You Could Have it So Much Better, the second album from Mercury Music Prize winners Franz Ferdinand is pretty much everything a band???s second record should be: an assured, endearingly cocky return that builds on the strengths of its predecessor, and importantly, brings a few more tricks to the table.

Beyond hipster quips and hedonism, however, Franz are busy expanding their emotional palette. "Walk Away" is a fragile indie soul piece, Alex Kapranos cooing "mascara bleeds into my eyes" over a tune reminiscent of London garage rockers The Flaming Stars (although it also features references to Mao-Tse Tung and Hitler, so don???t be too quick to pin this one as a love song). Meanwhile, "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" nods to Dylan and Revolver-era Beatles, suggesting an urge to capture hearts beyond the dancefloor. All the same, though, a fabulous return. --Louis Pattison

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Not quite as good as their first album but still enjoyable. Pity these boys don't seem to be doing much at the moment.

Following swiftly on from their debut, it's easy to think that Franz Ferdinand are striking whilst the iron is hot, rushing a new album in the law of diminishing returns. Not for them, the difficult second album.

"You Could Have It So Much Better" seems to fall effortlessly from the same pot of gold as their debut. It isn't a case of the Emporer's new clothes, but of a new regime. Hopefully kicking out the imposters and the other talentless drip charlatans with their pathetic inner demons, drug implants, and talent transplants, Der Franz take the angular artrock of postpunk and make it sound very now (as well as very Next Year) in a way that probably won't date.

Chock full of hits (even the songs that won't be hits sound like hits), from the pounding "Do You Want To?" to the closing "The Outsiders", Franz tap into classic imagery and reset it in a new frame. Lyrics are both specifically personal and ambigiously vague. A sound that is both idiosyncratically unique and familiar enough to seem familiar to children of all ages, "You Could Have It So Much Better" reminds me of nothing as much as U2's "October." - the sound of potential becoming flesh.

The sound of a band that is beginning to scratch the surface of its ambition, exploring a new world whilst remaining recognisable by its trademarks, and a band that will be absolutely stadium fillingly pantwettingly huge in five years time. Songs on here sound like old favourites the first time you hear them, so swamped in the air of familiarity and memorable melodies that "You Could...." sounds like another Greatest Hits album.

And the feeling I get is that they haven't written their first stadium anthem yet. Their first absolute, bona-fide, Live-Forever style classic that will outlive any and all trends and the trappings of the age. "You Could Have It So Much Better" ... is practically a taunt to the competition - why settle for less, when you can have this?

I'm somewhat disadvantaged in assessing this collection because I've never heard the first album - but believe me, it's on my Christmas List! In my experience, second albums released hastily on the back of a successful debut are nothing to write home about. And Mercury prize winners are another cause for suspicion in my book. However, this one is a big exception. It's imaginitive, interesting and (after quite a few listens) entertaining. But you've got to play it a lot of times and give it a chance! With the first hearing, I didn't think I'd enjoy it. And I was right - I didn't - apart from a couple of the more conventional-sounding tracks such as Eleanor and Walk Away. But that's not the time to write a review, which I suspect is the problem with most of the negative reviews here. Giving an album one star because it's not how you would like it to be misses the whole point of objective appraisal. Would you say Beethoven was rubbish because it's not like Coldplay? To my mind this is an excellent album. The dry wit of the lyrics in particular reveals itself gradually the more times you listen. I wouldn't normally resort to filling my review by quoting lyrics but I can't resist including the phrases "I've watched you clean the filth off your phone dial" and "As you walk away, Radio 4 is static". The melodies are unusual but they grow on you and are all the more satisfying for that. It may sound unlikely but at times the sound of the band approaches that of Captain Beefheart's early 70's Magic Band, with a driving bass, thumping drums and a relentless Telecaster rhythm, particularly on "I'm Your Villain". I've not heard another band get near that sound before (and if you like it, get yourself a copy of the astonishing Trout Mask Replica). An original and clever album. Not dramatic enough for five stars but - buy it, give it time and it will reward you.

I now see why everyone seems to say that second albums are difficult.
After their initial success, FF needed to prove that they were not a 1-hit wonder.
This album does just enough, but is not worth the full 5 stars.
I am waiting for the 3rd album to see whether they have honed their writing enough to survive.
Whereas 'Take me out' really showed some innovation and was a real novelty, there is nothing outstanding in this one.
However, there are enough hints to show that that they are not just milking a formula and are still experimenting - just for my taste they have not quite got there.
I will stick with it though.

OK, I admit that I really liked the first album. I listened to it alot, and passed this gem of knowledge on to all of my friends, telling them that Franz will be huge. I loved the raw sound and the mix of influences. This album fails to deliver all of that first album rawness, (why should it? It is a second album afterall). But it also fails to deliver any of the 'slap in the face' brilliant tunes of it's predecessor. True, there are some reasonable tunes here, but not one really leaps out at you, and in truth the whiney, pop, self-indugences of some of the songs sometimes irritate. I have tried to listen myself into it, but now it rarely gets put on as I have too many cds that are far better to listen to, (including the eponymous debut by Franz)

In short, it is an OK album, and one that Franz fans can get their fix from, but not really for me. That is why I've sat on the fence with only 3 stars.