I remember when Franz Ferdinand's second album dropped through the mailbox - I put it straight on and was happily run through by the dashing, rapier sharp opener 'The Fallen'. The opening gambit is a rakish lead section that charges into a duelling twin guitar line, the two melodies jousting and intertwining insouciantly. It only gets better from there - rat-a-tat vocal delivery in the verses and powerful choruses, leading up to a bold singalong section then a delightfully knackered solo tied into the outro. This song oozes confidence, barging its way into your memory. And now, 'The Fallen' is set to barge into the charts as the third single to be taken from the number one album You Could Have it So Much Better.
But after the great expectation and furious billboard hype has calmed down, there seems to have been a general consensus that Y.C.H.I.S.M.B. is nowhere near as complete as their iconic self-titled debut. There's too much fumbling, and some clearly inferior filler. The first few tracks are actually its saving graces, a trilogy of highly polished gemstone songs that, not unreasonably, worked the critics into a fevered hyperbole frenzy at the time of their release. They're breathtaking - the unadulterated crack-addictive hit of guitar pop in its very purest form. And that's exactly what Franz Ferdinand have always been aiming for. On Newsnight Review, Alex Kapranos surprised me by renouncing the term art rock, instead saying that he wanted Franz to be a pop band (albeit one so good as to tap into the transcendental, universal power of truly great pop music). Franz are aiming to enter the canon inhabited by songs like 'Brown Sugar', 'Leader of The Gang' and 'Prince Charming'... glamorous, memorable hits that'll be filling dancefloors at student union indie nights, hipster house parties and even wedding receptions twenty years from now. Listening to both 'The Fallen' and the relentless catchy and glitzy 'Do You Want To' again a few months after their initial release, I have to say they might just have done it.
third single ;)
third single.
Do You Want To and Walk Away being the first two.
hey
how is the B-side? i hear good things
one of their weakest song for me
much too formulaic !
b-sides are ok but nothing special...
yawn
dull dull dull
Oh well now that you've constructed such an eloquent counter-argument
I'll go back and revise my opinion shall I?
No mention of
L.Wells? It's the lovliest song I've heard all year. The video is equally lovely too. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
The b-side wasn't on the promo.
Domino only ever do 1-track single promos for some reason.
.
You can hear and watch the b-side here:
http://www.hmgovernment.net/media.htm
</plug>
well actually....
I've got a 2 trk clearlake promo single by Domino
How fascinating.
yes.
Not meant as criticism fo your article, just an expression of the general apathy Franz Ferdinand bring forth in me.
Search your feeling, Luke.
Franz Ferdinand and their part in the death of british culture - a satire
"I was talking about this the other day with a friend.
We both reckon they're a bunch of pointless fakers. My friend had seen their previous ska band, and hated them then - and watched them blatantly switch lane to try something more mainstream. A bunch of fucking lame musical whores. And they're so big, and so pointless, that they are just taking up all this space and muscling out other more worthwhile bands. They are hogging the indie limelight, and they deserve precisely none of it (creatively, at least - I'm sure they are nice guys or whatever, but that doesn't mean much because I don't know them and only have to deal with them on a musical level, like most people on here).
And what personality does "charismatic frontman" Alex Huntly have that marks him out? He seems like a totally normal fellow in almost every way. Not too political, nothing too clever... not that funny, not that angry, not that good looking. He's mister bloody average. Maybe that's why people relate to him, I don't know. He's like some photocopied 10th generation indie everyman. It's like the opposite of a revolution. Nothing changes, everything stays the same - forever. How fucking interesting. I predict that there will never be a riot. NEVER. It's enough to make your head explode...
But luckily the cool tide of sense and creativity and beauty more often than not cools my temples before my cranium blasts apart in any lastingly damaging way. Feeling such venom towards the shitty water-treading chaff and dross that the music industry expels makes the special stuff seem even more precious when you find it.
I'm firmly of the opinion that just because a certain force is prevalent in the cultural mainstream, there is absolutely no use in allowing that to colour an aesthetic (or other type of) reaction to it. I will never, ever be able to limply accept that something must be good just because it's on T4 and people seem to like it. If it's shit, it's shit, and no amount of exposure or shoulder-shrugging is gonna change that [I removed the rather ill thought-out comparison to politics].
Can't believe you went to the trouble...
Alex is clever AND good looking, unlike pieface.
It wasnt much effort ...
...I only had to change 3 words, Mr Huntly isn't really my type truth be told, and despite your rather desperate assertion, personal experience assures me he's not especially bright, certainly no more so than "Pieface". Then again, a pseudo-intellectual choice of band name and being well-spoken dont really equate to "cleverness", in my humble opinion. Now, if youre basing your assesment of cleverness on ability to manipulate popular culture to one's own ends, you can't really fault young Wilson on that score either, perhaps youre referring to something else though? Also, nice use of "insouciantly" in the review.
I'm such a snob
I don't think the use of a name like FF is "intellectual". Actually, it’s a pretty dumb name for a band. But I think Alex HUNTLEY is a very cultured man (if you don’t want to use the word clever is alright for me) and that is obvious in the lyrics, videos and other FF stuff. Every high school kid knows who Franz Ferdinand was. But a lot of “pseudo intellectual� indie guys seem to unknown Alexander Rodchenko’s references, jokes about Marcel Duchamp, biblical cites, reinterpretation of Free Cinema films and some B-movies, too. And, of course, there is that song about the Mikhail Bulgakov book.
Maybe Alex Kapranos is a normal guy. Hey there is nothing bad with being an ordinary person. You don’t have to be handsome for being a good musician and I am sick of “political� or “angry� frontmans. These kinds of “rock stars� are the real poseurs. If you really care for the music you should know than moral messages of any kind is just a publicity stunt. This is more obvious when you’re really informed about things. Why the hell want to know about some political situation in a bad song by a dumb band.
I have heard his (his not their) Ska band, The Amphetamines, too. It’s not a great band but is unjust to say they “switch lane to try something mainstream�. FF music sounds sometimes “a little too much� like a ska band (This Fire, This Boy). Even the music from his other former band The Karelia was so much different (and so much better than) The Amphetamines.
The contrary of the revolution is the counterrevolution. And it’s a movement who opposed to the developments of a revolution. Frequently it’s related with right wing values. An example of a right wing phrase: “X and their part of the death of British culture�. That’s what I call satire.
A good review.
I find myself nodding in agreement as I read it.
Good on Alex....
....I couldn't agree more with this review and/or Mr Kapranos' views on his place in the world of music. Bless.
Nice review
I like Walk Away too.
Errrrrrrrrrrrrrr
wtf?
Maybe that was SCL signed in as me.
Nice review John.
I love Franz Ferdinand, and I hope they get asked to do the theme for a Bond film at some point in their future.
I wish they'd release I'm Your Villain though, I love that song.
I absolutely love this band
...especially in interviews. As James Dean Bradfield once said (of another band), "they know when to open their mouths and when to keep them shut".
L Wells rocks too.
Franz Ferdinand
Are over-rated. Fact! The last two singles have been crap, fact.
You are wrong.
Fact.
I'm not so sure
I liked the first album, but didn't buy it. Listened to the second one in HMV and bought it. It's alright, but labours on a bit at times. The ballads don't really work in my opinion.
What aren't you sure about?
I dissed the album in the review, foo'!
what i ain't sure about
it was meant as a overall comment about franz ferdinand, not specifically about your review. Riveting, though it was
so much better
I actually think the second album is better than the first one. In my opinion, it's more varied and mature. Lovely review, anyway.