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Jun 9, 2015It’s an uncommonly smart record full of unexpected, delightful detours.
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Jun 10, 2015For all of FFS’ deriding of being among others, the album as a whole makes a solid case for the beauty of the perfect combination.
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Jun 9, 2015Collaborations may not work for everyone (hi Metallica, rest in peace Lou Reed), but this is one that certainly does.
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Jun 9, 2015A near-perfect blend of Sparks and Franz Ferdinand's skills, FFS is a collaboration that works very well and offers just about everything a fan of either band could want.
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Jun 8, 2015FFS is more than worth the wait: a stylish, outsized romp that balances Franz Ferdinand’s gentlemanly muscle with Sparks’s adoration for the theatrical.
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Jun 5, 2015Musically, it’s an almost seamless blend of the two groups’ styles, variations on a sort of operatic indie-electropop, which recalls variously Freedom of Choice-era Devo, chattering Kraftwerk techno and, in the more melancholy environs inhabited by “Little Guy from the Suburbs”, a whiff of Leonard Cohen.
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Jun 4, 2015A brilliant record, combining as it does the herky-jerky, febrile near-hysterical wit of Sparks with that of Franz Ferdinand.
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Jun 4, 2015It does the job you need it to do. It succeeds entirely on its own, self-contained terms.
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Jun 4, 2015Together, they sound kind of Bowie glam, kind of ELO, but never dated.
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Jun 4, 2015There’s more here than mere novelty appeal--enough to make you hope they repeat the experiment at some point.
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Q MagazineJun 2, 2015They mesh exquisitely here. [Jul 2015, p.105]
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Jun 2, 2015FFS is actually exciting to listen to, which can’t be said that often these days.
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UncutJun 2, 2015All in all, it's a match made in heaven. [Jul 2015, p.75]
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Jun 10, 2015While it might not mark a revival in either's long-term fortunes, it--in its own overblown, pompous way—is an unexpected triumph.
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Jun 2, 2015It’s evident from the outset that things on FFS are going to work out just fine, and the record keeps that momentum flowing largely through to the end.
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Jun 12, 2015The chemistry between the two bands isn't so perfect that a second collaborative album would be preferable to whatever either of them has up its sleeve next. When FFS does click, though, it's a little delight.
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Jun 16, 2015There’s moments where creeping doubt, and a little bit of self-awareness, begin to set in--mainly on Franz’s part--but those aside, this is going to challenge Ezra Furman’s Perpetual Motion People for the title of the year’s finest pop oddball.
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Jun 15, 2015FFS manage to combine all the characteristics of what makes each band appealing but the record never veers too close to Franz Ferdinand territory and neither does the supergroup fully embrace the experimental side of Sparks.
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Jun 9, 2015Both bands share a wildly eccentric sense of melodrama, which is why the combo clicks.
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Jun 3, 2015When two such spiky forms collide you can’t expect everything to click, but FFS is still a wonder of gelling idiosyncrasies.
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MojoJun 10, 2015On over half of the songs, the marriage works.... But the titles and the lyrical obsessions are generally those of the Sparks oeuvre. [Jul 2015, p.89]
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Jun 8, 2015As if set free from seriousness, they knock out some polished, off-kilter pop gems about inadequate individuals.
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Jun 8, 2015While some moments are clearly domain of a single entity, the truth is that the six-headed monster don’t always make it that easy, instead opting to blur their sensibilities into a playful, dance rock smear.
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Jun 8, 2015Dodge the mountain range formed by all those raised eyebrows and there are some good songs in here.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 37 out of 47
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Mixed: 7 out of 47
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Negative: 3 out of 47
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Aug 8, 2015
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Jul 28, 2017
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Jan 2, 2016