Franz Ferdinand, a band that I have a great respect for. They burst onto the music scene with their eclectic mix of indie and pop and their all out energy with their self titled release. That was 2004, in 2005 the quartet returned with new album “You Could Have Had It So Much Better.” (will be referred to as YCHHISMB for the remainder of the review.) So, to our burning question, how does this compare to their self titled? Has that “second album syndrome” kicked in here? Does their drummer acting as a 3rd guitarist work well? Why am I asking so many damn questions? All will be revealed in this review.
The album was always going to struggle to reach the lofty heights that the self titled did and, not surprisingly, it isn’t a patch on the self titled. While the s/t had beautiful tracks like
auf achse, a storming first single in
Take me Out and an altogether amazing opening track in
Jaqueline. YCHHISMB struggles on the first two of these elements, with the only track that could be considered beautiful being the awful
Fade Together which has clichéd lyrics and Alex Kapranos’ vocals having a tendency to get lost behind the music. The albums first single was the over-poppy
Do you Want to which, I find, shows Franz Ferdinand at their worst, with a childishly simple guitar riff which doesn’t do anything to help the song and an amazingly irritating chorus of “well do ya, do ya, do ya wanna” which could quite possibly win most annoying lyrics in the world.
Where this album destroys the self titled is in it heavier tracks. Songs like opening track
The Fallen show the energy that Franz Ferdinand put into their songs, illustrated through it’s simple yet catchy guitar riffs from McCarthy and Kapranos, Bob Hardy’s catchy bass riffs which accentuate the main melody perfectly or on some occasions, carry it, Paul Thomson’s drumming, which works well behind the guitar and bass, and the lyrics, another overall strong point for this album. Before the album was released, Alex Kapranos declared that there would be three guitars, with Paul Thomson (drummer) playing the third guitar. I personally cannot hear this “third guitar” which is supposed to be in the mix but instead, can hear Paul’s usual drumming, so I don’t think there IS a 3rd guitar, but I’ll stand corrected. However Kapranos and McCarthy still come up with catchy riffs which keep you listening, along with Kapranos’ lyrics, which again, have a saucy element, The song that serves up these rather saucy lyrics is leading single,
Do you Want to, which contains some of the chat-up lines used on Alex when Franz Ferdinand were beginning to make it big, including “ you’re famous friend, well I blew him before ya.” However, the album fails to meet the standard that the self titled did, but instead, weakly emulates some of the s/t’s strong points. Producing an album to better the s/t was always going to be a near impossible task by any means, but the album isn’t necessarily “bad”, but it fails to even touch upon Franz Ferdinand’s true talent, which is why it gets 3/5
*Star Track*
While the rest of the album is relatively average, opening track
The Fallen illustrates everything that makes Franz Ferdinand the band that they are, with Alex’s Lyrics. “Some say you’re troubled boy, just because you like to destroy. What’s wrong with a little destruction?” along side this you have Nick McCarthy’s catchy guitar riffs, Paul Thomson’s nice drum beat, Bob Hardy’s perfect and simple bass riff with everything slipping into place and you have a catchy Indie-pop song which, instead of concentrating upon the pop element, turns into a song everyone should hear
Recommended tracks:
The fallen
Evil and a heathen
You could have had it so much better
