A Weekend in the City

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A Weekend in the City
Studio album by Bloc Party
Released	5 February 2007
Recorded	Grouse Lodge Studios, Ireland
Genre	Art rock
Length	51:50
Label	Vice Records
Producer(s)	Jacknife Lee
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Aversion link Blender link CokeMachineGlow (41%) link Drowned In Sound (9/10) link Modern Music (8.2/10) link NME (8/10) link Pitchfork Media (7.5/10) link Q [citation needed] Rockfeedback link Rocklouder link Herald Sun Sputnik Music link Stylus (C+) Feb. 5, 2007 The Sunday Times TheMagazine link Tiny Mix Tapes link Twisted Ear link
Bloc Party chronology
Two More Years EP (2005)	A Weekend in the City (2007)

A Weekend in the City is the second studio album by Bloc Party, which was released on February 5, 2007. The album was produced by Jacknife Lee. The album cover is A Modern Project by Rut Blees Luxemburg.

This album deals much more with normal day working life than was addressed on Silent Alarm, drawing themes from the 7 July 2005 London bombings, immigration, drug abuse, Black British lifestyle, and criticism of youth subculture and casual sex. The album has been met with largely positive reviews by web-critics and fans alike. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

The first UK single, "The Prayer", was released on January 29, 2007. The first single in the US is "I Still Remember". The album itself entered the UK chart at number 2, outselling Fall Out Boy's new album, Infinity on High. In the US, the album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200, with 47,726 copies sold (according to Nielsen SoundScan).^[4] The band's website indicated that the album had sold over 50,000 copies in its first week of sales.

The songs "Kreuzberg" and "I Still Remember", were featured in an episode of The O.C. aired on February 15, 2007.^[5]

Contents 1 Album history 2 Special editions 3 Track listing 3.1 CD: Wichita / WEBB120CD (UK) 3.2 DVD: Wichita / WEBB120CDL (UK) 3.3 Bonus tracks 4 Trivia 5 References

[edit] Album history

"Song for Clay (Disappear Here)" was originally titled "Merge on the Freeway" (and is inspired by the novel Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis),^[6] "The Prayer" was originally "A Prayer to the Lord", "On" was originally "Wet", "Where Is Home?" was originally "Death of a Century", "Machine" and "Perfect Teens", and "I Still Remember" was originally "It Started in an Afternoon".

A low-quality rip of the album was leaked in its entirety in November 2006, three months before the official release.^[7] Faculty from V2 Records have been trying to delete the leaked files from P2P and torrent networks while keeping the leak unknown to the public.^{[citation needed]} A high-quality rip of the album became available through various torrent networks on January 11, 2007.

When the album was previewed (seemingly in its entirety) on MySpace, the song "Where Is Home?" was omitted, suggesting it may not appear on the album upon its release. However, the song was indeed included on the CD release.

[edit] Special editions

On January 23, 2007 the album became available for pre-order on the US iTunes, with two bonus tracks added, one of them "pre-order only" (see below). There are several different editions of the CD that are only available in certain countries or at certain retailers, containing one or two other bonus tracks. On these editions, the bonus tracks are separated from the others by a silent three minute pregap.

A special 2 disc limited edition version of the CD was released alongside a bonus DVD disc containing The Making of A Weekend in the City and the music videos for "The Prayer" and "I Still Remember".

Two songs that have been played live prior to the album's release but did not make it onto the album are "England" (Formerly "Blue Moon") and "We Were Lovers" (Formerly "Into the Blue" and "Cells Shaped Like Stars"). Both serve as B-sides to The Prayer as well as bonus tracks to the Japanese edition of the album.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] CD: Wichita / WEBB120CD (UK)

1. "Song for Clay (Disappear Here)" – 4:49
2. "Hunting for Witches" – 3:31
3. "Waiting for the 7:18" – 4:17
4. "The Prayer" – 3:45
5. "Uniform" – 5:32
6. "On" – 4:46
7. "Where Is Home?" – 4:54
8. "Kreuzberg" – 5:27
9. "I Still Remember" – 4:23
10. "Sunday" – 4:59
11. "SRXT" – 4:51

[edit] DVD: Wichita / WEBB120CDL (UK)

CD as above plus the following on DVD:

1. "Studio Footage"
2. "Interviews"
3. "The Prayer [Video]"
4. "I Still Remember [Video]"

[edit] Bonus tracks

• "We Were Lovers" (Japanese edition) – 4:12
• "England" (Japanese edition) – 4:15
• "Cain Said to Abel" (iTunes US) – 3:24
• "Atonement" (iTunes US pre-order) – 3:46
• "Version 2.0" (Best Buy version) – 3:19
• "Emma Kate's Accident" (Best Buy version) – 5:38
• "Secrets" (Canadian version & Target version) – 4:06
• "The Once and Future King" (Canadian version & Target version) – 3:20
• "Rhododendron" (eMusic US) – 4:49
• "Selfish Son" (Napster and Rhapsody) – 4:59

[edit] Trivia

Liam Gallagher said in an interview for The Guardian, that he regretted his negative comments about the band when he heard this album. And that the final track, SRXT, made him "cry into a cushion for 15 minutes."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

Bloc Party  v • d • e
Russell Lissack | Gordon Moakes | Kele Okereke | Matt Tong
David Searston | Mat Coleman | James Chorley
Discography
Studio albums: Silent Alarm | A Weekend in the City
EPs: Bloc Party EP | Little Thoughts EP | Two More Years EP
Remix albums: Silent Alarm Remixed
Singles: "She's Hearing Voices" | "Little Thoughts" | "Helicopter" | "Tulips" | "So Here We Are" | "Banquet" | "The Pioneers" | "The Prayer" | "I Still Remember" | "Hunting for Witches"