Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand > Reviews > BURN THIS CITY!

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Not applicable
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Danceable, great lyrics, effortlessly cool, influential
Disadvantages:	Nil, other than the bandwagon - hoppers it may cause

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The band that go by the name of Franz Ferdinand have had a rather spectacular 2004. Going from alternative underdogs with a limited cult audience at the start of the year, they ended 2004 and began 2005 as the biggest band in the nation, seemingly adored by everybody from the media to the alternative hipsters who declare what things are cool to your average record buying public. Even my mother likes to tap her foot to Franz Ferdinand, a quite amazing fact given that she hardly ever likes any of my music (well, apart from the Bowie and Blondie she listened to in her youth). While this says that Franz Ferdinand are admittedly a 'safe' band to admit to liking by your local freak without fear of a beating from the local school bully, it also is testament to their cross-cultural appeal.

Taking their name from the Archduke whose assassination brought about the First World War (see, that History A Level was bound to come to some use), Franz Ferdinand consist of Alex Kapranos (vocals/guitar), Nick McCarthy (vocals/guitar), Bob Hardy (bass) and Paul Thompson (drums). Their success over the past year-and-a-bit is stunning and completely deserved, as this album is brilliant from beginning to end, without a single weak link.

The initially low-key 'Jacqueline' begins with a soothing, lilting pace and a spoken word intro reminiscent of Jarvis Cocker at his most mordant but this is a deceiving intro to a clever album as soon enough the bass starts to rumble until the song builds to a crashing crescendo. The album is a veritable of statement of intent of what is to come, a mixture of taut guitars and extremely danceable beats, bouncy tunes with a darker side, a bit rough around the edges. 'Jacqueline' hints at a lyricism with a naturally sharp wit, Kapranos announcing drolly "I'm alive/And how I know it/But for chips and for freedom/I could die". The band follow in the vein of kitchen-sink working class melodrama that has served bands like Squeeze, Pulp and Blur, and, to a lesser extent, the likes of Dubstar and Menswear, so well. 'Tell Her Tonight', with its darkly disco hi-hat drums, has the same effervescent bounce while also hinting at something darker and esoteric alternative, an unorthodox yet catchy number with wonderful singalong harmonies.

But it is once the third track, 'Take Me Out', kicks in that you know that you are listening to something a bit special. It is one of the zeitgeist moments where a band just manage to write something so special, so spectacular, the nation takes it to their collective bosom and hold it there for some time. Even though it has been played to death on radio and music TV, the song, a wonderful exercise in punk-funk, still sounds as utterly fresh and vital as it did when it was given its first listen. The change in tempo after one verse is startling, urgent and enticing, the lyrics brilliant and the drum beat oh-so-catchy and the spiky guitars quite spectacular. The lyrics deal with a typical boy-loses-girl theme but from the set-up of the protagonists as star-crossed snipers. It's so deceptively simple, you wonder how nobody else has created a song like it before. It sounds quite unlike anything else, yet it has such an innate swagger and confidence you would expect it to come from a band more experienced than an unknown band on their first album. That's why it's so bloody good.

'The Dark Of The Matinee' (complete with Terry Wogan reference) doesn't hold up on the frantic pace already established. An ode to romantic overtures during an arthouse movie, the song is undeniably catchy and memorable. It has a wry sense of humour, like much of the album, reminiscent of 'Different Class'-era Pulp. The band have said that from the very beginning their sole intention was to 'make music to make girls dance', and 'The Dark Of The Matinee' validates this manifesto with brilliant verve and style.

There is not a single song on here which is unmemorable. No weak links in this one there are, as a certain green Jedi would say. The mockingly perverse debut single 'Darts of Pleasure' is an undoubted highlight, a throbbing, sexy song that demonstrates the fact that Franz may have songs which make people dance but also that they are rather weird, as the songs morphs into a bizarre German chant that would sound equally at home on the football terraces or (alarmingly) in a march sometime during the Third Reich. It is perplexing but breathtaking at the same time.

