Amazon.com After more than a year spent on the road behind their breakthrough self-titled debut--just how many times can Alex Kapranos sing "Take Me Out" without getting his skinny tie into a knot, anyway?--you might expect the members of Franz Ferdinand to feel a little frayed around the edges. But if You Could Have It So Much Better was supposed to be a bloated sophomore album focusing on bad airline meals and cold hotel swimming pools, somebody forgot to tell the Mercury Music Prize winning Scottish quartet. Instead, the Franzies return with a disc packed with thrilling punk-pop treatises like the single "Do You Want To," political rabble-rousers such as opener "The Fallen," and lovely psychedelic ballads that explore the common ground between the Beatles and Bowie, like "Eleanor Put You Boots On" (about Eleanor Freidberger of the Fiery Furnaces, no less). It's a stunning, confident piece of work that suggests the band is merely getting started. --Aidin Vaziri
2010-08-21 Super Fast Delivery..... I order This on the 18th of august and got it, for my surprise, 2 days after (on the 20th), The packaging was ok, envelope with bubble wrap,the cd is in excellent condition, but the Cd case did have a problem the plastic where the book is is broken so it actually never closes, still my idea was to transfer it to my computer and put the case in my music library.
2010-05-05 Love this Music is so subjective and personal, so I don't know how helpful reviews can really be... After listening to a couple of Franz Ferdinand albums and seeing them in public I always had the feeling that I was missing on one... But which one? For me this is "it"; love the guitar riffs, very "pop", but I'm one of those that actually listens to the lyrics, and when you do, you find they have some bite... Plus there's the whole "music is a language in itself" and Franz Ferdinand seems to touch on specific notes...
2010-01-30 Detached competence pervades 2 1/2
Typical sophomore from the type of indie group unable to deliver on any over-hyped promise to begin with, FF play it safe and in effect are still able to coast by on the small amount of talent they do have.
2010-01-17 I like Franz Ferdinand, but a lot of their songs sound similar. Franz' first album had songs that all, for the most part, sounded very different from each other.
However, to me a lot of the songs on "You Could Have it So Much Better" sound alike.
The songs that DO sound profoundly different are:
- The Fallen
- Walk Away
- Do you Want to
- Fade Together
- Outsiders
- Eleanor put your boots on.
The rest of the album is 2-3 minute up beat songs that I honestly think sound very similar.
I'd reccomend purchasing The Fallen, Walk Away, Outsiders, and Do you Want to as downloads.
2010-01-03 more toe-tapping fun! I had mentioned in my review about this band's previous album about how i looked forward to more of their stuff, whether they were in for more releases or just for the time being in 2004. Luckily, this 2nd album does just that, & actually surpassed my expectations... i listened to the 1st album way too much in the summer of '04, & then i ended up liking this album even more. I've seen some random comments from other fans that prefer this album, but other people will prefer one of the other 2... so to each their own. I thought the big thing that made this 1 stand out from the 1st album was just simply more variety (yet another user commented about lack of variety on this album??? Disagree!!!).
1 - The Fallen - like the 1st album, more toe-tapping goodness... but with a little more punch & hip shake factor ;-)
2 - Do You Want To - as a single, i didn't think this was the strongest pick... but it's a fun song nontheless.
3 - This Boy - whoa, 2:20 minutes is rarely this much fun!
4 - Walk Away - & then surprisingly, all that energy calms down to this... & then i had quickly realized the 1st album was missing good down tempo songs like this.
5 - Evil & a Heathen - mmmm, just like track 3, these 2 minutes are even more fun! 1 of my favorites
6 - You're the Reason I'm Leaving - back to the 1st album, more relationship woes...
7 - Eleanor Put Your Boots On - a genuine slow song, & they make it work! it also became 1 of my favorites on here
8 - Well that was Easy - starts off like a song on the 1st album, but then changes tempo... which keeps it interesting, along with catchy "Oooooooooo"'s
9 - What You Meant - another 1 of my favorites... has a few different sides to its 3 minutes
10 - I'm Your Villain - i dig the catchy twangy guitars
11 - You could have it so much better - a little more drive... feels good to crank up while driving out of a parking lot *grin*
12 - Fade Together - another genuine slow song... also very noteworthy. It chills out the end of the album very nicely. I found it funny how my favorite songs on here were all the slow songs when i was initially drawn to the band's energy to begin with. I should also mention this track always reminds me of that old song by The Turtles - Happy Together ;-) It has a similar vibe without the dynamic buildup of The Turtles' song.
