franz ferdinand / albums

4,339,244 plays
1,677 SHARES
8,434 FAVS
433 fans

- Tonight
- - 550,597 plays
  - 120 favs
  - 147 shares
Franz Ferdinand
Released 2009

Ulysses
03:11
82,762 plays

Turn It On
02:20
43,444 plays

Lucid Dreams
07:56
42,514 plays

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songs

- 1
- Ulysses
- 03:11
- 82,762 plays

- 2
- Turn It On
- 02:20
- 43,444 plays

- 3
- No You Girls
- 03:41
- 112,181 plays

- 4
- Send Him Away
- 02:59
- 36,302 plays

- 5
- Twilight Omens
- 02:29
- 39,296 plays

- 6
- Bite Hard
- 03:26
- 39,249 plays

- 7
- What She Came For
- 03:52
- 38,084 plays

- 8
- Live Alone
- 03:29
- 32,698 plays

- 9
- Can't Stop Feeling
- 03:02
- 33,063 plays

- 10
- Lucid Dreams
- 07:56
- 42,514 plays

- 11
- Dream Again
- 03:18
- 24,939 plays

- 12
- Katherine Kiss Me
- 02:55
- 26,094 plays

album review

"I found a new way, baby," Alex Kapranos snarls on "Ulysses," Tonight's lead single and opening track, and he's almost right. Franz Ferdinand took awhile to record this album after releasing You Could Have It So Much Better as quickly as possible after their breakthrough debut, spending a couple of years coming up with the concept of a "dirty pop" album and trying out dance and pop producers like Erol Alkan and Girls Aloud sound-shapers Xenomania before settling on Dan Carey, who has worked with everyone from CSS to Kylie Minogue. The group tried hard to make these songs a deliberate break from their previous music, and the album is nothing if not deliberate: a concept album about a debauched night out and the morning after, Tonight is more focused than You Could Have It So Much Better, and on the surface, it sounds different than what came before. The band's normally de rigueur angular post-punk guitars are dialed down in favor of beats, bass, and lots of keyboards, all of which are on display on "Ulysses," which, like You Could Have It So Much Better's "Do You Want To?," initially sounds like an odd single choice, then makes perfect sense after a few listens. Kapranos whispers like a devil on your shoulder as the band takes its time building to disco-punk euphoria.

Throughout the rest of album, however, Franz Ferdinand alternates between putting their rave-ups in slightly different skins and taking some real chances with their music. With the most familiar-sounding songs at the top, Tonight's song sequencing might be the most pop thing about it: "Turn It On"'s stop-start rhythms,"Send Him Away"'s Afro-pop-tinged guitars, and "Can't Stop Feeling"'s DFA-like percussion and fuzzy synths are minor refinements on the sound the band has used since Franz Ferdinand. A few songs transcend templates, like the unrepentantly rakish swagger of "No You Girls," which boasts saucy lyrics like "kiss me where your eye won't meet me" and a cleverly twisting chorus that expresses the album's theme of smart enough to know better hedonism perfectly. "Live Alone"'s disco-fied push-pull between solitude and intimacy makes ambivalence exciting, and "Bite Hard"'s punchy drums are the sound of dancing on your conscience's grave. The band saves Tonight's most interesting songs for last: "Lucid Dreams" is oddly dark and jubilant, setting its fantasies to one of the album's boldest arrangements -- whether or not the way it trails off on a four-minute jam is successful is a matter of taste, but it's a welcome risk on an album that often feels safe despite its attempts to shake things up. Likewise, the way the acoustic closer "Katherine Kiss Me" transforms "No You Girls"' raw nighttime demands into wry daytime flirtation is so clever that it makes the rest of Tonight all the more puzzling -- it's often catchy and kinetic in the moment, yet it still feels like Franz Ferdinand has the potential to do more with their music than just slightly tweak and polish a sound they established several albums ago. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide

more albums by this artist

See all

- - Franz Ferdinand
  - Released 2004

- - You Could Have It So Much Better
  - Released 2005

- - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
  - Released 2009

- - Franz Ferdinand (Special Edition)
  - Released 2004

listener reviews

- - One of 09's best albums
  - - By cs188
    - 8/15/2009 22:25:15
  - After a wait of over four years, Franz finally returned! This album does not disappoint. Since I bought it in January, I've been listening to it on a weekly basis.
    
    The album begins with lead single "Ulysses", a great kick-start to set the album's mood.
    
    The infectious dance-rock of "No You Girls" is witty, dirty, and playful - one of the few tracks on this album which feels like another "Take Me Out".
    
    The 8-minute "Lucid Dreams" (very different from the radio edit version, mind you) is also a highlight, and possibly Franz's most epic musical creation to date.
    
    "Turn It On", "Bite Hard", "Live Alone" are also personal favourites.
    
    Overall, if you've been a Franz fan since their debut, there's no reason not to give this a listen as well - you will not be let down. Just as witty and just as much fun as the rest of their discography.
  - 1 out of 1 people
  - think this is useful

- - Must download
  - - By suprsonic
    - 2/5/2009 03:26:10
  - Must download if your a fan of Franz Ferdinand. This album does not disappoint.
  - 3 out of 3 people
  - think this is useful