A one off black & orange vinyl pressing of the incredible world conquering debut album by Franz Ferdinand. 

Our review from 2004:
Wow. One of the best debut albums ever, people! Don't be misled by their deliberately geeky, mischievous flamboyance. And don't be put off by the hype: this is seriously good music. It's fun-filled, daft, mad and cheeky, for sure; but there's 11 songs here and they're all brilliant. No filler. This laughs in the face of the serious classicist / revisionists because whilst this does look back (Gang Of Four, Joseph K, late 70s reggae, XTC, Television, Magazine) the music is somehow uniquely their own, vitally now and urgently alive. Every song has some special, clever detail that just lifts it right up and every one also skanks, swings, rocks or bops. The boys' got rhythm! OK, so it's knock-kneed, undernourished, white-boy funk like New York's Rapture or Radio 4, but this lot aren't impersonating anybody. The Strokes must've been their catalyst (they opened the treasure-box dated '79-'81) and like The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand sound like no-one but themselves. Only the best bands manage this. One tune, "Auf Asche" fits about three songs in one, all seamlessly segued over a Blondie-ish disco bounce and Chic-punky scratchy guitars. Elsewhere there's surfy twangs, camp, wonky disco, spoof spooky dub and dead catchy new-wave nuggets. Deliberately non-mainstream but defiantly POP, crammed full of charisma and happy twists / irreverent turns.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jacqueline
2. Tell Her Tonight
3. Take Me Out
4. The Dark Of The Matinée
5. Auf Achse
6. Cheating On You
7. This Fire
8. Darts Of Pleasure
9. Michael
10. Come On Home
11. 40'

‘Take Me Out’ is the second single from Franz Ferdinand’s eponymous debut album. Released in 2004 on Domino, the song reached #3 in the UK singles chart, was hailed by Drowned in Sound as "a work of sheer clanging wonder" and went on to sell nearly four million copies worldwide.The record was accompanied by a Dada-influenced video, blending live-action performance with animated 3D environments and was featured on their recent ‘Hits To The Head’ best-of collection and the world tour that followed. Our version of this Indie anthem is just a shot away from being forever yours, so…

Franz Ferdinand have announced details of Hits To The Head, a 20-track greatest hits collection showcasing the world-conquering success of the band’s career to date. Released on Friday March 11th 2022 on Domino, Hits To The Head also features two brand-new tracks Billy Goodbye and Curious, produced by Alex Kapranos, Julian Corrie and Stuart Price (Dua Lipa, Madonna, Pet Shop Boys).

Armed with an astute sense of what constitutes the ‘classic pop song’ (famously proclaiming that they write music ‘to make girls dance to’) the music of Franz Ferdinand continues to resonate globally and over the course of nearly two decades they’ve become, commercially and critically, one of the biggest UK bands in the world, selling over 10 million albums, 1.2 billion streams to date, 14 platinum albums, winning Brit, Ivor Novello + Mercury Prize awards, Grammy nominations and selling 6 million tickets for their incendiary live show worldwide.

TRACK LISTING

01 Darts Of Pleasure
02 Take Me Out
03 The Dark Of The Matinée
04 Michael
05 This Fire
06 Do You Want To
07 Walk Away
08 The Fallen
09 Outsiders
10 Lucid Dreams
11 Ulysses
12 No You Girls
13 Right Action
14 Evil Eye
15 Love Illumination
16 Stand On The Horizon
17 Always Ascending
18 Glimpse Of Love
19 Curious
20 Billy Goodbye 

Nothing short of a rebirth, the album’s 10 songs are a triumphant recasting of the group, bursting with fresh ideas and vigorous sonic experimentation. 

‘Always Ascending’ was recorded at RAK Studios, London and Motorbass in Paris, with the help of French producer extraordinaire Philippe Zdar (Cassius, Phoenix, The Beastie Boys), the mutual affection between band and producer seeping into every dazzling groove. ‘Always Ascending’ shows Franz Ferdinand broadening their palate, as exuberant as it is euphoric, creating a sound that singer, Alex Kapranos, refers to as “simultaneously futuristic and naturalistic.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Franz Ferdinand always stood out from the considerable crowd of potential soundalikes with their jagged brand of majestic indie-pop, relying heavily on split-second key changes and snappy, fuzzy riffage. You'll be delighted to know that this one is no less outstanding, a thoroughly excellent return.

