bravery. And of course, check out Stellastarr* too!