Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

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Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
A black-and-white photograph of a man confronting a photographer while two others tend to a man who has fallen ill on the sidewalk. The words "Tonight:" in white and "Franz Ferdinand" in orange are displayed in the top-right of the photo.
Studio album by
Franz Ferdinand
Released26 January 2009
Recorded17 April – 20 September 2008
Studio
Genre
Length42:45
LabelDomino
Producer
Franz Ferdinand studio albums chronology
You Could Have It So Much Better
(2005) 		Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
(2009) 		Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
(2013)
Singles from Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
  1. "Ulysses"
    Released: 2 December 2008
  2. "No You Girls"
    Released: 6 April 2009
  3. "Can't Stop Feeling"
    Released: 6 July 2009
  4. "What She Came For"
    Released: 31 August 2009
  5. "Live Alone"
    Released: 13 November 2009

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (also known as Tonight[1]) is the third studio album by Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand, released on 26 January 2009 through the Domino Recording Company. In contrast to their speedily-recorded second studio album, You Could Have It So Much Better (2005), the band chose to take some time off before recording a new album. Writing sessions began in early 2007 and recording took place in 2008 at the town hall of Govan, Scotland, and producer Dan Carey's studio in South London.

Tonight is a concept album loosely based around a night of partying and the morning effects after. The album has more of a dance-oriented sound, featuring dance-punk, new wave, and electropop throughout, marking a departure from the band's post-punk sound, which was prominently featured on their past two albums. They also took inspiration from dub music and the music of Jamaica and Africa while recording. The cover art was inspired by 1940s and 50s crime scene photographs, particularly ones taken by New York City-based photographer Weegee.

Tonight received generally favourable reviews from music critics and had a positive commercial performance, peaking at number two on the UK Albums Chart, number nine on the US Billboard 200, and charting in the top ten in several other countries. Five official singles were released to promote the album: "Ulysses", "No You Girls", "Can't Stop Feeling", "What She Came For", and "Live Alone". A remix album composed of dub versions of most tracks from Tonight, titled Blood, was released on 18 April 2009.

Background and recording

The out-of-use Govan Town Hall was used by the band as a recording studio

Although having written about eight songs while on tour in 2005, Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy decided to write new music because they wanted the album to be "...quite new, to be quite different sounding from everything we've ever done before."[2] Despite having recorded their second album in a short amount of time, Kapranos stressed that the band wanted to take their time. He voices, "This time we wanted to spend more time developing, and also, I suppose, allowing songs and sounds to evolve more before we ended up writing an album, and absorbing more music and ideas and, I suppose, life itself. And when I say life, I mean life off the road, because I wouldn't classify life on the road as real life."[3]

Franz Ferdinand began working on Tonight in early 2007.[2] Franz Ferdinand was supposed to record the album with producer Brian Higgins, yet in March 2008, the two entities parted ways. The drummer, Paul Thomson, says "We wrote with Higgins for a while and initially we thought we'd work more with him but it didn't really work out. We just realized that we're not really a pop group." However, they also commented they have not given up on the pop concept.[4] The songs on the album were written and recorded at the town hall of Govan, Scotland, and Dan Carey's studio in South London.[5] The band first moved into Govan's town hall following a year of touring in support of their second studio album and mostly used it for storing and rehearsing.[6] Recording sessions for the album began on 17 April 2008.[7]

Composition

Tonight is a concept album that explores the highs and lows associated with an evening of debauchery, as stated by a critic on online publication Ventvox. "This album covers all its bases from the initial excitement of the early evening to the numbness of the morning after", writes the reviewer. The line "come on, let's get high" from "

XFM article that "We're one of these bands that are always gonna sound the same no matter what we do, but there are other influences there. I guess the drums are a little different, Paul has been listening to a lot of African stuff so that's gonna come through."[11]

Musically, Tonight has been described as

Polyvox synthesizers.[17] He also stated, in a Rolling Stone interview, that the album is more of a dance than a rock record.[3] A song on the album previously known as "Kiss Me", presumably re-titled "No You Girls", uses a human skeleton for percussion, to which The Guardian jokingly, in response, asked "Have Glasgow's finest gone all goth on us? What next? Zombie hunting? Gigs at the necropolis?"[18]

Packaging

The artwork for the album is a

Søren Solkær Starbird just after midnight behind the Barrowlands Ballroom in Glasgow. Talking to NME, drummer Paul Thomson said, "We wanted to get a Weegee vibe – that famous New York crime scene photographer from the '40s and '50s".[19] Subsequently, it is part of a series where the band are taking photos with photographers in different cities they end up in. On the band's blog, they mention the series of photos as 'imaginary crime scenes, invaded by the photographer', and 'a slice of night frozen by flash'.[20]

It was announced on 20 September 2008 that they had finished work on the album but still had no title for it. On 7 October 2008, reporter Michael Hogan from Vanity Fair interviewed Alex and Paul, who confirmed the title of their third album to be Tonight,[21] with NME reporting the album's full title and release date a week later.[22]

Promotion and release

The band performing live in 2009, following the release of Tonight.

