Franz Ferdinand | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Named for the Austro-Hungarian Archduke whose murder sparked World War I, Glasgows Franz Ferdinand helped define the sound of the 2000s and 2010s with their mix of arty rock, dance music, dub, and more. In late 2001, singer/guitarist Alex Kapranos and bassist Bob Hardy began working on music together when they met Nick McCarthy, a classically trained pianist and double bass player who originally played drums for the group despite no prior experience as a drummer. The trio had rehearsed at McCarthys house for a while when they met and started playing with Paul Thomson, a former drummer for the Yummy Fur who felt like playing guitar instead. Eventually, McCarthy and Thomson switched to guitar and drums, and the band switched practice spaces, moving to an abandoned warehouse that they named the Chateau. The Chateau became Franz Ferdinands headquarters, where they rehearsed and held rave-like events incorporating music and art (Hardy graduated from the Glasgow School of Art, and Thomson also posed as a life model there). The bandmembers needed a new rehearsal space once their illicit art parties were discovered by the police, and they found one in a Victorian courthouse and jail. By summer 2002, theyd recorded an EPs worth of material that they intended to release themselves, but word of mouth about the band spread and Franz Ferdinand signed to Domino in the summer of 2003. The groups EP Darts of Pleasure was released that fall, and the band spent the rest of the year supporting groups such as Hot Hot Heat and Interpol. Franz Ferdinands second single, Take Me Out, arrived in early 2004. The single propelled them to greater popularity in the U.K. and laid the groundwork for the bands debut album. Franz Ferdinand was released in February 2004 in the U.K. and a month later stateside. That September, the album won the Mercury Prize over such artists as the Streets, Basement Jaxx, and Keane, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album in 2005 ("Take Me Out" received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal). The band spent much of that year working on their more eclectic second album, You Could Have It So Much Better, with producer Rich Costey. Following its October 2005 release, the album was also nominated for Best Alternative Album, while its lead single "Do You Want To" earned a Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal nomination. Franz Ferdinand began writing songs for their third album in 2005, but scrapped them for a fresh set that they planned to make into a "dirty pop" concept album. The band collaborated with a few producers to help them go in a more dance- and pop-influenced direction, including Erol Alkan and Xenomania, the production team behind many of Girls Alouds hits, before deciding on Dan Carey, who had worked with Kylie Minogue, CSS, Hot Chip, and Lily Allen. The song "Lucid Dreams" appeared on the soundtrack to Madden NFL 09 and was released in fall 2008; early in 2009, the single Ulysses arrived a week before the release of Franz Ferdinands third album, Tonight. That summer, the band released Blood, an album featuring dub-inspired remixes of Tonights songs. For 2011s Record Store Day, Franz Ferdinand issued the Covers EP, which featured versions of Tonight songs by artists including LCD Soundsystem, ESG, and Peaches. The bands fourth album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, featured collaborations with Hot Chips Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor, Peter Björn & Johns Björn Yttling, Veronica Falls Roxanne Clifford, and DJ Todd Terje. It arrived in August 2013 and delivered a bold, streamlined sound reminiscent of the bands earliest work. In 2015, Franz Ferdinand collaborated with Sparks as FFS and released their self-titled album that June. The following year, McCarthy left the band. Franz Ferdinand added guitarist Dino Bardot (formerly of the band 1990s) and Miaoux Miaoux keyboardist Julian Corrie to the fold and made their live debut as a quintet in 2017. Later that year, they debuted the title track from their fifth album Always Ascending. Recorded with producer Philippe Zdar, it arrived in February 2018 and combined the bands raw aesthetic with electronic experiments. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 17 Title: Darts of Pleasure Released: 2003-09-08 Tracks: 3 Duration: 10:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Darts of Pleasure (02:59) 2 Van Tango (03:25) 3 Shopping for Blood (03:35) |
