''Franz Ferdinand'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Scottish

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fr ...

, first released on 9 February 2004 through the

Domino Recording Company Domino Recording Company or simply Domino is a British independent record label based in London. There is also a wing of the label based in Brooklyn, New York that handles releases in the United States, as well as a German division called Dom ...

. It was recorded during 2003 at Gula Studios in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

, Sweden, with

Tore Johansson Tore Johansson (born 6 November 1959) is a Swedish record producer, composer and musician based in Malmö, Sweden. Biography In an interview with '' HitQuarters'', Johansson claimed that the main impetus for his becoming a music producer was the ...

, who produced the majority of the album, with two tracks produced by the band themselves. It entered the United Kingdom album charts at number three in February 2004 and contains the UK top ten singles " Take Me Out" and "

The Dark of the Matinée "The Dark of the Matinée" (known as "Matinée" on single versions) is a song by Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand. It was released as the third single from their eponymous debut studio album on 19 April 2004. The song reached number ei ...

" as well as UK top 20 hit "

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

". ''Franz Ferdinand'' won the 2004

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

and was nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. The album has since sold over 3.6 million copies worldwide, with over 1.27 million copies in the United Kingdom and at least 1 million copies in the US (corresponding to Platinum).

Reception

Critical

''Franz Ferdinand'' received universal critical acclaim, holding a score of 87 out of 100 on review aggregator site

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 31 reviews. Simon Fernand of

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

wrote that ''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." Anthony Thornton of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' cited Franz Ferdinand as the latest act in a line of art school rock bands with "the absolute conviction that rock 'n' roll is more than a career option" and praised the album as "the latest and most intoxicating example of the wonderful pushing its way up between the ugly slabs of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'',

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...

and Britons aping American bands." Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said that ''Franz Ferdinand'' "ends up being rewarding in different ways than the band's previous work was, and it's apparent that they're one of the more exciting groups to come out of the

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

revival."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' gave the album a three-star honorable mention rating and quipped of the band: "Young enough to only work when they need the money, a musical tradition worth fighting for". ''Franz Ferdinand'' is included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

'' and was placed at number two on

Planet Sound Planet Sound was a Teletext music page on ITV and Channel 4 in the UK, active from 1997 until 2009. It was broadcast on analogue Teletext from page 340, and on digital Teletext from page 820. From 24 May 2007, Planet Sound was also available t ...

's Best Albums of 2004 list. Clash placed "Franz Ferdinand" at No.14 in its list of the top albums from 2004 to 2009. Online music magazine ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' placed ''Franz Ferdinand'' at number 101 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.

Commercial

''Franz Ferdinand'' had a positive commercial performance. The album entered the UK album charts at number 3 in February 2004 and at number 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 number 32 in December 2004.

Track listing

All tracks are written by

Alex Kapranos Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley (born 20 March 1972) is a Scottish musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and author. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the ...

and

Nick McCarthy Nicholas John McCarthy (born 13 December 1974 in Blackpool, England) is an English-German musician. His main focus is on songwriting and song production. He is also a guitarist, singer and keyboard player. McCarthy was the guitarist, backing/ ...

, unless noted otherwise. All tracks are produced by

except "Tell Her Tonight" and "This Fire", produced by Franz Ferdinand.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's CD cover and liner notes. ;Franz Ferdinand *

– lead vocals, guitar *

– guitar, keyboards, vocals * Bob Hardy – bass guitar, backing vocals *

Paul Thomson Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Ch ...

– drums, percussion, backing vocals ;Artwork *Vivian Lewis – back cover *Joe Dilworth – band photo *Roxanne Clifford – black and white photo *Martin Clark – label photo *Franz Ferdinand and Matthew Cooper – other artwork ;Production *Tore Johansson – producer *Franz Ferdinand – producer *Jens Lindgård – engineer *Stefan Kvarnström – engineer *Steve Rooke – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2004 debut albums Franz Ferdinand (band) albums Epic Records albums Domino Recording Company albums Mercury Prize-winning albums Albums produced by Tore Johansson