Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005
Best of 2004
Best of 2003
Best of 2002
Best of 2001
Best of 2000
Best of the Decade
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
75
Alberta Cross
70
The Album Leaf
69
Alkaline Trio
66
Animal Collective
84
Animal Collective
50
Athlete
82
Beach House
81
The Besnard Lakes
65
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
64
Dan Black
75
Mary J. Blige
75
Blockhead
79
Blood Red Shoes
70
David Bowie
64
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
72
Broken Bells
65
V.V. Brown
72
The Brunettes
71
Basia Bulat
78
Carolina Chocolate Drops
79
Johnny Cash
79
Chew Lips
82
Chicago Underground Duo
79
The Chieftains Featuring Ry Cooder
76
Citay
66
Clem Snide
77
Clipd Beaks
78
Clogs
66
Cold War Kids
75
Easton Corbin
80
Crazy Heart
70
Jamie Cullum
66
Fyfe Dangerfield
72
Delphic
64
Dinowalrus
78
Drive-By Truckers
59
Editors
71
Eels
70
Efterklang
81
Eluvium
82
Erland And The Carnival
57
Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now
63
Excepter
78
Field Music
76
First Aid Kit
68
Josephine Foster
82
Four Tet
71
Nils Frahm
74
Freeway & Jake One
75
Frightened Rabbit
82
Fucked Up
64
Peter Gabriel
79
Charlotte Gainsbourg
80
Galactic
67
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
73
Ernest Gonzales
59
Good Shoes
79
Gorillaz
70
Adam Green
79
Patty Griffin
76
Groove Armada
67
H.I.M.
43
Hadouken!
73
Harvey Milk
68
Juliana Hatfield
66
Jimi Hendrix
88
High On Fire
80
Hot Chip
66
The Hot Rats
88
Ray Wylie Hubbard
54
Hurricane Chris
76
Jaga Jazzist
76
Jaheim
70
jj
79
Freedy Johnston
54
Nick Jonas And The Administration
57
Ke$ha
66
Alicia Keys
74
The Knife In Collaboration With Mt. Sims And Planningtorock
63
Lady Antebellum
65
Dawn Landes
82
Lawrence Arabia
74
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
82
Liars
72
Lightspeed Champion
37
Lil Wayne
82
Lindstrom & Christabelle
68
Little Boots
75
Local Natives
75
Los Campesinos!
67
Lostprophets
65
Ludacris
73
Magnetic Fields
74
Massive Attack
58
Katherine McPhee
66
Daniel Merriweather
76
Pat Metheny
72
Midlake
64
Holly Miranda
79
Allison Moorer
83
Motion City Soundtrack
53
Mudvayne
65
Mumford & Sons
55
Never Shout Never
85
Joanna Newsom
81
Scout Niblett
74
Nneka
75
Oh No Ono
70
OK Go
71
Omarion
77
Owen Pallett
84
Pantha du Prince
77
Past Lives
84
Pavement
78
Phantogram
65
Pit Er Pat
86
Polar Bear
64
Priestess
67
Quasi
77
Corinne Bailey Rae
71
The Red Krayola With Art & Language
81
Fionn Regan
77
Retribution Gospel Choir
57
Martin Rev
64
Rjd2
65
Rogue Wave
82
Jack Rose
76
The Ruby Suns
78
Sade
77
Gil Scott-Heron
77
Shearwater
69
Blake Shelton
84
Shining
68
Shout Out Louds
80
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
73
The Soft Pack
80
Spoon
63
Ringo Starr
68
Story Of The Year
71
The Strange Boys
77
Strong Arm Steady
79
Surfer Blood
60
Tape Deck Mountain
82
These New Puritans
71
Robin Thicke
76
Tindersticks
81
Titus Andronicus
72
Toro Y Moi
63
Josh Turner
81
Vampire Weekend
79
Laura Veirs
79
Butch Walker And The Black Widows
63
The Watson Twins
69
We Are Wolves
66
Kanye West
64
Wetdog
51
The Whigs
67
White Hills
79
The White Stripes
72
The Whitefield Brothers
68
Wu-Tang Clan
75
Xiu Xiu
78
Yeasayer
73
You Say Party! We Say Die!
63
Young Money
61
Rob Zombie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Franz Ferdinand
Universal acclaim
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 185 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 (NME)
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 8.5 (out of 10) based on 185 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...