 | Album: 2 of 17 Title: Live 2003 Released: 2003-12-22 Tracks: 10 Duration: 37:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Cheating on You (02:07) 2 Jacqueline (03:46) 3 Tell Her Tonight (02:45) 4 Shopping for Blood (04:09) 5 Take Me Out (04:45) 6 Love and Destroy (03:53) 7 Truck Stop (03:46) 8 This Fire (04:19) 9 Michael (03:25) 10 Darts of Pleasure (04:14) |
 | Album: 3 of 17 Title: Franz Ferdinand Released: 2004-02-09 Tracks: 11 Duration: 38:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Jacqueline (03:49) 2 Tell Her Tonight (02:17) 3 Take Me Out (03:58) 4 The Dark of the Matinée (04:03) 5 Auf Achse (04:19) 6 Cheating on You (02:36) 7 This Fire (04:14) 8 Darts of Pleasure (03:00) 9 Michael (03:21) 10 Come On Home (03:46) 11 40′ (03:23) |
| Franz Ferdinand : Allmusic album Review : While the Darts of Pleasure EP proved that Franz Ferdinand had a way with equally sharp lyrics and hooks, and the "Take Me Out" single took their sound to dramatic new heights, their self-titled debut album offers the most expansive version of their music yet. From the first track, "Jacqueline," which begins with a brooding acoustic prelude before jumping into a violently vibrant celebration of hedonism, Franz Ferdinand is darker and more diverse than the bands previous work suggested. "Auf Ausche" has an unsettling aggression underneath its romantic yearning, its cheap synth strings and pianos underscoring its low-rent moodiness and ruined glamour. And even in the albums context, "Take Me Out" remains unmatched for sheer drama; with its relentless stomp and lyrics like "Im just a cross hair/Im just a shot away from you," its deliciously unclear whether its about meeting a date or a firing squad. The wonderfully dry wit the band employed on Darts of Pleasures "Shopping for Blood" and "Van Tango" is used more subtly: the oddly radiant "Matinee" captures romantic escapism via dizzying wordplay. "Michael," meanwhile, is a post-post-punk "John, Im Only Dancing," by equal turns macho and fey; when Alex Kapranos proclaims "This is what I am/I am a man/So come and dance with me, Michael," its erotic as well as homoerotic. Love and lust make up a far greater portion of Franz Ferdinand than any of the bands other work; previously, Franz Ferdinands strong suit was witty aggressiveness, and the shift in focus has mixed results. Theres something a little too manic and unsettled about Franz Ferdinand to make them completely convincing romantics, but "Come On Home" has swooning, anthemic choruses guaranteed to melt even those who hate swooning, anthemic choruses. Fortunately, the album includes enough of their louder, crazier songs to please fans of their EPs. "Darts of Pleasure" remains one of the best expressions of Franz Ferdinands shabby glamour, campy humor, and sugar-buzz energy, and "Tell Her Tonight," which debuted on the Darts of Pleasure EP, returns in a full-fledged version thats even more slinky, menacing, and danceable than the demo hinted it might be. And if Franz Ferdinands aim has always been to get people dancing, then "Cheating on You"s churned-up art punk and close, Merseybeat-like harmonies suggest some combination of slam dancing and the twist that could sweep dancefloors. Despite its slight unevenness, Franz Ferdinand ends up being rewarding in different ways than the bands previous work was, and its apparent that theyre one of the more exciting groups to come out of the garage rock/post-punk revival. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 17 Title: You Could Have It So Much Better Released: 2005-09-28 Tracks: 15 Duration: 47:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Fallen (03:42) 2 Do You Want To (03:36) 3 This Boy (02:21) 4 Walk Away (03:36) 5 Evil and a Heathen (02:05) 6 You’re the Reason I’m Leaving (02:47) 7 Eleanor Put Your Boots On (02:49) 8 Well That Was Easy (03:02) 9 What You Meant (03:24) 10 I’m Your Villain (04:03) 11 You Could Have It So Much Better (02:41) 12 Fade Together (03:03) 13 Outsiders (04:02) 14 Your Diary (03:10) 15 Fabulously Lazy (02:57) |