TRACK LISTING

1. Always Ascending
2. Lazy Boy
3. Paper Cages
4. Finally
5. The Academy Award
6. Lois Lane
7. Huck And Jim
8. Glimpse Of Love
9. Feel The Love Go
10. Slow Don’t Kill Me Slow

Way back when (approx 12 years ago), in those glory days of dingy basements and gaffa taped trainers, a whole new genreration of dancers were taking a journey of musical discovery at the the invitation of one Erol Alkan and his banging clubnight Trash. Electroclash, nu-disco, post-punk, punk-funk, nu rave, techno, there was a fair bit of techno, and indie cuts all rubbed shoulders, pogoed and made out in the middle of the dancefloor, getting totally fucked up as Erol threw them into the blender. This series sees the Phantasy man showcase his ear for a tune and hand for a killer rework with retrospective series of his best reinterpretations.
On the A-side here we have Erol's "Glam Racket" take on "Do You Want To", the lead track from Franz' sophomore LP. Repeating the Mick Ronson styled guitar riff way beyond the point of sanity, Erol spends three minutes building dance floor tensions to fever pitch before unleashing an earbleeding drop of rabid, Justice-style distorto bass - huge! If that wasn't enough, when he eventually reinvents the ear-worm hook as a sort of backwards organ thingy, it totally flips ppl out. Flip it for "Zero", a spangled technoid reshape of Yeah Yeah Yeah's disco tinged single, which sees Erol utilising jacking drums, gnarly synths and tons of vocal echo to spin the dancefloor out into a narcotic frenzy - MDMAzing!

Franz Ferdinand are welcomed into the Late Night Tales family with a diverse 20 track selection of musical influences, inspirations, diversions and discoveries.

Opening with Franz Ferdinand’s own exclusive cover of Jonathan Halper's ‘Leaving My Old Life Behind’, (which appeared on the cult Kenneth Anger movie Puce Moment), their Late Night Tales mix flows between dark and light, introspection and affection, dancing and horizontal appreciation.

Hear them join the dots between Can, Serge Gainsbourg and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Sandy's Nelson's percussion work-out 'Let There Be Drums', the irrepressible Ian Dury, electro-funk sensations Zapp and the Disco Dub Band and sonic explorer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Record collectors will note the inclusion of Carrie Cleveland's Northern Soul anthem 'Love Will Set You Free'. Also included are a set of waywardly brilliant cover versions: Justus Köhncke’s dizzy interpretation of Neil Young’s ‘Old Man’ and R. Stevie Moore's ‘I’m Only Sleeping'.

It wouldn’t be right for Franz Ferdinand to produce a mix such as this without a nod to the country that brought them together, so Glasgow’s Life Without Buildings, whose uplifting ‘New Town’ appears alongside ‘Reach For The Dead’ by Boards Of Canada.

As they leave us wondering and wandering with American Spring’s Brian Wilson-produced ‘Sweet Mountain’, we take leave of our senses and suitcases on this tour bus of your mind. We’ve visited soul, funk, reggae, pop, Krautrock and others besides, but before we depart, Franz frontman Alex Kapranos provides a final farewell with the self penned story 'Defibrillator'.

"When we first got the band together I made Alex a tape for his car, an old Merc estate that we spent a lot of time in, going to and from rehearsal spaces and gigs. All of our gear and the four of us could (almost) comfortably fit inside. It was all stuff I was listening to at the time, Dr Alimantado, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Plaid, Johnny Dangerous amongst others. An ecletic mix or completely random and disjointed depending on your outlook, it was representative of all our individual idiosyncrasies that merged to form the sound of the band, although I wasn't aware of this at the time. With this mix we tried to a similar thing, all of us selected the tunes, based on what we listen to on tour together and at home alone, any sustained moods or flows that occur are purely accidental. Oh yeah, the Merc estate got totalled and towed away with the tape still in the player." - Paul Thomson Franz Ferdinand July 2014

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklisting:
1. Franz Ferdinand - Leaving My Old Life Behind (Exclusive Cover Version)
2. R. Stevie Moore - I'm Only Sleeping
3. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Eighteen Is Over The Hill
4. Sandy Nelson - Let There Be Drums
5. Life Without Buildings - New Town
6. Can - Connection
7. The Liminanas - The Darkside
8. Ian Dury - Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3
9. Disco Dub Band - For The Love Of Money
10. Zapp - More Bounce To The Ounce
11. Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem Pour Un Con
12. Lee "Scratch" Perry - Disco Devil
13. James Brown - King Heroin
14. Carrie Cleveland - Love Will Set You Free
15. Paul McCartney & Wings - Nineteen Hundred & Eighty Five
16. Boards Of Canada - Reach For The Dead
17. Oneohtrix Point Never - Zebra
18. Justus Köhncke - Old Man
19. American Spring - Sweet Mountain
20. Alex Kapranos – Defibrillator (Exclusive Spoken Word Piece)

LP Tracklisting:
A Side
1. Franz Ferdinand - Leaving My Old Life Behind
2. R. Stevie Moore - I'm Only Sleeping
3. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Eighteen Is Over The Hill
4. Sandy Nelson - Let There Be Drums
5. Life Without Buildings - New Town
6. Can - Connection

