Five Star Albums - #1: Franz Ferdinand - Self-Titled

I'm sure everyone remembers clearly an event that changed their life. It's a birth, a starting point that throws the rest of your life in a completely different direction. I still remember what changed my life, five years ago.

I was thirteen at the time. I was sitting in the backseat of the minivan, and I had set down my Game Boy or whatever it was I was playing at the time. My family and I were westbound, heading to yet another soccer tournament that my sister would participate in that summer. I didn't go on these trips to support my sister. All I really cared about was seeing the open road, getting a change of scenery for once. As a thirteen-year-old, I didn't have that much autonomy. That minivan was the only way my world would get bigger.

Anyways, those details are not important compared to what happened next. My parents put a CD into the car stereo. I didn't pay much attention at first, but as time wore on, the music piqued my interest. Lyrics flowed into my ear... “So find me and follow me/through corridors, refectories/and files you must follow/leave this academic factory...” “...Fire burning inside of me/paralyze, destroying completely/and now, there is a fire in me/a fire that burns...”

I don't remember anything else from that trip. Weeks after, those few melodies I remembered semi-well still stuck in my head. It was an experience I had never felt before. After days of humming these nameless songs to myself, I finally worked up the courage to ask my father... could he burn a copy of that CD for me?

I dunno why I was nervous to ask it. I had never really expressed any musical taste beforehand, so it was odd to say that I actually liked an artist. But my wish was granted. The next day, I had in my hands a burned CD, with the words “Franz Ferdinand” written in sharpie. I dusted off my portable CD player, dug out my headphones, and laid in my bed, truly listening to the album for the first time.

A singer with a Scottish accent crooned as he strummed an acoustic guitar. He sang of a girl named Jacqueline, who was admired by afar from Ivor. But soon, a steady bass line kicked in... then the drums, then electric guitar. And as I learned it's better on holiday, I was blown away. Before I knew it, 45 minutes had passed, and the album was over.

I waited to see if there was anything more... that's it. 11 songs. So I just hit play again. I didn't just find music that I kinda liked. I was in love.

Soon after, I started asking my father about other bands. He was happy to recommend a few. Soon I was discovering music on my own, and falling in love all over again. The Killers. Modest Mouse. They Might Be Giants. A whole world had opened up to me.

Listening to it again, I can easily see why I fell in love in the first place. There's a raw energy that permeates the entire record, but it's not messy. Each track is perfectly crafted. Nicholas McCarthy provides some of the most hummably melodic guitar lines I've ever heard. Paul Thompson provides a disco-like beat that is impossible to not tap your foot along to. Bob Hardy's bass lines groove through the entire album. And Alex Kapranos' vocals are cool, confident, and incredibly sexy.
This is one of those rare albums that doesn't have a single filler track. Each track had a real potential for being released as a single. And hell, half of the album was. “Take Me Out”, “Matinee”, “This Fire”, “Darts of Pleasure”, and “Michael” were all released as singles within the first year the album came out. And all of them certainly deserved to be hits, even though only “Take Me Out” made any mainstream success.

Now, five years after that car trip, my music collection has grown from a few burned CDs to over 350 albums, singles, and Eps that I am proud to call my own. And I have an even larger digital collection. But still, in all this, Franz Ferdinand's first album has a special place in my heart.