| You Could Have It So Much Better : Allmusic album Review : Opting not to fix what broke them, You Could Have It So Much Better serves up more of the stylish, angular sound that worked so well on Franz Ferdinands debut. After years of rehearsing in abandoned Glasgow warehouses and playing in relatively obscure groups like the Yummy Fur, its perfectly understandable why the band chose not to mess with a good thing -- and why they chose to follow up the breakthrough success of Franz Ferdinand so quickly. But, after a year and a half of near-instant acclaim and constant touring, Franz Ferdinand return with songs that just arent as consistently good as the album that made them so successful in the first place. A lot of You Could Have It So Much Better feels like a super-stylized caricature of the bands sound, with exaggeratedly spiky guitars, brooding crooning, and punky-yet-danceable beats. This isnt an entirely bad thing: "The Fallen" begins the album with a wicked, gleeful welcome back that embraces the jaunty mischief running through most of Franz Ferdinands best moments, while "Im Your Villain" effortlessly nails the darkly sexy vibe they strived for on Franz Ferdinand. Meanwhile, the famous friends, arty parties, and "shocking" homoeroticism of "Do You Want To" -- which feels more like a victory lap than a comeback single -- play like knowing, tongue-in-cheek self-parody. However, too many tracks on You Could Have It So Much Better are witty and energetic in the moment but arent especially memorable. "Youre the Reason Im Leaving," "What You Meant," "This Boy," and the oddly anti-climactic finale, "Outsiders," are Franz-lite -- not at all bad, but not as good as even their early B-sides and certainly not up to the level of "Take Me Out." What helps save the album from being completely predictable are slower moments like the pretty, jangly "Walk Away" and atmospheric, piano-driven songs such as "Fade Together" (which really shouldve been the final track). Best of all is "Eleanor Put Your Boots On," a gorgeous, Beatlesque ballad that suggests that if Franz Ferdinand have songs this good in them, theyre selling themselves, and their fans, short with most of the songs here (you could have it so much better, indeed). Not so much a sophomore slump as a rushed follow-up, You Could Have It So Much Better probably wouldve been better if Franz Ferdinand had waited until they had a batch of songs as consistent as their first album, but as it stands, its still pretty good. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 17 Title: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand Released: 2009-01-21 Tracks: 12 Duration: 42:43 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Ulysses (03:11) 2 Turn It On (02:20) 3 No You Girls (03:41) 4 Send Him Away (02:59) 5 Twilight Omens (02:29) 6 Bite Hard (03:26) 7 What She Came For (03:52) 8 Live Alone (03:29) 9 Can’t Stop Feeling (03:02) 10 Lucid Dreams (07:56) 11 Dream Again (03:18) 12 Katherine Kiss Me (02:55) |
| Tonight: Franz Ferdinand : Allmusic album Review : "I found a new way, baby," Alex Kapranos snarls on "Ulysses," Tonights lead single and opening track, and hes almost right. Franz Ferdinand took awhile to record this album after releasing You Could Have It So Much Better as quickly as possible after their breakthrough debut, spending a couple of years coming up with the concept of a "dirty pop" album and trying out dance and pop producers like Erol Alkan and Girls Aloud sound-shapers Xenomania before settling on Dan Carey, who has worked with everyone from CSS to Kylie Minogue. The group tried hard to make these songs a deliberate break from their previous music, and the