Silent Alarm (20th Anniversary Edition)＜限定盤/Colored Vinyl＞

Much more polished, serious, and straight-ahead than their initial EPs suggested, Silent Alarm reveals Bloc Party as a band equally informed by taut art-punk and the grand gestures and earnestness of groups like Coldplay and U2. Though theyre not quite as stadium-sized expansive as either of those two bands (yet), Bloc Party sound a lot more comfortable making proclamations like "Positive Tension"s "Something glorious is about to happen/A reckoning!" than contemporaries like Franz Ferdinand or the Futureheads would be. Silent Alarm is also more varied than Bloc Partys early work suggested, spanning edgy pop, atmospheric ballads, and angular, percussive tracks that are all served well by the albums big, layered production. The great single "Banquet" and even better opening track, "Like Eating Glass," put Bloc Partys heart-on-sleeve emotions in the service of tight, energetic songwriting that makes their earnestness a little easier to swallow. The gorgeous ballads also make the most of Bloc Partys emotional directness: "Blue Light," "This Modern Love," and "So Here We Are" are some of Silent Alarms finest moments, with a tension and impact that show how powerful even their softest songs can be. As both the band and albums names imply, Silent Alarm is an overtly political album. Bloc Party fare better than many other bands that dip into that fray, but the results are still mixed: the well-intentioned no-blood-for-oil sentiments of "Price of Gas" are heavy-handed, but "Helicopter"s Bush-bashing and the antiwar "Pioneers" ("We promised the world wed tame it/What were we hoping for?") are relatively subtle, and work fairly well as political pop manifestos. As dynamic as Silent Alarm is, its not perfect: the second half of the album doesnt quite sustain the momentum it had at the beginning. Nevertheless, Silent Alarm is a fine debut album with a lot of passion and polish; its hard not to respect, if not fully embrace, the intensity and integrity of Bloc Partys music. ~ Heather Phares

〈サマソニ〉や単独公演での大熱演、高内容の来日記念盤『Little Thoughts EP』などのチラリズム的先行露出によって、日本のファンをすでに半失禁状態にまで陥れているUKロックの超新星が、ついにファ－スト・アルバムを上梓!　驚くほどしなやかな歌唱とタイトにドライヴするサウンドが一直線に疾走。深い叙情を湛えながらも、それを突き崩す開放的なグル－ヴが素晴らしい!　全開でチビっちゃってください。
bounce (C)北爪 啓之