FFS (aka, Franz Ferdinand and Sparks)

incredible they did manage to sneak in a "Dick Around"-like mini-opera in there after all

I was pleased, when I saw them, that they performed all the songs on their album (except the bonus tracks). Obviously, that's their body of work, but it was nice to see that they didn't just do a few songs from the record and then do a mixed greatest hits set, it spoke to their faith in the quality of the record.

well its not like those Yes/Styx or Sting/Peter Gabriel shows where you assume both fanbases know each others' material well, what makes this collaboration different and strange is that there doesn't really seem to be any overlap whatsoever between the two fanbases. that said every song on the record seems like it would go down well live

They snuck in a couple of each others' songs, to their mutual benefit -- "Take Me Out" sounded great but that version of "Number One Song In Heaven" is easily among the top two times I've seen that performed (and I've seen that done something like...seven, eight times, maybe more? I've lost count at this point with Sparks).

This also reminds me that the Sparks documentary by Edgar Wright gets its premiere this weekend via Sundance online, so.

I don't really know much about FF but they do seem like they would be a particularly good backing band for Sparks

okay now I'm on "The Gambler" and I have to say "Taste Of My Love" may not even have the worst lyrics on the album

oh whoops thought this was the Love Beach thread

you know I kinda wonder if I've been getting FP'd for bumping all these old obscure album threads. I don't blame you if you do

by the way is there any indication which group wrote what? like "Dictator's Son" & "Piss Off" are clearly Sparks, no one else writes songs like that, but something like "Little Guy From the Suburbs" is probably FF? there aren't any credits in the sleeve.

Probably intentional!

by the way is there any indication which group wrote what? like "Dictator's Son" & "Piss Off" are clearly Sparks, no one else writes songs like that, but something like "Little Guy From the Suburbs" is probably FF? there aren't any credits in the sleeve.

There was fan club newsletter around the time the album came out that broke down the writing credits song by song. You're right about these three, if I remember correctly. I think "Suburbs" was the only one that was entirely credited to Alex Kapranos on the album proper, and he also had the bonus track "King of the Song." The other tracks that were entirely Sparks-written were "Johnny Delusional," "Save Me from Myself," "The Power Couple," "So Many Bridges," and "Look at Me." Everything else was collaborative. I remember being surprised that most of my favorites were the true collaborations and just the ones where FF were essentially Sparks' backing band!

when I first heard "Call Girl" my thought was "hmmm this sounds a bit like that 'Do You Want To' song" without realizing the band who wrote it was literally on the record