Franz Ferdinand (CD)

 

Sound: B     Music: C+

 

 

Every rock band in the world can be broken down to a simple mathematical

formula: x + y = z

 

Example: Queen (x) + Slade (y) = The Darkness (z)

             Velvet Underground (x) + Television (y) = The Strokes (z)

             The Cure (x) + The Fall (y) = Franz Ferdinand (z)

 

In Franz Ferdinand's case, you might add a variable like "w" (Talking Heads) to the equation, but basically everything adds up to "z".  Franz Ferdinand, however, somehow ends up being less than the sum of its' parts in their new self-titled album.  I won't argue with you about "Take Me Out", the song that gets occasional airplay on MTV when they're not playing freakin' Usher videos already.  I'll even concede that several of these songs are even good: "This Fire", "Michael", "The Dark Of The Matinee".  In the end, though, I am already exhausted by the amount of suck-ass press these Brits have already got.  Everyone is slobbering on this band when they're merely okay.  At least the PCM Stereo is decent.

 

I guess I'm more sick of Britain than anything.  Their press foists all those bands on us that not only do we not care about, but they also happen to be so/so at best.  Problem is, U.S. critics read the British press, scared to be caught riding the bus when everybody else is taking taxis, and begin slobbering, too.  Not me, baby. I'm sticking to my guns here.  They're merely okay, and need to make more albums and get better.  That is, if they don't expire in some supermodel's arms in a swanky London hotspot, ‘cause, you know, it's hard being a genius.

 

 

-   Michael J. Farmer