FFS (aka, Franz Ferdinand and Sparks)

i didn't get chance but kids spoke v highly

Yeah, this was so fun, I don't know how I was ever on the fence about going. I could have used a few more vintage Sparks songs, but fantastic night.

Caught the Boston show at the Orpheum and it was perfect.
Very smiley crowd. Everybody just seemed stoked. Loads of young people too. I would've thought even FF fans would skew much older.

Anyway. If you have the opportunity, do what everybody else in this thread is saying, and GO.

i was at that show too!

Did you notice all that smiliness too?
I hope I wasn't just imagining it. haha

Well last night in Oakland was the end of the tour and they confirmed it was the end of FFS -- at least for now but I think we have to treat it as the glorious one-off it was rather than something that'll happen again. Stellar show of course and it all ended after some appropriate farewell notes (San Francisco was where they finally got the ball formally rolling on this two years ago) with "Collaborations Don't Work."

yeah you know, I'm okay with that. This was great and this year felt kinda "special" in a way that is hard to replicate. I loved Grinderman (and that 2nd album tour was something else!) too but I was okay with Cave doing away with that quickly too.

but yeah an all-time concert for me

not to be a downer but how much has Sparks got left in 'em? they've been around since '68!

Russell's voice has held up amazingly well and FFS album was great and this tour felt pretty triumphant so seems like an odd time to ask that question.

that's why I'm asking. it's almost inhuman.

Ron just turned 70 a couple of months ago. I suspect they'll outlive us all.

Anyway, one last new FFS song, planned for the album but never completed.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/post/idsa.cecc4b7c-77d6-11e5-adf9-e48966e073bf

An acquaintance of mine I barely know (let alone knew she is into Sparks) took this at the show here and posted to her FB:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh310/yodelagogo/ron.jpg

lol sorry hueg, that's a little scary!

But appropriate. Ron Mael, the great stone face.

btw, thanks to you and everyone else upthread for pulling my coat to get to this show. It really was memorable.

found a copy at the local shop that had been marked down 3 times. I guess I get it, unless you look at the tiny text on the sticker you'd have no idea who it was. anyway I'm spinning it now and it's so much better than I remembered, it's like everything they tried to be in the 80's. can already tell "Police Encounters" will be in my head for the next 3 weeks

this was such an amazing show, I miss live music

Yeah, still so glad they came through and ended the tour with us. What a blast it was, that was their summer/fall for sure.

Thanks for reminding me of this little gem. Now playing: "Collaborations Don't Work".

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