Franz Ferdinand: Hits to the Head 2LP Vinyl

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set comes in a gatefold with a 16-page booklet of liner notes by JD Beauvallet and unseen photos from the band's own collection. It gathers 20 hits plus two new songs, "Billy Goodbye" and "Curious."

This edition

2LP set
Remastered
Gatefold jacket
16-page booklet
Download card included
Pressed in the EU

About the album

Few bands arrive fully formed. Franz Ferdinand did. Their second single, "Take Me Out," reached No. 3 in the UK, the debut album that followed won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize, and two BRIT Awards arrived the next year. The Glasgow band have spent the years since making records you can dance to without feeling silly about it.

The set runs through the Tore Johansson era ("Darts of Pleasure," "Michael," "This Fire"), Rich Costey's punchy second album ("Do You Want To," "Walk Away," "The Fallen") and the disco-tinged "Ulysses" and "No You Girls." Hot Chip's Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor produced "Right Action," Todd Terje worked on "Evil Eye," Philippe Zdar shaped "Always Ascending" and Stuart Price produced the two new tracks. Laurence Bell served as executive producer, and the booklet's photos come straight from the band's own albums of snapshots, which gives the whole package the warm, personal feel of a family scrapbook.

It plays like a party that never loses its nerve. Twenty years of hits, two new songs and not a single track you'd skip, which is more than we can say for the staff playlist.

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