11.
Franz Ferdinand
Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

All the pre-release talk was of the ‘reggae influence’ that was going to form the basis of the third Franz Ferdinand album. I was a little worried, but I needn’t have been. There are some touches here and there that could be described as ‘reggae’ and even ‘dub’, but they are few and far between, and don’t intrude on the indie rock sound in the way I feared they would. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand definitely has something different in the mix than previous albums, though. I’m not quite sure what, but, ultimately, it makes me want to dance more than their earlier work, so I guess it’s something to do with the rhythm section being, for want of a better word, ‘funkier’. Opening track ‘Ulysses’ is a blinder (I always have to shout along to the end of the song, and even did so on the bus without realising once), and unfortunately they never quite reach that watermark for the rest of the album. That’s not to say that any of the other songs are weak: ‘What She Came For’ is perfect 60s sleaze and ‘No You Girls’ is a super sing-a-long punk tune. The only real flaw with Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is the woeful lyrical decision to make the entire album follow the ‘story’ (such as it is) of a lad’s night out. As concept album concepts go, it’s a pretty lame one, and results in song after song of misogynistic drivel and self-congratulatory tales of drug taking and idiocy. Maybe I’m getting old, maybe that’s what rock bands are supposed to do, but I don’t think that it’s that I object on principle. Take, for example, pretty much any Queens Of the Stone Age song: a band which deals with similar themes, but which infuses them with humour, self-depreciation and style. The lyrical content of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is just soulless. Still, ignore the lyrics and this is another quality record from a band that continues to adapt and improve.