You Could Have It So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand > Reviews > "You Could Have It So Much Better" (literally)

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Mediocre
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	half the album
Disadvantages:	.  .  .  .  . half the album

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

There are things in life that irritate me to no end; whether it be the simple chore of getting up in the morning, bleary eyed and half asleep, or scrambling around in cupboards at 7am to find something to eat, knocking over item upon item until finally finding the one thing even remotely munchy, or hell, even turning on Kerrang Radio to hear the latest Franz Ferdinand tune, probably the main offender of them all. See, it's not the band themselves that I hold issue with, it's their music. I regularly hear/see the word 'fun' being passed around when referring to the Glaswegians' little ditty's; although the only fun I see in it is when turning the radio off, or changing channel to somewhere they aren't.

The NME in particular were at the forefront of the Franz movement throughout last year, talking them up as the next big thing alongside fellow Brits Keane and Coldplay, two bands that, to be quite frank, have gone virtually unnoticed since the turn of the year. Now, having not fully heard the bands debut, mainly through the fact that I simply didn't want to, I can't compare the two respective albums, nor can I highlight any improvements/failures within the record; but what I can give is an unbiased opinion on an album, that despite wanting to hate, may well surprise me yet.

It's noticeable from listening to opening track 'The Fallen', that the band have attempted to move away from the somewhat 'retro' feel that described their early sound so well; the drums appear slightly more potent than any of the three tracks that I (suffered) from the bands debut, whilst the guitars are also slightly more noticeable. ("Because you robbed a supermarket or two, Well, who gives a damn about the prophets of Tesco?"). Unfortunately the, shall we say improvement, wears thin already, with the Franz moving back to their defined sound on lead single 'Do You Want To', a track which has fallen on deaf ears with me since the day I first heard it.

Despite being lyrically mundane (or should that be, stupid), 'This Boy' offers up another half decent track, with the chorus in particular proving a strong-point. It's something that's been thrown around a few times when talking about these Scottish indie boys; the pretty appalling lyrics that singer Alex Kopranos seems to pick from the air, and it wouldn't be an understatement to say that's why I never appreciated the bands debut, as I simply couldn't understand it. As before, 'This Boy' proves a shining example; ("This boy is so spectacular, Not a boy but a wealthy bachelor. I want a car, I want a car"). hmm. Next track 'Walk Away' falters under the simple terms that it's boring. Absolutely eye-lid dropping boring; "Why don't you walk away?" …..my thoughts exactly.

'Evil and the Heathen' ("I'm evil and a heathen") earns the band comparisons with US counterparts The Strokes, capturing the 'garage rock' feel almost perfectly, although doing very little to either sell the scene or improve upon it. Pace wise, it's in fact one of the faster tracks on the record, showing the band as more than a simple one trick pony; something which's complimented perfectly on 'You're The Reason I'm Leaving', probably the sole moment of real genius throughout; ("Ohhh, You're the reason I'm leavin, You're the reason I'm leavin. If I'm leaving we don't stop livin, you know"). Unfortunately for the band though, they choose to stick the best track atop the worst, 'Eleanor Put Your Boots On' is nothing more than a low-tempo 'filler', one which could easily have been skipped in favour of another of the albums better moments, of which one was to follow.

'Well That Was Easy' serves as a departure from the bands debut (well, the few songs I heard), in that it concentrates far more on the guitars and evidently improved drums, producing, as stated before, another of the albums better moments; ("So Eleanor put those boots back on, Put the boots back on and run. Come on over here"). There's very little to surprise about the album as a whole; the sound is nothing new and the lyrics are, on the whole, so poor that they're not worth concentrating on for more than a second. Although where Franz get by is in their sound, a sound which, going on what I've heard from both respective albums, has evidently improved. That said, 'What You Meant' sags into mediocrity, one that any other band may well have done a better job of, but then again, may not have.

'I'm Your Villain' sees the amps ever so slightly turned up, producing undoubtedly the hardest track of the album, and the most departed from the indie scene for which Franz themselves populate; ("If I could laugh I'd love you, If I could smile at anything you said. We could be laughing lovers, I think you'd prefer to be miserable instead"), whilst the breezy, punchy title track 'You Could Have Had It So Much Better' acts as a representation for the bands improvement (in my ears). Vocally, Kopranos shows significant improvement here, and it wouldn't be an understatement to say that I'd actually 'like' the band if this became their signature sound; ("As I look at us now it seems
That your slapping my back, As if it's all alright, But it's not"), fast, effortless, it deserves a 'punk' tag as much as any other.

'Fade Together', the albums penultimate track, sees the introduction of a piano, one which although adding to the song, sadly detracts from what's come before and results in another relatively poor effort. I suppose the noticeable recurrence about the album is the good/bad pattern, one which repeats itself continually throughout the course of the 13 tracks, making it near impossible to class the album as anything more than average. 'Outsiders' provides something of a sting in the tale, another typically Franz song, it leaves the album sounding far stronger than it would have done without it; ("There's been some change, But we're still outsiders. If everybody's here, Then hell knows we'll ride alone…").

Franz Ferdinand have far from converted me, in fact, the album serves to reinforce my beliefs that they can produce some real dire tracks, but in between those moments (which are far from scarce), they produce some equally stirring ones; in particular 'You're The Reason I'm Leaving', 'Well That Was Easy', and the title track itself. It's not stirring, it's not special…..but it'll do.

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Repeat - The Fallen, This Boy, Evil and the Heathen, You're The Reason I'm Leaving, Well That Was Easy, You Could Have Had It So Much Better, Outsiders, I'm Your Villain.

Skip - Do You Want To, Walk Away, Fade Together, Eleanor Put Your Boots On, What You Meant.

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Thank You