Spike Magazine

Spike | 15 YEARS OF BOOKS, MUSIC, ART, IDEAS | www.spikemagazine.com
his as-yet unrequited love by “Telling Terry Wogan
how I made it / But what I ‘made’ is unclear now / But
his deference is / And his laughter is”. ‘Michael’ is an
impressively leery foray into the world of seedy boyon-boy
glamour, following boldly in the footsteps of
the genre’s forbears Ziggy, Iggy, Marc, Moz and Lou.
But really its not the lyrics that make this record so
memorable; it’s the fact that these must be some of
the most danceable indie tunes EVER, be it the primal
surge of ‘Jacqueline’, the imperious bounce of ‘Dark
Of The Matinee’, the schizoid pogo of ‘Cheating On
You’ or the wraith-like beauty of ‘Auf Asche’. The hit
single ‘Take Me Out’ must be the first hit single since
Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android’ to manage the tricky
job of melding two completely different tunes together
to make one classy song, even if the second part does
bear a disturbing similarity to the old Genesis hit ‘That’s
All’ (can I really be alone in noticing this blatant rip-off
BUY Franz Ferdinand music online from and
from Collins’ rightly maligned crew? I sense a cover up
of Kennedyesque proportions…) There’s only one dud
on the whole album, the insipid ‘This Fire’.
I’ll temper my real enthusiasm here, and put my
sourpuss head on the block by predicting that while
this is a great record, Franz Ferdinand will not become
one of the all time greats. Its not the music that will
prevent immortality, but Alex’s delivery being just that
too mannered, the enigmatic lyrics not quite grabbing
you enough.
I really do hope to be proved wrong about that, and
that this album will prove a springboard to even higher
zeniths for the fey young lads. Is this the future of rock?
Maybe, maybe not. But in the meantime you really
must accept that some things are true even though the
NME and The Telegraph say they are, and lap up the
most exciting band in aeons, tailor made like all the
best for the young but old at heart. �
227
More
Spike
email
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z