« Home | Title: The Transporter 2 2005Starring: Jaso... » | It's all gone pete tong review » 

Sunday, April 09, 2006 

Franz Ferdinand - You could have it so much better

Title: You could have it so much better
Artist: Franz Ferdinand
Record Label: Sony - BMG
Tracklist:
1. Fallen, The
2. Do You Want To
3. This Boy
4. Walk Away
5. Evil And A Heathen
6. You're The Reason I'm Leaving
7. Eleanor Put Your Boots On
8. Well That Was Easy
9. What You Meant
10. I'm Your Villian
11. You Could Have It So Much Better
12. Fade Together
13. Outsiders



The highly anticipated followup to their 2004 debut, the new Franz Ferdinand disc delivers. The opening track sets a tone followed through most of the album, an easily hummable, very catchy, and engaging sound. The lyrics, while none too serious, seem to be well thought out, and manage to avoid being offensive, while seeming slightly biting. The lyricism hits it's high point in 'Walk away,' With it's beautiful and seemingly narrative vibe. Showing some lyrical panache, Kapranos croons in the intro; "I swapped my innocence for pride
Crushed the end within my stride
Said 'I'm strong now I know that I'm a leaver"
I love the sound of you walking away
Mascara bleeds a blackened tear
And I am cold
Yes I'm cold
But not as cold as you are
I love the sound of you walking away"

The low point of the album may be seen as 'This boy,' which, despite it's excellent intro, slides into a highly irritable chorus of "I want a car!" Though bad, this is easily forgiven, as it is mercifully short.

Conversly, the best song on here, is, in my (highly worthwhile) opinion, 'Evil and a Heathen.' Easily the heaviest track in terms of pure rock, this is a louder, faster song than most of the rest. While it is good, it is easy to see why this was not the track selected as the single to promote the album, it is not representative of the album as a whole.

Unfortunately, the band seems to have succumbed to one of the common mistakes that seem to plague sophomore albums. They have identified the componont of their debut albums success, and seem to have mistaken the song structure for a unique sound. this translates to a large number of the songs containing a very similar 'lead up, drop and go' feel. Luckily, this is still a good thing, though I may reccomend after digesting the album several times all the way through, it works better as seperate parts than as a whole, and is composed of singles, rather than a sort of musical journey. Perfect ingredients for playlists.

The genius of Franz Ferdinand, and I believe on of the reasons that they stand so far above the rest of the 'New-new wave' phenom, is that they allow even the most pedestrian of listeners to feel as though they are listening to something arty, whilst still getting good music. Their competitors (IE; Bloc party, the killers, et al) all seem to be more concerned with their makeup than their songwriting. The "music for girls to dance to" kids seem to be doing all-right.

Score: 8/10