Franz Ferdinand is the debut studio album by Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand, first released on 9 February 2004 through the Domino Recording Company. It was recorded during 2003 at Gula Studios in Malmö, Sweden, with Tore Johansson, who produced the majority of the album, with two tracks produced by the band themselves. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number three in February 2004 and contains the UK top ten singles "Take Me Out" and "The Dark of the Matinée" as well as UK top 20 hit "Michael".
Franz Ferdinand won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize and was nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. The album has since sold over 3.6 million copies worldwide, with over 1.27 million copies in the United Kingdom and at least 1 million copies in the US (corresponding to Platinum).
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1Score =
| rev2 = Blender
| rev2Score =
| rev3 = The Guardian
| rev3Score =
| rev4 = Los Angeles Times
| rev4Score =
| rev5 = Mojo
| rev5Score =
| rev6 = NME
| rev6Score = 9/10
| rev7 = Pitchfork
| rev7Score = 9.1/10
| rev8 = Q
| rev8Score =
| rev9 = Rolling Stone
| rev9Score =
| rev10 = Uncut
| rev10Score =
Franz Ferdinand received universal critical acclaim, holding a score of 87 out of 100 on review aggregator site Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 31 reviews. Anthony Thornton of NME cited Franz Ferdinand as the latest act in a line of art school rock bands with "the absolute conviction that rock 'n' roll is more than a career option" and praised the album as "the latest and most intoxicating example of the wonderful pushing its way up between the ugly slabs of Pop Idol, nu metal and Britons aping American bands."
Franz Ferdinand is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and was placed at number two on Planet Sound's Best Albums of 2004 list. Clash placed "Franz Ferdinand" at No.14 in its list of the top albums from 2004 to 2009. Online music magazine Pitchfork placed Franz Ferdinand at number 101 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.
Commercial
Franz Ferdinand had a positive commercial performance. The album entered the UK albums chart at number 3 in February 2004 and at number 12 on the Australian ARIA albums chart in April 2004. The album entered the Billboard 200 on 26 April 2004, and climbed slowly, peaking at number 32 in December 2004.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy, unless noted otherwise. All tracks are produced by Tore Johansson except "Tell Her Tonight" and "This Fire", produced by Franz Ferdinand.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's CD cover and liner notes.
;Franz Ferdinand
- Alex Kapranos – lead vocals, guitar
- Nick McCarthy – guitar, backing vocals, keyboards
- Bob Hardy – bass guitar
- Paul Thomson – drums
;Artwork
- Vivian Lewis – back cover
- Joe Dilworth – band photo
- Roxanne Clifford – black and white photo
- Martin Clark – label photo
- Franz Ferdinand and Matthew Cooper – other artwork
;Production
- Tore Johansson – producer
- Franz Ferdinand – producer
- Jens Lindgård – engineer
- Stefan Kvarnström – engineer
- Steve Rooke – mastering
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2004–2005 weekly chart performance for Franz Ferdinand
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2004–2005)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 31
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| European Albums (Billboard)
| 13
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)
| 29
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| 18
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2009 weekly chart performance for Franz Ferdinand
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2009)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2004 year-end chart performance for Franz Ferdinand
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2004)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 51
|-
! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 41
|-
! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)
| 96
|-
! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 71
|-
! scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)
| 84
|-
! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 90
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
| 25
|-
! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 17
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
| 111
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2005 year-end chart performance for Franz Ferdinand
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2005)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)
| 119
|-
! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 45
|}