i v heard the whole album a few times.
it s good enough.a grower...catchier than the first , it will not blow your mind but as i said it s a good work n they deserve some kind of respect.

I remember Kele saying on the BBC website that the new album was going to dissapoint some fans because they didn't want to make "Silent Alarm 2". Everyone has started making post-punk revival music and they've decided to try something that others aren't doing. Good on them I reckon, no-one ever pushed things forward by rehashing their old material.

Sometimes thinks take time to show how good they are. Even Exile on Main Street was universally panned on release (Not that Weekend... is anywhere near as good as Exile...)

i didnt expect a "silent alarm".
thought that they could release a better album than their first.maybe next time n that comment doesnt mean that their new is bad or something.u know , i v got high expectations from that band

quote:

Originally posted by sk:
i didnt expect a "silent alarm".
thought that they could release a better album than their first.maybe next time n that comment doesnt mean that their new is bad or something.u know , i v got high expectations from that band

I just reckon for everyone hwo hates it there'll be someone who loves it. I can't see anyone thinking it's a middle of the road album.

I was real iffy on it first listen, but I've started to like it. It's nowhere near as good as silent alarm, but how could it be? My expectations were low, but it surpassed them by a bit. I see a 7-point-something pitchfork rating and around a mid 70's meta rating.

The more I listen to this record, the more I like it. I really love "Silent Alarm," but I'm glad they didn't just repeat the formula like Franz Ferdinand did. I found their second album to be really boring, because it was almost identical to the first one.

quote:

Originally posted by b0arder753:
I see a 7-point-something pitchfork rating and around a mid 70's meta rating.

I'll bet you the Pitchfork rating for this is below 6.0, possibly sub-5.0. This is a klunker. I agree with whoever said earlier they're going for a start small and build until you are brought to tears from the beauty of it all formula. Its too forced. U2, Coldplay all make this kind of crap now.

I agree that this is decidedly unoriginal stuff but I think there are some really glowing moments. I've listened to it constantly over the last two weeks, hoping to warm up to it. It seems weird that they "couldn't make another Silent Alarm" but elected to make a less adventurous album. This is epic brit-pop, it's repetitive, the songs sound much too similar but there are moments in which they do something brilliant.

1. The tail end of "Song for Clay"
2. The chorus of "On"
3. The entirety of "Kreuzberg"

They were poised to become great. I think they should have waited to mellow out, if they did at all. One more Silent Alarm and then a Kid A-esque move is what I would have prescribed.

I think you huys are just pissed they grew up. Like people were pissed Jeezy grew up. It's seriously not crap.... when I first heard it, I went "Huh?!"... but, I see where they went, and I don't mind.

I don't understand how you can compare this to U2 or coldplay... believe me, I've never been a fan of either of their stuff (not even Joshua Tree)... that's not my style, but idk. This isn't nearly as bad as you guys say.

They got 7.5 from Pitchfork. Could have been worse I guess.

On to the album: i love it. I was the first to grade it on metacritic(9 . As to those that don't like it, just one word: please have a little pacience, and keep an open mind.

Also they made a smart choise for the first single in US("I Still Remember"). I hope they'll have the comercial succes they deserve.

Does anybody know if there is a site where this album is streaming for free maybe?

Personally, I love the album. Having followed it for over a year before it came out, I really got an understanding of what they were trying to achieve. Yes, the lyrics are a lot simpler, but they did that on purpose. Kele himself said that he wanted to make an album that was easy to understand. He had a set theme for the album and all the songs follow that.
It's not like Silent Alarm.
Those who were fans of "Helicopter", "Banquet", and "Like Eating Glass" might not like this album as much. But fans of "So Here We Are", "This Modern Love", and "Blue Light" will love it.
Like most Bloc Party, it grows on you. You might not love it at first, but it goes from okay to incredible after listening to it more.
I think a lot of people were expecting a faster, more punk-like album. Notice that I didn't say energetic. Although many of the new songs are slower, I feel that they still have just as much energy as the songs from Silent Alarm.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Does anybody know if there is a site where this album is streaming for free maybe?

Last time I checked, the whole thing was on their Myspace.

After three listens, I definitely like the album's feel, but don't think it surpasses Silent Alarm in terms of overall quality. I like all the songs, but love only a few - whereas I pretty much loved the entire first album.

Again, this is only after three listens, I always enjoy giving albums time to follow me around and see where they go.

what the hell? for months since the cd was leaked i've heard this cd was sub-par and almost everything bad.

i picked it up today and i think its amazing. already. and i can tell it will only grown on me as well.

no, its defintly not a "silent alarm" type sound but i was really impressed on how they brought everything together on this cd.

i even went into this with the highest of expectations.

i learned my lesson from going to see them live and going in there with little to no expectations and was completely wrong. i think they acyually sounded better live then in the studio. and from the electronic sounds from silent alarm, that was shocking.

some of the tracks i am really enjoying are:

uniform
the prayer
hunting for witches
i still remember

oh yes, one more thing.

the two tracks i did hear before the cd came out was "the prayer" and "song for clay". on the cd both those songs were changed a little.

song for clay doesnt have as long as an intro(which i actually grew to like but can see why they wanted to take it out)

also the cd has two bonus songs on it for those who got a leak without them. they are both really good to me.

if i remember right they are called "version 2.0" and "emma kates accident"

I like this album so much it hurts me to read bad reviews. Finnaly a score of 100 from Orion.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Does anybody know if there is a site where this album is streaming for free maybe?

Found the stream here

Enjoy.

What's up with the user score? Someone took the time to pull the whole rating down with what seems like at least 50 or 60 bad scores. Is there anyway to get rid of them?

I didn't get in to the first album at all, but after I heard the prayer I had to check it out and so far it's treating me well.
It sounds very much like a grower.