album is nothing if not deliberate: a concept album about a debauched night out and the morning after, Tonight is more focused than You Could Have It So Much Better, and on the surface, it sounds different than what came before. The bands normally de rigueur angular post-punk guitars are dialed down in favor of beats, bass, and lots of keyboards, all of which are on display on "Ulysses," which, like You Could Have It So Much Betters "Do You Want To?," initially sounds like an odd single choice, then makes perfect sense after a few listens. Kapranos whispers like a devil on your shoulder as the band takes its time building to disco-punk euphoria. Throughout the rest of album, however, Franz Ferdinand alternates between putting their rave-ups in slightly different skins and taking some real chances with their music. With the most familiar-sounding songs at the top, Tonights song sequencing might be the most pop thing about it: "Turn It On"s stop-start rhythms,"Send Him Away"s Afro-pop-tinged guitars, and "Cant Stop Feeling"s DFA-like percussion and fuzzy synths are minor refinements on the sound the band has used since Franz Ferdinand. A few songs transcend templates, like the unrepentantly rakish swagger of "No You Girls," which boasts saucy lyrics like "kiss me where your eye wont meet me" and a cleverly twisting chorus that expresses the albums theme of smart enough to know better hedonism perfectly. "Live Alone"s disco-fied push-pull between solitude and intimacy makes ambivalence exciting, and "Bite Hard"s punchy drums are the sound of dancing on your consciences grave. The band saves Tonights most interesting songs for last: "Lucid Dreams" is oddly dark and jubilant, setting its fantasies to one of the albums boldest arrangements -- whether or not the way it trails off on a four-minute jam is successful is a matter of taste, but its a welcome risk on an album that often feels safe despite its attempts to shake things up. Likewise, the way the acoustic closer "Katherine Kiss Me" transforms "No You Girls" raw nighttime demands into wry daytime flirtation is so clever that it makes the rest of Tonight all the more puzzling -- its often catchy and kinetic in the moment, yet it still feels like Franz Ferdinand has the potential to do more with their music than just slightly tweak and polish a sound they established several albums ago. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 17 Title: Blood Released: 2009-06-01 Tracks: 9 Duration: 38:18 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Feel the Pressure (03:27) 2 Die on the Floor (06:34) 3 The Vaguest of Feeling (03:49) 4 If I Cant Have You Then Nobody Can (03:53) 5 Katherine Hit Me (03:43) 6 Backwards on My Face (03:47) 7 Feeling Kind of Anxious (06:30) 8 Feel the Envy (03:32) 9 Be Afraid (03:03) |
 | Album: 7 of 17 Title: iTunes Festival: London 2009 Released: 2009-07-09 Tracks: 6 Duration: 28:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Michael (03:41) 2 No You Girls (03:40) 3 Cant Stop Feeling (02:56) 4 Lucid Dreams (09:43) 5 This Fire (05:08) 6 Ulysses (03:34) |
 | Album: 8 of 17 Title: Franz Ferdinand / You Could Have It So Much Better Released: 2010-12-03 Tracks: 24 Duration: 1:20:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Fallen (03:42) 2 Do You Want To (03:36) 3 This Boy (02:21) 4 Walk Away (03:36) 5 Evil and a Heathen (02:05) 6 You’re the Reason I’m Leaving (02:47) 7 Eleanor Put Your Boots On (02:49) 8 Well That Was Easy (03:02) 9 What You Meant (03:24) 10 I’m Your Villain (04:03) 11 You Could Have It So Much Better (02:41) 12 Fade Together (03:03) 13 Outsiders (04:02) 1 Jacqueline (03:49) 2 Tell Her Tonight (02:17) 3 Take Me Out (03:58) 4 The Dark of the Matinée (04:03) 5 Auf Achse (04:19) 6 Cheating on You (02:36) 7 This Fire (04:14) 8 Darts of Pleasure (02:59) 9 Michael (03:21) 10 Come On Home (03:46) 11 40′ (03:23) |
 | Album: 9 of 17 Title: Covers E.P. Released: 2011-04-16 Tracks: 5 Duration: 22:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Live Alone (03:27) 2 Dream Again (04:11) 3 Live Alone (07:24) 4 What She Came For (03:33) 5 Turn It On (03:33) |
