An irresistible groove runs under sharp synths and jagged guitars, with ‘Do You Want To’s chantalong refrain resurrected to stirring effect. Opener ‘Right Action’ sets the tone it’s an exercise in everything that sonically characterised the first two albums. And if that means there’s little in the way of genuine progression on Right Action, there’s at least compelling evidence that their relative lack of productivity hasn’t blunted their mastery of the Franz formula. The Franz sound was already so tight, so well-honed on the likes of ‘Tell Her Tonight’ and ‘Darts of Pleasure’, that they didn’t need to use their first couple of full-lengths as a kind of breeding ground on which they’d perfect their craft they’d already managed it. On reflection, the self-titled LP was one of those rare debuts that’s so meticulously constructed, so assured in its delivery, that it doesn’t leave the artist a great deal of room to grow into. It sounds precisely like what it is: a very straightforward Franz Ferdinand record. Which is puzzling, because I’m not sure exactly how Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action could be misrepresented there’s nothing esoteric or markedly divergent here. With Tonight having failed to scale the same heights as its predecessors, the band quietly disappeared again new songs cropped up on their return to the live circuit last year, but Alex Kapranos cited the ‘tainting’ of the last record by media misinformation to excuse their radio silence. Taking their cues from dance music more prominently than ever before and basing the album around a loose concept of a night out were both likely factors in making Tonight a little less accessible than their previous records, but it also contained some of their finest work to date, including a rollicking lead single, ‘Ulysses’, and the ambitiously epic ‘Lucid Dreams’, which went through an experimental metamorphosis on stage. It’s not completely clear what happened next, but whether they were trying to avoid burnout, pursuing other interests or just plain resting on their laurels, it was a long time until they resurfaced with new material the criminally-underrated Tonight: Franz Ferdinand was released in early 2009. The latter of those records hit number one in the UK, and for a long time those big hitting singles – ‘Take Me Out’, ‘Do You Want To’, ‘The Dark of the Matinee’ – seemed ubiquitous. The quickfire one-two punch of their self-titled debut and its follow-up, You Could Have It So Much Better, saw the band’s profile rise in stratospheric fashion, so much so that they were headlining Reading and selling out arenas within a couple of years. It seems a long time ago now, but Franz Ferdinand had the world at their feet once.
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