B Side
7. The Liminanas - The Darkside
8. Ian Dury - Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3
9. Disco Dub Band - For The Love Of Money
10. Zapp - More Bounce To The Ounce
11. Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem Pour Un Con

C Side
12. Lee "Scratch" Perry - Disco Devil
13. James Brown - King Heroin
14. Paul McCartney & Wings - Nineteen Hundred & Eighty Five
15. American Spring - Sweet Mountain

D Side
16. Boards Of Canada - Reach For The Dead
17. Oneohtrix Point Never - Zebra
18. Justus Köhncke - Old Man
19. Alex Kapranos - Defibrillator

This exuberant, unencumbered record is the first from the Glasgow band since 2009’s Tonight. They seem to have rediscovered the imagination, vitality and fun found on their classic, era-encapsulating debut Franz Ferdinand.

Recorded over the last year at Kapranos’s Scottish studio and McCarthy’s Sausage Studios in London, the LP cements their status as a unique and adventurous British band: emboldened by a decade’s undreamt-of worldwide success, but still daring and defiant. It’s an ecstatic rejection of the drab conventions often accompanying that level of attention and expectation.

When asked for a quote, Kapranos came back with: “The Intellect Vs The Soul, played out by some dumb band.”* God knows what that means, but the lyrics do seem more poetic this time. There were a few interesting collaborations, but more of that later…

The ten songs that make up Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action take what propelled Franz Ferdinand from the incestuous Glasgow Art School world to, well, the entire world - painterly lyrical detail, heavyweight hooks, precise aesthetic vision and that uncanny ability to marry arch artistic sensibility with pop punch – and push it even further. The breadth of influence, musicality and invention on show here is enormous. If this is unmistakably a Franz Ferdinand record, it is as much by virtue of its sonic daring and perfectly patch-worked eclecticism as the timeless songwriting flair that has long been their calling card.

Franz Ferdinand are still Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy and Paul Thomson. There’s still no one like them.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Franz re-connect with what they do best. It's still clever, but loads of fun too. Proper band!

Record Store Day 2011 limited edition orange vinyl.

Cover versions of songs from the Franz "Tonight" album performed by Debbie Harry, LCD Sound System, Peaches, ESG & Stephin Merrit (Magnetic Fields).

TRACK LISTING

01. Debbie Harry & Franz Ferdinand - Live Alone
02. Stephen Merritt - Dream Again
03. LCD Soundsystem - Live Alone
04. ESG - What She Came For
05. Peaches - Turn It On

Explosive and infectious, and undeniably Franz Ferdinand, but a bigger, brighter beast, the third album from Glasgow-based Franz Ferdinand sees them taking a step back from the post-punk revival sounds that gave them their breakthrough. With "Tonight: Franz Ferdinand", the band are seen to incorporate more disparate influences such as Jamaican dub and elements of electronica. What remains of the old Franz Ferdinand is their knack for locating a danceable rhythm and their gentle, deadpan humour.

Tracklisting
1. Ulysses
2. Turn It On
3. No You Girls
4. Send Him Away
5. Twilight Omens
6. Bite Hard
7. What She Came For
8. Live Alone
9. Can't Stop Feeling
10. Lucid Dreams
11. Dream Again
12. Katherine Kiss Me

"You Could Have It So Much Better" is the hugely anticipated second album from Franz Ferdinand. After setting the world alight with their self titled debut album the boys didn't hang around too long before getting started on the follow up. Recorded in Scotland and New York the band's style has matured and developed. The sound is still unmistakably Franz Ferdinand but they've tapped into something deeper and more resonant from the moving epic "Walk Away" to the stomp of first single "Do You Want To".

Wow. One of the best debut albums ever, people! Don't be misled by their deliberately geeky, mischievous flamboyance. And don't be put off by the hype: this is seriously good music. It's fun-filled, daft, mad and cheeky, for sure; but there's 11 songs here and they're all brilliant. No filler. This laughs in the face of the serious classicist / revisionists because whilst this does look back (Gang Of Four, Joseph K, late 70s reggae, XTC, Television, Magazine) the music is somehow uniquely their own, vitally now and urgently alive. Every song has some special, clever detail that just lifts it right up and every one also skanks, swings, rocks or bops. The boys' got rhythm! OK, so it's knock-kneed, undernourished, white-boy funk like New York's Rapture or Radio 4, but this lot aren't impersonating anybody. The Strokes must've been their catalyst (they opened the treasure-box dated '79-'81) and like The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand sound like no-one but themselves. Only the best bands manage this. One tune, "Auf Asche" fits about three songs in one, all seamlessly segued over a Blondie-ish disco bounce and Chic-punky scratchy guitars. Elsewhere there's surfy twangs, camp, wonky disco, spoof spooky dub and dead catchy new-wave nuggets. Deliberately non-mainstream but defiantly POP, crammed full of charisma and happy twists / irreverent turns.