Franz Ferdinand (album)

Franz Ferdinand
Studio album by Franz Ferdinand
Released	9 February 2004
Recorded	2003
Genre	Indie rock, post-punk revival, dance-rock
Length	38:49
Label	Domino
Producer	Franz Ferdinand, Tore Johansson
Franz Ferdinand chronology
Franz Ferdinand (2004) You Could Have It So Much Better (2005)
Singles from Franz Ferdinand
"Darts of Pleasure" Released: 8 September 2003 "Take Me Out" Released: 12 January 2004 "The Dark of the Matinée" Released: 19 April 2004 "Michael" Released: 16 August 2004 "This Fire" Released: 12 November 2004

Franz Ferdinand is the first album by the Glasgow-based indie rock band Franz Ferdinand, released in early 2004. It entered the United Kingdom album charts at number three in February 2004 and contains three UK top ten singles: "Take Me Out", "This Fire" (on the download chart) and "The Dark of the Matinée" (often referred to simply as "Matinée"). Franz Ferdinand won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. The album has since sold over 3.6 million copies worldwide,^[1] with at least 1.27 million copies in the United Kingdom^[2] and at least 1 million copies in the US (corresponding to 1x Platinum).^[3]

This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.

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	[5]
Alternative Press	[6]
A.V. Club	(favourable)[7]
Drowned in Sound	(7/10)[8]
The Guardian	[9]
NME	[10]
Pitchfork Media	(9.1/10) [11]
PopMatters	[12]
Robert Christgau	[13]
Rolling Stone	[14]
Uncut	[6]

Franz Ferdinand received universal critical acclaim, with Metacritic score 87 of 100, and it is hailed as a modern classic. 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 was placed at No.2 by Planet Sound in their Best Albums of 2004 list.

The album is noted in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Clash ^[16] placed "Franz Ferdinand" at No.14 in its list of the top albums from 2004-9.

Online music magazine Pitchfork Media placed Franz Ferdinand at number 101 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.^[17]

Track listing

Lead vocals by Alex Kapranos, except where noted.

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:

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".

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

Personnel

• Alex Kapranos – lead guitar, lead vocals
• Nick McCarthy – rhythm guitar, vocals, keyboards
• Bob Hardy – bass guitar
• Paul Thomson – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Release history

Album singles

• "Darts of Pleasure"
  • Released: 18 November 2003 (US), 8 September 2003 (UK)
  • Chart positions:
    • #44 (UK)
• "Take Me Out"
  • Released: 12 January 2004
  • Chart positions:
    • #3 (UK)
    • #7 (Canada)
    • #66 (US)
    • #3 (US Modern Rock)
    • #42 (Hot Digital Songs)
• "The Dark of the Matinée"
  • Released: 19 April 2004
  • Chart positions:
    • #8 (UK)
• "Michael"
  • Released: 16 August 2004
  • Chart positions:
    • #14 (UK)
• "This Fire"
  • Released: 12 November 2004
  • Chart positions:
    • #8 (UK Downloads Chart)
    • #17 (US Modern Rock)

References