Franz Ferdinand (album)

Untitled

Franz Ferdinand is the debut album by Scottish 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.

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

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Alternative Press
The Guardian
NME
Pitchfork Media	link
Robert Christgau
Rolling Stone
Uncut

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, but it's apparent that they're still 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[1] 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 [2] 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.

Track listing

Lead vocals by Alex Kapranos, except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Jacqueline"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy	3:49
2.	"Tell Her Tonight" (lead vocals performed by Nick McCarthy (verses) and Alex Kapranos (chorus, bridge))	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	2:17
3.	"Take Me Out"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	3:57
4.	"The Dark of the Matinée"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy	4:03
5.	"Auf Achse"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	4:19
6.	"Cheating on You"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	2:36
7.	"This Fire"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	4:14
8.	"Darts of Pleasure"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	2:59
9.	"Michael"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	3:21
10.	"Come On Home"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	3:46
11.	"40'"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	3:24
Total length:			38:49

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:

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Cheating on You"
2.	"Jacqueline"
3.	"Tell Her Tonight"
4.	"Shopping for Blood"
5.	"Take Me Out"
6.	"Love & Destroy"
7.	"Truck Stop"
8.	"This Fire"
9.	"Michael"
10.	"Darts of Pleasure"

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".

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"This Fffire"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	3:32
2.	"Van Tango"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	3:26
3.	"Shopping for Blood"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Paul Thomson	3:34
4.	"All for You, Sophia"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy	3:00
5.	"Words So Leisured"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	2:18

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

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"All for You, Sophia"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy	3:00
2.	"Words So Leisured"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	2:18
3.	"Van Tango"	Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy	3:26

Personnel

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

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United Kingdom	9 February 2004	Domino Records	12"	WIGLP136
			CD	WIGCD136
			CD 2	WIGCD136X
United States	9 March 2004	Domino Records	12"	DN027
			CD	E92441
			CD 2	EK93630
Japan	2 June 2004	Sony Japan	CD	EICP 370

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)