Calling the second album dire, yet the first one perfect is hilarious. Their debut is great, but their follow-up was equally good if not better. They released it just a year after the debut and there wasn't even a slight departure in the sound, but it's a more polished version of it. They returned with bigger hooks and "You Could Have It So Much Better" actually feels like the album they wanted to make with their debut as it only perfected the formula.
"Tonight: Franz Ferdinand" was a good album. It doesn't compare to the first two though. Arriving 4 years after YCHISMB they did try to change the sound a bit, nothing drastic, but you can still hear it clearly. If they cut 2-3 songs it might've been a much stronger album as it does have some really good tunes ("Ulysses" is just as good as a foot stomper like "Take Me Out" from the debut or "Do You Want To" from YCHISMB, and "No You Girls" could've easily been a song from any of the previous two albums). The thing that threw most people off the third album back then was that weird release of "Lucid Dreams" as a single / promo single. It wasn't a good representation of the album, let alone Franz Ferdinand as the song sounded like any other rock band back then. It flat out bombed and kind of killed the whole era. Even more baffling is how they completely changed the song for the album and added the weird acid-techno-dance 3 minute ending to it. That version of the song was much better though and I'm glad they included it on the album. This is one of the best examples how a bad first single can kill the whole era. People are fickle, these days especially, and they can abandon the artist in a blink of an eye.
"Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action" was an OK album, but this is the first time they seemed like they really weren't inspired at all and just wanted to do the Franz Ferdinand sound. I listened to it a couple of times, but every time it only made me want to listen to any of their previous albums, not replay it. It just didn't really bring anything new to the table this time.
"FFS" album was much better release and more fun than RTRWRA. "Johnny Delusional" is a typical FF song and Kapranos delivers it with so much joy. I wish that project had more success than it did. Hopefully their collaboration with Sparks will give them a kick to make the next FF album a bit more interesting and add something new.
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