On 19 August 2008, Franz Ferdinand released "

Hot 100,[30] making it their first single to chart in the Hot 100 since "Do You Want To
". It peaked in several other countries, as well, also marking a significant chart performance.

On 22 January, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand was made available for streaming through the band's official MySpace Music profile.

French Singles Chart.[34] "What She Came For" was released as a single on 31 August 2009[35] and "Live Alone" was released as a single on 13 November 2009.[36]
"Live Alone" didn't chart in any country.

Blood bonus disc

Main article: Blood (Franz Ferdinand album)

For its release on 26 January, the album is available as a

7-inch vinyl singles and as a 2 disc limited edition. These special editions are only available in Europe and include a bonus disc called Blood which contains dub versions of the tracks from the album.[37]

Reception

Critical

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic70/100[38]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[39]
The A.V. ClubB−[40]
Drowned in Sound6/10[41]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[13]
NME8/10[42]
The Observer[43]
Pitchfork7.3/10[44]
Rolling Stone[45]
Spin7/10[46]
Uncut3/5[47]

Tonight received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album has a total score of 70/100 on

Clash magazine commented that it could be "the band's most complete work to date. Worth the wait, and in all honesty better than we could ever have hoped for."[50] The Financial Post states that "Tonight is the band's best album: Paradoxically, they've allowed themselves a degree of release from their characteristic tension by creating structures within which they can cut loose."[51] The Telegraph commented on how Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is a melody-packed re-affirmation of everything that has made the band so popular hitherto, but with a highly contemporary-sounding, keyboard-driven edge.[52] The Trades stated that "this [album] is an evolutionary step for the band rather than a revolutionary one. Smart and danceable, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand proves that Franz Ferdinand are the masters of dance-rock."[53] NBC commented on how 'Franz Ferdinand has once again managed to outdo themselves with their best album to date.'[54]

Uncut's and The Guardian's reviews were less enthusiastic. Uncut commented that the album sounds dry and superficial, and the songs are too similar to each other and other Franz Ferdinand songs.[47] The Guardian stated that "if Franz's songwriting is broader than it was, it is still no deeper" and that "they'll keep trying to move your hips because they know they'll never win your heart."[43] Paste was similarly severe, stating that the vocals are "leering", the production "horrific", and that the lyrics "seem to lack both heart and brain" and conclude by writing that "the layoff suggests that Franz is either too confused or too lazy to move forward".[55]

Commercial

The album had a significant chart performance. It debuted at number two on the

UK Album Chart,[56] as well as number nine on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., selling about 31,000 copies in its first week of release.[57] The album, however, suffered a fifty-place decline on the Billboard 200 from #9 to #59 in its second week on the chart.[58] The album also charted in the top ten in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland. The album had a chart performance similar to their second studio album, You Could Have It So Much Better, which also charted in the top ten in several countries. In 2009. It was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 100,000 copies throughout Europe.[59]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Franz Ferdinand (Bob Hardy, Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Paul Thomson)

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand track listing[5]
No.TitleLength
1."Ulysses"3:11
2."Turn It On"2:20
3."No You Girls"3:41
4."Send Him Away"2:59
5."Twilight Omens"2:29
6."Bite Hard"3:26
7."What She Came For"3:33
8."Live Alone"3:29
9."Can't Stop Feeling"3:02
10."Lucid Dreams"7:56
11."Dream Again"3:18
12."Katherine Kiss Me"2:55
Total length:42:25
Japanese bonus tracks[60]
No.TitleLength
13."Lucid Dreams" (Original Version)3:42
14."Ulysses" (Disco Bloodbath Effect)8:03
15."Feeling Kind of Anxious" ("Ulysses" dub mix)6:31
Total length:60:43
Japanese Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
13."New Kind of Thrill"4:29
14."Anyone in Love"2:45
15."You Never Go Out Anymore"2:08
iTunes bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
13."Lucid Dreams" (Original Version) (US and Canada editions)3:42
14."Ulysses" (Disco Bloodbath Effect) (European editions, US and Canada pre-order editions)8:03
15."Feeling Kind of Anxious" ("Ulysses" dub mix) (US and Canada pre-order editions)6:31

Personnel

Personnel adapted from the album's liner notes.[5]

  • Producer:
    Dan Carey
  • Mastering: John Dent
  • Engineer: Paul Savage, Alexis Smith, Dan Carey, Allen Johnston (technical assistance)
  • Mixing: Dan Carey (tracks 4, 7, 8, 10 to 12), Mike Fraser (tracks 1 to 3, 5, 6, 9, 10), Eric Mosher (assistant to Fraser)
  • Artwork: Matthew Cooper, Franz Ferdinand (booklet), Rachel Graham (booklet), Søren Solkær Starbird (front cover)
  • Personal assistant: Jeremiah Olvera

Charts

References

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External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tonight:_Franz_Ferdinand&oldid=1179436125"