 | Album: 10 of 17 Title: Covers E.P. Remixes, Volume 1 Released: 2012-03-19 Tracks: 3 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Live Alone (Toby Tobias Remix) (?) 2 What She Came For (Wild Geese Leyline Dub) (?) 3 Turn It On (Daniel Maloso Remix) (?) |
 | Album: 11 of 17 Title: Covers E.P. Remixes, Volume 2 Released: 2012-03-19 Tracks: 2 Duration: 15:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Live Alone (Brennan Green remix) (07:16) 2 Live Alone (dOP remix) (07:45) |
 | Album: 12 of 17 Title: The North Sea Released: 2013-07-29 Tracks: 2 Duration: 15:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Evil Eye (Todd Terje extended mix) (07:39) 2 Stand on the Horizon (Todd Terje extended mix) (08:10) |
 | Album: 13 of 17 Title: Live EP Released: 2013-08-12 Tracks: 3 Duration: 10:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Right Action (03:05) 2 Love Illumination (04:07) 3 Evil Eye (02:55) |
 | Album: 14 of 17 Title: Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action Released: 2013-08-21 Tracks: 10 Duration: 35:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Right Action (03:02) 2 Evil Eye (02:47) 3 Love Illumination (03:44) 4 Stand on the Horizon (04:23) 5 Fresh Strawberries (03:21) 6 Bullet (02:43) 7 Treason! Animals. (04:07) 8 The Universe Expanded (04:34) 9 Brief Encounters (03:09) 10 Goodbye Lovers & Friends (03:15) |
| Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action : Allmusic album Review : Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action is the album Franz Ferdinand should have made after their self-titled debut. Not that You Could Have It So Much Better and Tonight didnt have their charms; the former showed there was more breadth and depth to their music than might have been expected, while the latter delved into dub and disco with intriguing, if somewhat unfocused results. Still, neither album had Franz Ferdinands impact. On Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action, it often feels like the band channeled the energy they used to spend on expanding their sound into making this the most concentrated burst of what attracted fans to them in the first place. "Right Action" sets the tone, seemingly curbing the experimental tendencies of Franzs past two albums in favor of angular guitars and alternately snazzy and sleazy brass. Like most of the bands best songs, theres a slightly meta quality to its tale of getting back into a lovers -- or listeners -- good graces, but instead of offering apologies, Alex Kapranos and company launch a charm offensive (later, Kapranos beckons a lover to cross the North Sea with a gorgeous Owen Pallett-string arrangement on "Stand on the Horizon"). "Right Action" is undeniably catchy -- it might even be the bands most immediate single since the song that started it all, "Take Me Out" -- yet the sly sitars on its bridge show that Franz Ferdinand have learned to use their left-of-center ideas as embellishments rather than the focus. Honed to a ten-song-length tailor-made for repeat listening, Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action is even tighter and more toe-tapping than Franz Ferdinand. Some songs feel like direct descendants of the bands debut: "Evil Eye" gives the gut-punching beats of "Take Me Out" a campy twist with mischievous keyboards destined to make it the coolest song on the Halloween party playlist. "Bullet" is a kissing cousin to "Cheating on You"s breezily cruel pop, though its important to note that despite leaving, Kapranos just cant get his beloved out of his head. This kind of emotional complexity -- not to mention the fun the band sound like theyre having -- saves the album from being a too-calculated return to Franz glory days. Even the brashest moments, like "Treason! Animals." and "Love Illumination" are uneasy at the core, and theres a surprising amount of poetic beauty to the love-in-reverse song "The Universe Expanded" as well as "Fresh Strawberries" and "Brief Encounters," all of which explore how important it is to seize and enjoy the moment -- something the band does with style and heart throughout the album. Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action is a welcome return, fusing a crowd-pleasing sound with some of Franz Ferdinands most interesting songwriting. Track for track, it may very well be the groups most satisfying album yet. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 17 Title: Live 2014 Released: 2014-03-07 Tracks: 23 Duration: 1:40:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Bullet (02:40) 2 The Dark of the Matinée (04:08) 3 Tell Her Tonight (02:25) 4 Evil Eye (03:08) 5 No You Girls (03:24) 6 Do You Want To (05:58) 7 The Fallen (03:40) 8 Fresh Strawberries (03:48) 9 Walk Away (04:00) 10 Cant Stop Feeling (08:36) 11 Auf Achse (04:06) 12 Lucid Dreams (03:56) 1 Brief Encounters (03:08) 2 Michael (04:18) 3 Take Me Out (05:09) 4 Love Illumination (04:25) 5 This Fire (06:52) 6 Ulysses (03:45) 7 Right Action (03:47) 8 Evil and a Heathen (02:19) 9 Jacqueline (04:10) 10 Goodbye Lovers & Friends (04:17) 11 Outsiders (08:42) |
 | Album: 16 of 17 Title: LateNightTales: Franz Ferdinand Released: 2014-09-15 Tracks: 20 Duration: 1:07:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Leaving My Old Life Behind (03:35) 2 I’m Only Sleeping (03:00) 3 Eighteen Is Over the Hill (02:57) 4 Let There Be Drums (02:18) 5 New Town (03:54) 6 Connection (02:33) 7 The Darkside (01:49) 8 Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3 (03:48) 9 For the Love of Money (02:49) 10 More Bounce to the Ounce (03:52) 11 Requiem pour un con (01:54) 12 Disco Devil (03:28) 13 King Heroin (03:54) 14 Love Will Set You Free (03:25) 15 Nineteen Hundred & Eighty Five (02:56) 16 Reach for the Dead (03:06) 17 Zebra (01:48) 18 Old Man (03:22) 19 Sweet Mountain (04:52) 20 Defibrillator (07:52) |
 | Album: 17 of 17 Title: Always Ascending Released: 2018-02-09 Tracks: 11 Duration: 42:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Always Ascending (05:21) 2 Lazy Boy (02:59) 3 Paper Cages (03:40) 4 Finally (03:09) 5 The Academy Award (04:14) 6 Lois Lane (03:34) 7 Huck and Jim (03:35) 8 Glimpse of Love (03:12) 9 Feel the Love Go (04:46) 10 Slow Don’t Kill Me Slow (05:18) 11 Demagogue (02:38) |
| Always Ascending : Allmusic album Review : Since the release of their debut, Franz Ferdinand have teetered between the raw post-punk that won them acclaim and attempts to broaden that sound. Always Ascending arrives at a ripe time for them to experiment: after founding member Nick McCarthy left in 2016, keyboardist Julian Corrie joined the fold. With the help of Corrie and producer Philippe Zdar -- known for his dance and rock-melding work with Phoenix and Justice -- the band follows through on the dance music flirtations of Tonight. This is Franz Ferdinands most electronic-leaning album yet, and there are times when this new direction shines. The title track transforms the bands familiar dance-punk into gleaming space disco that feels like a leap into the unknown. Later, "Feel the Love Go" gives their skill at shifting from lusty to poignant a chrome-plated upgrade. Too often, though, the album is surprisingly uninspired. "Lazy Boy" might be a self-referential take on the style that made the band famous -- it even borrows the thudding hook from "Take Me Out" -- but its hard to appreciate this cleverness when the results feel so slight. Similarly, songs about finding freedom from self-imposed restrictions ("Paper Cages") and discovering your true friends ("Finally") arent as exciting as they should be. However, things get more interesting as the album progresses. "Huck and Jim," which ranges from slinky to jabbing to ironically triumphant, is jumbled, but not boring. The band fares better on "Lois Lane"s sweeping synth pop and "Slow Dont Kill Me Slow," a finale that sends the album off with a mystique lacking on too many of its other songs. With its mix of intriguing sounds and occasionally underwhelming songwriting, Always Ascending feels more like a first effort than the bands actual debut did. As it stands, its a somewhat shaky but promising start for the revamped Franz Ferdinand. | ||