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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Franz Ferdinand
Universal acclaim
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 184 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Domino
Release Date: 09 March 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
The most hyped band to come out of the UK in early 2004 is Glasgow, Scotland's Franz Ferdinand, an art-rock quartet who make their full-length debut with this self-titled release, the winner of the UK's coveted Mercury Music Prize in 2004.
Also By This Artist: Blood Tonight: Franz Ferdinand You Could Have It So Much Better
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Uncut
For all the influences, their voice is uniquely, gently mad. [Mar 2004, p.88]
The Guardian
Franz Ferdinand's album arrives packed not just with fizzing guitars, disco-influenced drums and intriguing shifts in tempo, but also memorable songs, laden with hooklines and startling riffs.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
The first great rock album of 2004. [May 2004, p.102]
Filter
Relentlessly sultry, with lush arrangements framed by slamming dance beats. [#9, p.102]
Pitchfork
Like all lasting records, Franz Ferdinand steps up to the plate and boldly bangs on the door to stardom. There's no consideration for what trends have just come and gone. There's no waffling or concessions for people who won't get it.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
Fearsomely post-post-punk, appealingly brazen, and ambitiously tight, they have indeed made The Album That Saved Indie.
Read Full Review >Splendid
This is a terrifically exciting debut, imbued with a zest, energy and songwriting flair that warrants -- perhaps even commands -- some sort of attention.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
It marks the dawning of an era of British music that isn’t just for the casual petrol shop consumer, but stuff so important that you can give yourself to it completely. This is the album that’s going kick open the door for all the great British bands that’ll sweep through in their wake.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
The most musically rich, catchy, smartly written "new new wave" record since Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights.
Read Full Review >Urb
Unlike their inspirations, they've ditched the Marxist polemics in favor of dance-driven ambiguous tales of fumbled romance. [Jun 2004, p.84]
Los Angeles Times
In a few tracks, you sense this band is still at the mercy of influences as it searches for its identity, but the best moments are wonderfully promising.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Short of getting into a time portal and hurling yourself back to the late 70s, this is the closest you will get that sound in 2004.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
However great the merits of their debut might be, one can’t help but feel that there’s something just a little too perfect about Franz Ferdinand, as though they had planned out hipster world-domination around a scientifically constructed chart of "what’s hot and what’s not."
Read Full Review >Logo
No affectation, no pandering to fashion, just good old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. How refreshing.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Franz Ferdinand reveals more depth and more new directions than their previous work suggested.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
The most ebullient British debut since Elastica. [Mar 2004, p.102]
Dot Music
It won't usher in a bold new era where boys are boys and bands play guitars, but there is more than enough here to chew over and enjoy.
Read Full Review >Blender
The band's debut struts and flirts like the best-looking guy at the bar. [Apr 2004, p.126]
Mojo
The songs feel like they're boiling over, there's so much heat under them. [Mar 2004, p.95]
Junkmedia
What sets Franz Ferdinand apart is their unapologetic adherence to the pop formula.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
Frantic and rhythmic Scotpop with many echoes of so-'90s Blur in the sardonic jabs at middle-class bromides.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
Where the album stumbles is in its inconsistency, with some rather uninteresting filler that doesn't do much but flesh out the album.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
Piece everything together and this is where your mouth might, quite rightly, start to drool a little.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
The album is largely content to hover around the one note it plays so well. [24 Mar 2004]
No Ripcord
If you can distance yourself enough to judge Franz Ferdinand on its merits alone, it’s an impressive yet inconsistent debut record from a promising young band.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
For once, the inevitable U.K.-press hype is justified: Franz Ferdinand's debut draws from beloved Brit pop and post-punk bands without the usual plagiarism.
ShakingThrough.net
Franz Ferdinand's music possesses an intriguing, passive-aggressive kind of wasted elegance that never quite pays off.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 184 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Vito V gave it a10:
Perfect.
macca gave it a6:
Go listen to 'Antics' instead.
H C gave it a10:
This is an awesome record made by some awesome people.
Vid M gave it an8:
Nicely done!
Oligami gave it a9:
What a great pop album this is. Funky, jazzy, sophisticated, energetic pop.
agsasdg agasg gave it a10:
great
sam j gave it a10:
This first album was a revelation in the Uk rock world (indie rock). A lot of dancing hit like jackeline , micheal, this fire...but the consecration was rised by the electric Take me out that could hide a deceiving album But it's not the case it's at the same level with song and riff very energic and the least but not least they are better in live...
