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| Intimacy | 
| List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $7.25
You Save: $11.73 (62%)
Buy New/Used from $6.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 24 reviews)
Sales Rank: 879
Category: Music
Artist: Bloc Party
Publisher: Atlantic
Studio: Atlantic
Manufacturer: Atlantic
Label: Atlantic
Format: Enhanced
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 512336
UPC: 075678989520
EAN: 0075678989520
ASIN: B001G0LBY2
Release Date: October 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Ares | | • | Mercury | | • | Halo | | • | Biko | | • | Trojan Horse | | • | Signs | | • | One Month Off | | • | Zephyrus | | • | Talons | | • | Better Than Heaven | | • | Ion Square | | • | Letter To My Son | | • | Your Visits Are Getting Shorter | | • | Flux |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Following a long run of summer festivals and sold out tour dates,
Bloc Party brings us their newest studio effort. Intimacy is a fittingly
up-close title for an album that is, immediately, in-your-face and
in-your-ear. Bloc Party's third album is a thrillingly radical record,
bristling with percussive innovation, scorching riffs, orchestral
sampledelia, and biting emotional candor.
Amazon.com
Bloc Party fans have awaited the arrival of Intimacy, the band's third studio LP, with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Where their debut Silent Alarm (produced by Paul Epworth) was universally touted as a modern classic, 2007's follow up, A Weekend in the City, was patchier. Intimacy is helmed by both Lee and Epworth. Its brittle contours, mish-mash of influences, and semi-awkward lyrics are quintessential Bloc Party. Mixing up everything from micro-house and dub-step, to indie rock and electro pop, there's a willful energy here reminiscent of the band's debut (though the spikier elements are more reminiscent of of AWITC. Opening cut "Ares" sets out the band's stall with a bombastic brew of high-energy drums, preening guitars, and urgent sirens, while upbeat lead single "Mercury," employs a quirky astrological motif. These prove to be the most charged tracks on the record as elsewhere the band indulges in choral-chanting and strings ("Zephyrus"), angsty art-rock ("Halo") and a surprisingly uplifting finale in the shape of "Ion Square." Intimacy is predictably unpredictable: knowingly difficult, defiantly angular, yet eminently likeable.--Danny McKenna
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
Bloc Party keeps evolving, and for the better January 2, 2009
Bloc Party's 2005 debut album "Silent Alarm" was almost universally hailed as an 'instant classic', which may or may not have been a good thing for the band. It certainly created huge expectations for the band's subsequent releases. 2007's "A Weekend in the City" was, not surprisingly, received skeptically as it wasn't "Silent Alarm 2". Only 18 months later comes the next album from "Bloc Party".
"Intimacy" (14 tracks, including 3 bonus tracks; 61 min.) opens with an earth-shattering "Ares", louder and harder than anything the band has ever done. "Mercury" is in the same vein, and just to make the point, "Halo" follows and rocks even faster than the previous tracks. Wow, talk about a blazing start to an album. "Biko" (not to be confused with the Peter Gabriel song) brings the first intimacy of the album, a beautiful pensive track, as is "Signs", featuring glockenspiel and mellotron, no less. That said, the hard, almost harsh undertones, of the album continue on most of the second half of the album, to finally give way to the album's closer, "Ion Square", which sounds the most "Silent Alarm"-like from any track on here.
The US edition of "Intimacy" comes with 3 bonus tracks, not found on the European edition: "Letter to My Son", "Your Visits Are Getting Shorter" and "Flux". They are not bad (except for "Flux", euro-trance gone wrong), not neither are they essential, and I tend to skip them most of the time, as they simply extend the running time of the album too long. That said, "Intimacy" is certainly no "Silent Alarm 2" if that is what you are looking for. But it is a much stronger album that last year's "A Weekend in the City". I've seen Bloc Party in concert a number of times, and they are an outstanding live act. Can't wait to see how they'll bring songs from "Intimacy" live.
 Change for the better December 26, 2008
I was fondly hoping that this album make up for the previous, A Weekend In The City, which was somewhat a letdown in my opinion. After having listened to Intimacy the first couple of times I wasn't that convinced of the album. Nevertheless, a couple of listens later, I felt that the album grew on me, rendering me now obliged to say that, in my opinion, this is their best album yet and possibly one of the best albums in general.
About the album itself can be said a few things. It seems as the band has combined their previous two albums. Namely the rockaspect of Silent Alarm and the experimental aspect of AWITC. In my opinion a very succesful combination. The album comprises of some solid rock songs and some ballads, sometimes with no guitar at all. The lyrics, especially on the ballads, are mostly brilliant and touching, knowing that Kele wrote most of them after a breakup. Due to the vocal effects, especially on Zephyrus, it feels that Kele really is in pain when singing the song.
I have two favourite tracks, one rock and one ballad: Talons and Zephyrus.
Good, not great December 18, 2008
I do enjoy the fact that Bloc Party has changed their style from album to album. Weekend in the City took me a quite a long time to really enjoy, so I have been working hard to see if this album is any good. I have had Intimacy for about a week and half now, and have about 15 or so listens on it. It is good, kind of melancholy but I don't think it is ever going blow me away like their previous albums have. If you want some solid good music, then you should get this and listen too it for a while. If music has to grab you right away for you to enjoy it, then you probably shouldn't get this album. Don't judge this album based on the single that I have been hearing on the Bay Area radios (One Month Off). That song is too repetitious to be indicative of the album. If you really like that song, then I believe there is a good chance you will not like the album. One the other hand if you are not to impressed with that song, you might like the album.
Top 5 Album for 2008 December 13, 2008
I always liked Bloc Party but I LOVE this release. "Intimacy" is the perfect mix of rock and electronics. The sound is very sophisticated without sounding stuffy. There is definately a cold feeling to this CD which seems to be a theme that permeates popular music right now (see Kanye's 808's). The production is very crisp and there are so many layers to the music that on repeated listens you will unearth sounds that you might have overlooked before. Definately in my top 5 albums of 2008.
beautiful December 12, 2008
I had read some not so great reviews of this album on Pitchfork and the like. Really glad that they were listening to a different album because what I hear is a perfect balance between the first two Bloc Party releases. It's worth it for the song "Signs" alone. Beautiful.
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