Franz Ferdinand appear to be a band who divide opinions round these parts.
Some find them a bit too full of themselves and were wary of the hype surrounding them and their quick rise to fame.
Others enjoyed their arty style , jingly jangly guitars, literate pop tunes and their stated mission of making music for girls to dance to.
I for one liked their first two albums a lot.
Excellent disposable bouncy pop music which was sort of retro yet of its time.
Franz Ferdinand - The Dark of the Matinee
Franz Ferdinand - Michael
I don't own anything by them, but enjoy hearing one of their tunes if it happens to crop up on the radio. I liked the FFS thing a lot more, but then I love Sparks.
ReplyDeleteI don't get really excited about FF, but do enjoy them when I hear them. MrsRobster was a particular fan of their collab with Sparks a couple years back.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I liked the first two albums a lot, particularly Matinee where its lyrics go off on a mad dream sequence tangent about being interviewed by Terry Wogan. If they'd written more songs like that, I'd have been a bigger fan.
ReplyDeleteI quite liked the first album. Kapranos must have a good tate in music because I used to see him at gigs in Glasgow quite frequently.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this era FF too and these two tunes in particular; I think your description is absolutely spot on, CC.
ReplyDeleteHave to admit I fell for the first album but never bought anything else until FFS. As Drew intimated, those lads probably have awesome record collections.
ReplyDeleteSam as Brian. Bought the first, played it a lot. Never went any further.
ReplyDeleteI think we're all agreed: first album is great, second album is okay/has it's moments, after that...meh. Until the oft-mentioned FFS collaboration with Sparks which is just ace.
ReplyDelete"Michael" is often forgotten from this album, so props for posting it. I once played it when DJ'ing, mixed it into Jacko's "Wanna Be Starting Something". Modesty prevents me from telling you that too was ace. Jez.
I've stuck with them somewhat. There's no doubt that the debut album has all the best tunes but there's some decent stuff on all their releases and the FFS collaboration was great to listen to and even better to catch live.
ReplyDeleteThat's one thing often overlooked when it comes to Franz Ferdinand - they are a top notch live act and have been since the off. Was lucky enough a few years ago to catch a 'secret' gig at the very small Nice n Sleazy's in Glasgow and they played as if it was the stage of the biggest and most prestigious venue going.
Worth noting that five albums in they have undergone a major change in personnel with Nick McCarthy (who after Alex Kopranos was probably the most responsible for music and lyrics) taking an extended break. The touting band now also includes Julian Corrie on keyboards....he's been making great music under the name of Miaoux Miaoux for a number of years, most recently on Chemikal Underground.