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Tracklisting
1. Ulysses
2. Turn It On
3. No You Girls
4. Send Him Away
5. Twilight Omens
6. Bite Hard
7. What She Came For
8. Live Alone
9. Can’t Stop Feeling
10. Lucid Dreams
11. Dream Again
12. Katherine Kiss Me
I have a confession to make. I am one of the few Franz Ferdinand fans who really loved the band’s heavily-criticized second album, ‘You Could Have It So Much Better.’ Released in 2005, the CD received mostly decent reviews from critics, although words like “inconsistent,” “formulaic” and “flop” were tossed around frequently, and there was certainly nothing close to the praise earned by the band’s self-titled debut album. I have spent the last three years defending ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’ because personally, I think the songs are beautiful, catchy and extremely underrated.
So needless to say, while almost everyone else kept their fingers crossed that the Scottish dance-rock quartet’s third album would just be better than the last, I had huge expectations for it. And for the most part, ‘Tonight: Franz Ferdinand’ is just what I hoped for. The album is supposed to be the soundtrack to an epic evening out, from preparation to dance-floor madness and flirtation before finally returning home in the early morning hours. Fitting with this theme, most of the songs are groovy and fun, especially the first six. Tracks like “No You Girls,” “Twilight Omens” and “Bite Hard” bubble with energy and make it almost impossible not to start dancing. Even the slower “Send Him Away” manages to be addictive despite the unusual mellow vibes it gives off.
However, while the first half-dozen or so tracks are highly enjoyable, the disc loses some momentum towards the end. I find myself listening to the first half over and over again but then skipping some of the last few, like “Dream Again” and “Katherine Kiss Me.” These ones might be a little too dull, although in fairness, they do sound appropriate for 4 a.m. trips home after an evening of dancing and debauchery.
Before ‘Tonight’ was released, publicity for the band made promises of “experimentation” and “reinvention,” yet there is not much of either to be found. Songs like the opener, “Ulysses,” prominently feature synthesizers much more than most of the band’s previous work. While the synths are fun, it really just makes me miss some of the shrieking guitar solos on the first two albums. Thankfully, “What She Came For” does have one, but the rest of the song remains fairly dull, so it’s not much of a consolation.
The eight-minute “Lucid Dreams” is one of the other rare flops on the disc; the song itself is not too bad besides the unnecessary length, but the shorter radio version that was released on iTunes and on the radio in late 2008 is far superior. It almost feels like the band wanted more time to experiment with the synthesizers, so they squished it all in the middle of a track. Don’t get me wrong; the song is still worth a listen despite its length.
Overall, ‘Tonight’ is definitely not a reinvention of Franz Ferdinand’s sound, and it’s no ‘You Could Have It So Much Better,’ but it sure is a bouncy step in the right direction to a truly fantastic fourth album.
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