'This Fire' deserves mention for its urgent, almost desperate drums which begin the song, and the taut, tight guitar riffs that herald the arrival of Kapranos and his lyrics. The chorus is easily memorable and makes for a gloriously riotous song to be heard and enjoyed, while also hinting at something darker: "This fire is out of control/I'm going to burn this city/Burn this city".

This is a band playing with almost military precision, never injecting a guitar solo unless it is absolutely necessary. Such an economical approach makes for a highly listenable album that is rich in hooks and catchy melodies and low in pointless, meandering solos which have no end result. The drums throughout the album deserve a mention, a sharp contrast to the new wave guitars in that they pound a distinctly disco beat, sounding like they should be backing Kool & the Gang if Kool & the Gang had gone to art school and bought their clothes at Oxfam. Bob Hardy's basslines are also effortlessly cool throughout, most notably on 'This Fire' and the pounding, insistent 'Michael'.

'Michael' is quite a curious beast because it has led to the band, or rather, frontman Alex Kapranos, accused of being gay. Indeed, taken at face value, 'Michael' seems to be a straightforward love song to a man (and quite a dirty little song at that), but this belies a sly, sneaky sense of humour, which is thankful as when bands usually stab at sexual ambiguity (usually under the umbrella of playing 'characters', such a pretentious concept, for which we have Bowie to blame) the results seem more like a lecture from the pulpit rather than a song. Thankfully, Franz have the verve to pull it off. (In any case, the band have admitted in interviews that it is based on a man in their hometown (bet he loves them now…).

The band take the traditional love song and give them a twist, a sting in the tail. Take as an example Exhibit A, the lyric of the wonderful 'Cheating On You': "I'm cheating on you/You're cheating on me/It's only love/So who cares?". The carefree lyric combined with the clipped, staccato guitars to create a divine monster of a song. Alex Kapranos's vocals are consistently great. He cultivates an edge of aloofness and ironic detachment while also sounding completely original and distinctive. It is quite refreshing to see a band with a bit of wit and intelligence to them, going against the grain of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll that seemed to have been the craze in the music scene lately, with bands like Jet and the Kings Of Leon pillaging their way across the nation's village bicycles and then boasting about their sexual prowess to an over-eager music media. Franz Ferdinand are a band unlikely to be engaging in such activities, and for that they should be praised.

The band's appeal lies in their ability to be many things to many people. Franz can write love songs without sounding wimpy. They can be angry without sounding forced. They can be clever without being over-bearing or pretentious. It has an art school wit that Bryan Ferry would be proud of while also sounding very 'of the people' and having a universal appeal. And they certainly can rock out with the best of them. It's an album that evokes some very fine bands (Television, Gang of Four, The Fall, early Elvis Costello, Talking Heads) while simultaneously sounding fresh and original, like nothing ever heard before, an alien descended from the planet Franz to invade our radios and steal our children. It is eminently listenable and the lyrics are tremendously intelligent, while the melodies ensure that the songs are thoroughly danceable. They are a band for both the feet and the grey matter within our skulls, a rare combination in modern music, and a most welcome one. Franz Ferdinand have created a memorable and, dare I say it, timeless album which has such zealous self-confidence that it should rightfully be considered as one of the best British albums of recent years, and over time this status will grow with the band's reputation.

This is the ultimate pop art band, the perfect synthesis between image and sound, evident even by looking at the sleeve. They sound necessary and vital, like nothing else around at the moment or what has gone on before. They are like something out of one of Andy Warhol's wildest (wettest?) dreams. Furthermore, never mind the flamin' Libertines, if ever there was an album which kick-started the recent British rock revival, this is it, and the slew of bands which have followed in Franz's wake (Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Razorlight, to name but three) is an effective testimony to this. This is a very necessary purchase, an album which belongs in everybody's record collection, and one of the finest debut albums by a British band in some time. This warrants your attention.

'Franz Ferdinand' is available from Amazon.co.uk for £7.97