13 - Outsiders - a cool hip-shaking closer!
If someone's wondering which FF album to start with, i'd say either this one or the 1st. The 3rd is good, but just not as good as these 2, imho... Interpol & other bands of this decade fall in this 3rd album trap, it seems like. If you like this, also check out albums by The Rapture, VHS or Beta, Kasabian, The Rakes, & my newer musical crush, Friendly Fires.
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I order This on the 18th of august and got it, for my surprise, 2 days after (on the 20th), The packaging was ok, envelope with bubble wrap,the cd is in excellent condition, but the Cd case did have a problem the plastic where the book is is broken so it actually never closes, still my idea was to transfer it to my computer and put the case in my music library.
2010-05-05 Love this
Music is so subjective and personal, so I don't know how helpful reviews can really be... After listening to a couple of Franz Ferdinand albums and seeing them in public I always had the feeling that I was missing on one... But which one? For me this is "it"; love the guitar riffs, very "pop", but I'm one of those that actually listens to the lyrics, and when you do, you find they have some bite... Plus there's the whole "music is a language in itself" and Franz Ferdinand seems to touch on specific notes...
2010-01-30 Detached competence pervades
2 1/2
Typical sophomore from the type of indie group unable to deliver on any over-hyped promise to begin with, FF play it safe and in effect are still able to coast by on the small amount of talent they do have.
2010-01-17 I like Franz Ferdinand, but a lot of their songs sound similar.
Franz' first album had songs that all, for the most part, sounded very different from each other.
However, to me a lot of the songs on "You Could Have it So Much Better" sound alike.
The songs that DO sound profoundly different are:
- The Fallen
- Walk Away
- Do you Want to
- Fade Together
- Outsiders
- Eleanor put your boots on.
The rest of the album is 2-3 minute up beat songs that I honestly think sound very similar.
I'd reccomend purchasing The Fallen, Walk Away, Outsiders, and Do you Want to as downloads.
2010-01-03 more toe-tapping fun!
I had mentioned in my review about this band's previous album about how i looked forward to more of their stuff, whether they were in for more releases or just for the time being in 2004. Luckily, this 2nd album does just that, & actually surpassed my expectations... i listened to the 1st album way too much in the summer of '04, & then i ended up liking this album even more. I've seen some random comments from other fans that prefer this album, but other people will prefer one of the other 2... so to each their own. I thought the big thing that made this 1 stand out from the 1st album was just simply more variety (yet another user commented about lack of variety on this album??? Disagree!!!).
1 - The Fallen - like the 1st album, more toe-tapping goodness... but with a little more punch & hip shake factor ;-)
2 - Do You Want To - as a single, i didn't think this was the strongest pick... but it's a fun song nontheless.
3 - This Boy - whoa, 2:20 minutes is rarely this much fun!
4 - Walk Away - & then surprisingly, all that energy calms down to this... & then i had quickly realized the 1st album was missing good down tempo songs like this.
5 - Evil & a Heathen - mmmm, just like track 3, these 2 minutes are even more fun! 1 of my favorites
6 - You're the Reason I'm Leaving - back to the 1st album, more relationship woes...
7 - Eleanor Put Your Boots On - a genuine slow song, & they make it work! it also became 1 of my favorites on here
8 - Well that was Easy - starts off like a song on the 1st album, but then changes tempo... which keeps it interesting, along with catchy "Oooooooooo"'s
9 - What You Meant - another 1 of my favorites... has a few different sides to its 3 minutes
10 - I'm Your Villain - i dig the catchy twangy guitars
11 - You could have it so much better - a little more drive... feels good to crank up while driving out of a parking lot *grin*
12 - Fade Together - another genuine slow song... also very noteworthy. It chills out the end of the album very nicely. I found it funny how my favorite songs on here were all the slow songs when i was initially drawn to the band's energy to begin with. I should also mention this track always reminds me of that old song by The Turtles - Happy Together ;-) It has a similar vibe without the dynamic buildup of The Turtles' song.
13 - Outsiders - a cool hip-shaking closer!
If someone's wondering which FF album to start with, i'd say either this one or the 1st. The 3rd is good, but just not as good as these 2, imho... Interpol & other bands of this decade fall in this 3rd album trap, it seems like. If you like this, also check out albums by The Rapture, VHS or Beta, Kasabian, The Rakes, & my newer musical crush, Friendly Fires.