Tom: Today in “I didn’t even know they were still going news”, first track from the new album. It’s been 14 years since “Take Me Out”, incidentally.
Tom: I was astonished, half way through that astonishing sax solo, to find the song still had a minute to go. And it ends with a repeat to fade! I don’t really know what to think about that: it’s so out of step with what’s going on in the pop industry lately.
Tim: Which is weird, because your first two sentences are absolutely right – I thought it was time for it to end, and was almost bored by the end of it. The weird thing, though, is that the first three and a half minutes is pretty much exactly what I would have suggested if you’d asked me “what would you expect a 2017 Franz Ferdinand to sound like?” Still heavy on the guitars, with a small amount of synth work thrown to stay up to date.
Tom: The big problem, of course, is that it’s not “Take Me Out”. A band has one hit that big, and they’ll be compared to it for the rest of their career.
Tim: Yep – they may have had three other top ten hits, and four more top 20, but they’ll always be them who who did Take Me Out.