Remember the scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian:
BRIAN: Look. You’ve got it all wrong. You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody! You’ve got to think for yourselves. You’re all individuals!
FOLLOWERS: Yes, we’re all individuals!
BRIAN: You’re all different!
FOLLOWERS: Yes, we are all different!
DENNIS: I’m not.
ARTHUR: Shhhh.
FOLLOWERS: Shh. Shhhh. Shhh.
BRIAN: You’ve all got to work it out for yourselves!
FOLLOWERS: Yes! We’ve got to work it out for ourselves!
Most of us like to think that we are independent thinkers, that we won’t follow the herd and latch on to each new craze. On the other hand, if the “new craze” is really good….?
All of this is an elaborate way of saying that I’m hooked on the eponymous first album by the Scottish group Franz Ferdinand. I heard a review on NPR‘s All Things Considered, was intrigued, received a rave recommendation from a friend, and bought it. Now I’m helping to spread the meme…. As for a description, imagine what would have happened if XTC hadn’t lost the recipe. There are definitely overtones of the Dukes of Stratosphear, the alter ego that XTC created to fool around with music from different genres and eras. But lyrically the FF songs are superior to XTC’s, and that’s saying something.