My profile on my new firm’s website, after extolling my range of skills as a lawyer, says that I am “also our arbiter of musical taste, claiming to have a new favourite album every week!”
So I need to have an album of the week.
To start the series, this week it is Franz Ferdinand. I first heard them in 2004, when they broke on the scene. Funnily enough I was aware of Alex Kapranos as having played guitar for Glasgow band Quinn, but that’s another story. Then a couple of weeks ago I picked up the CD for a couple of quid in a charity shop in Portsmouth.
Here we have driving guitar pop. I bet they were a great band to see in a small club. The famous track is Take Me Out. A strong beat, driving guitars working a psychotic riff. Excellent.
Back in 2004, Franz Ferdinand struck me as being a lot like early Roxy Music – think Virginia Plain and Do The Strand. I remember that the comparison was also made by others; they were described as being at the forefront of a wave of Art Rockers, and therefore Roxy for a new generation. But listening again recently, the comparison I am driven to is not Roxy, but XTC (Making Plans For Nigel). Maybe a hint of Big Country? Hmmm, interesting.
A good album. Find it and give it an airing.
