| Product: |
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand |
| Date: |
01/08/06 (203 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Enjoyably listenable without descending into ear shattering noise
Disadvantages: Final half of the album starts to tire
Well, wonders never cease. Me doing a proper mainstream music review! I have thus far written roughly 70 reviews on classical and film music of varying popularity during my time on the review sites, but never have I ventured into the realms of what more normal young people should be into. That is until I was challenged to do so by the eminent musicologist Monsieur Steerpyke of Wessex on the grounds that he would try to do a classical review himself. Well, after some consultation with my sister, here is my answer to the challenge – for better or for worse – about the debut album of the Glasgow-based band Franz Ferdinand, ingeniously titled ”Franz Ferdinand”. Now before I really get into the meat of it I think it will be good of people to note that I don’t usually listen to music of this kind, so my approach will probably differ somewhat from the established norm of fanboyish glowing and centre more on the actual musical merits and enjoyability from my point of view (which my complete inability to actually listen to lyrics may also be partly accounted for). So without more ado, may the dissecting begin.
Franz Ferdinand’s roots lay with the impromptu idea of two Scots, Bob Hardy and Alex Kapranos, to set up a band after acquiring a bass that Bob learned to play and write music that would be something ”girls could dance to.” Shortly afterwards they met Nick McCarthy in the kitchen of two chick friends or alternatively some restaurant type place (the bio on their website was a little vague, probably assuming that I know who the heck Jo and Celia are) who said he could play drums, though in reality he sucked big time. So in comes ”the best drummer in Glasgow” Paul Thomson, who also played the guitar, and swapped instruments with Nick on the condition he could still sing along. From there on the foursome played where ever they could until acquiring an old Glasgowian courtroom and gaol, which they made their home and place to jam around… and it was here they met producer Laurence Bell, the head of the Domino Record Company. Their first album, appearing in 2004, proved to be a smash hit and the band has in a short time gathered a loyal following… Okay, enough of the history lesson and on with the music.
As a whole the album can be described as being melodically softish rock that generally avoids needless bombast and simple noise to present easily enjoyable and memorable tunes, while not presenting anything really in the way of innovative. For all its worth this approach works like a charm in not pushing things too way over the top and working all the traditional components into a functioning, nicely flowing whole without really sounding generic at all. And while there are moments when the music just becomes an almost ceaseless wall of sound with little textures, it is not a major detriment. Beginning with the song ”Jacqueline”, this opening number begins almost like a ballad à la an old folk song before the guitars really kick in and let the rockier elements free reign, effectively setting the overall sound of what is to follow, though the ending is a little too abrupt. ”Tell Her Tonight” on the other hand moves forward mostly by its very mobilemente style of forward pushing momentum and while the actual vocal usage is somewhat irritating, it is not a bad song per se.
The highlight of the album and the song that launched Franz Ferdinand into the big time was the following song ”Take Me Out,” that features a catchy and extremely good main melody that leaves you tapping and remembering it long after hearing it. What is best is that the song has a great sense of optimism and rhythmic approachableness which is only enhanced by the catchy chorus of sorts (that is not that I really find a proper recurring ”chorus” here). It is by far one of the the best songs on the album and has rightfully deserved the kind of acclaim and popularity as it has. The following song, ”The Dark of the Matinee,” evolves from very much the same fabric in again presenting a catchy recurring motif, and while it doesn’t have the same kind of irresistable quality as ”Take Me Out”, it most certainly is a very enjoyable continuation of the harmonic movement of the previous song. However, apart from that, I personally do think it actually is even better than ”Take Me Out” for its more dark soundworld and seeming quality that makes more efforts to be more serious in tone due to its less skippy attitude.
”Auf Achse” begins rather strangely with an electronic ”theremin” sound of sci-fi coupled with electronic keyboard that gives a funnily fluffy comedy-sci fi sound to it. It’s most certainly a lot less serious than either of the two previous songs, but makes for quite a fun listen as a whole. Now the downturn of the album takes place at track 6, ”Cheating on You,” where the preceding variation between songs starts to wear off and the final half of the album sounds more and more similar. Particularly ”Cheating on You” and ”Michael” tend to present an almost cacophonous wall of sound that makes my ears ring upon longer exposion. And while the openings of most of the songs start promisingly enough, they often descend into more anonymous noise, that makes these songs sound more filler than the beginning of the album (albeit the organ sounds of ”Come on Home” are quite interesting). The final song, ”40 ft,” somewhat amusingly reminds me of some old Nintendo game soundtrack, which doesn’t mean it is bad, just a bit amusing and at least offers a nice conclusion to the album in being less in your face. But the lack of a properly catchy melody makes the final part of the album unfortunately less interesting and disconnected from the first part.
Now as a complete listen Franz Ferdinand’s debut album is an immensely enjoyable experience, though the same problems that often tend to marr bands of this kind are also apparent here, namely that there is just so much variation you can create with two guitars, a drum set and a bass, which makes an entire album full of this kind of music lose its appeal somewhat near the end. The tracks from 6 to 10 are basically so much alike that I found my attention wavering into doing other things, and despite there being only 40 minutes of music here, it doesn’t actually sound too little (in fact it is almost too much). Also there is the curious aspect of sound quality that sounds strangely muffled when coming out of my stereo (and I have plenty of test pieces to compare with). Maybe this has been intentional, or the recording, done in Malmö, Sweden, has been mastered somewhat awrily, but in the day and age of clean digital technology the soundworld here almost harks back to the early days of CDs. Still, what you get with this album is a hugely enjoyable mix of melodic rock and recycled styles that is intelligently laid out and mostly avoiding the pitfalls of becoming annoying. The bad balancing of the first half with the second half is a bit unfortunate, but as a whole there is a lot to like here, and tracks 3 and 4 are well worth the price of admission. Overall, even I will give this a warm recommendation, though I reserve my reservations. But for any fan of this kind of music, I’d say this is a must have.
1. Jacqueline (3:54)
2. Tell Her Tonight (2:27)
3. Take Me Out (4:02)
4. The Dark of the Matinée (4:07)
5. Auf Achse (4:24)
6. Cheating on You (2:41)
7. This Fire (4:19)
8. Darts of Pleasure (3:04)
9. Michael (3:25)
10. Come on Home (3:42)
11. 40 ft (3:34)
© berlioz, 2006
Summary: A fine debut album that is both fun and not too taxing on sensitive nervous systems
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