Franz Ferdinand (album)

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Franz Ferdinand
Franz-Ferdinand.PNG
Studio album by Franz Ferdinand
Released 9 February 2004
Recorded 2003
Studio Gula Studios
(Malmö, Sweden)
Genre
Length 38:49
Label Domino
Producer
Franz Ferdinand chronology
Franz Ferdinand
(2004)		 You Could Have It So Much Better
(2005)You Could Have It So Much Better2005
Singles from Franz Ferdinand
  1. "Darts of Pleasure"
    Released: 8 September 2003
  2. "Take Me Out"
    Released: 12 January 2004
  3. "The Dark of the Matinée"
    Released: 19 April 2004
  4. "Michael"
    Released: 16 August 2004
  5. "This Fire"
    Released: 12 November 2004

Franz Ferdinand is the debut studio album by Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand, released in early 2004 through Domino Records. It was recorded during 2003 at Gula Studios in Malmö, Sweden and was co-produced by the band and Tore Johansson. It entered the United Kingdom album charts at number three in February 2004 and contains the UK top ten singles "Take Me Out" and "The Dark of the Matinée" (often referred to simply as "Matinée"), as well as UK top 20 hit "Michael". Franz Ferdinand won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize and was nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. The album has since sold over 3.6 million copies worldwide,[1] with over 1.27 million copies in the United Kingdom[2] and at least 1 million copies in the US (corresponding to 1x Platinum).[3]

Chart performance

The album entered the UK album charts at #3 in February 2004 and at #12 on the Australian ARIA album charts in April 2004. The album entered the Billboard 200 album charts on 26 April 2004, and climbed slowly, peaking at #32 in December 2004. It reached #1 on the Heatseeker chart for new acts. As of September 2004, there have been five different singles released from the album:

  • The "Darts of Pleasure" EP reached the top 50 of the UK singles charts in September 2003.
  • "Take Me Out" reached #3 on the UK charts and #8 on the Irish charts.
  • "The Dark of the Matinée" or "Matinée" reached #8 of the UK singles charts and top 30 of the World Modern Rock Charts (a composite chart of United States, German, UK, Swedish, Finnish, Canadian and Australian modern rock charts).
  • "Michael" reached #17 on the UK singles charts in August 2004.
  • "This Fire" only first played by KROQ-FM in September 2004.
  • "Take Me Out" was voted #1 in the national Australian music poll, the Triple J Hottest 100 (2004) and "This Fire" and "The Dark of the Matinée" were placed at #29 and #50, respectively.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 87/100[4]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4/5 stars[5]
Blender 4/5 stars[6]
Christgau's Consumer Guide (3-star Honorable Mention)[7]
The Guardian 5/5 stars[8]
Los Angeles Times 3.5/4 stars[9]
NME 9/10[10]
Pitchfork Media 9.1/10[11]
Q 4/5 stars[12]
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars[13]
Uncut 5/5 stars[14]

Franz Ferdinand received universal critical acclaim. It holds a score of 87 out of 100 on review aggregator site Metacritic, based on 31 reviews. It has been hailed as a modern classic by critics. The NME said that the band was the latest in the line of art school rock bands featuring The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Duran Duran, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wire and Blur. It rated the album as 9 out of 10 and said: "This album is the latest and most intoxicating example of the wonderful pushing its way up between the ugly slabs of Pop Idol, nu metal and Britons aping American bands. What these blossoming bands have in common is the absolute conviction that rock 'n' roll is more than a career option."

The BBC's review of the album said: "At only 38 minutes long Franz Ferdinand may not be a particularly long album, but it is a masterpiece of funky, punky, suave cool from the first track to the last." Allmusic rated the album as four out of five stars and said: "Franz Ferdinand ends up being rewarding in different ways than the band's previous work was, and it's apparent that they're one of the more exciting groups to come out of the garage rock/post-punk revival." The album received an extremely positive 87 rating on Metacritic[15] putting it among the top 100 albums rated by the site.

Franz Ferdinand is noted in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and was placed at number two on Planet Sound's Best Albums of 2004 list. Clash[16] placed "Franz Ferdinand" at No.14 in its list of the top albums from 2004-9. Online music magazine Pitchfork placed Franz Ferdinand at number 101 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.[17]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Jacqueline"   Robert Hardy, Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy 3:49
2. "Tell Her Tonight"   Kapranos, McCarthy 2:17
3. "Take Me Out"   Kapranos, McCarthy 3:57
4. "The Dark of the Matinée"   Hardy, Kapranos, McCarthy 4:03
5. "Auf Achse"   Kapranos, McCarthy 4:19
6. "Cheating on You"   Kapranos, McCarthy 2:36
7. "This Fire"   Kapranos, McCarthy 4:14
8. "Darts of Pleasure"   Kapranos, McCarthy 2:59
9. "Michael"   Kapranos, McCarthy 3:21
10. "Come on Home"   Kapranos, McCarthy 3:46
11. "40'"   Kapranos, McCarthy 3:24
Total length:
 38:49

Limited edition digipak with live bonus disc

The limited edition first release in the UK came in gatefold digipak with a bonus disc containing all tracks recorded live at The Paradiso in Amsterdam:

No. Title Length
1. "Cheating on You"    
2. "Jacqueline"    
3. "Tell Her Tonight"    
4. "Shopping for Blood"    
5. "Take Me Out"    
6. "Love and Destroy"    
7. "Truck Stop"    
8. "This Fire"    
9. "Michael"    
10. "Darts of Pleasure"    

Limited edition bonus disc

In the European continent and the United States, a limited edition album was released later in 2004, containing the normal album disc (coloured white), with the tracks listed above, but also came with an extra disc (coloured black), containing the re-recorded version of "This Fire" titled "This Fffire" and four B-sides. The tracks "Van Tango" and "Shopping for Blood" were B-sides to "Darts of Pleasure", while "All for You, Sophia" and "Words So Leisured" were B-sides to "Take Me Out".

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "This Fffire"   Kapranos, McCarthy 3:32
2. "Van Tango"   Kapranos, McCarthy 3:26
3. "Shopping for Blood"   Kapranos, McCarthy, Paul Thomson 3:34
4. "All for You, Sophia"   Kapranos, McCarthy, Hardy 3:00
5. "Words So Leisured"   Kapranos, McCarthy 2:18

The Australian version of this bonus disc contains only three of the tracks above.

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "All for You, Sophia"   Kapranos, McCarthy, Hardy 3:00
2. "Words So Leisured"   Kapranos, McCarthy 2:18
3. "Van Tango"   Kapranos, McCarthy 3:26

The Japanese edition of the album included four tracks from the bonus disc (with the exclusion of "This Fffire") on the album disc itself.

Personnel

Release history

Country Date Label Format Catalog
United Kingdom 9 February 2004 Domino Records 12" WIGLP136
CD WIGCD136
CD 2 WIGCD136X
United States 9 March 2004 Domino Records 12" DN027
CD E92441
CD 2 EK93630
Japan 2 June 2004 Sony Japan CD EICP 370

Album singles

References

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