Yes I know that by 2005 we had all got a bit tired of hearing this album, but this time media over-kill was completely justified. This debut release by Franz Ferdinand was such a huge breath of fresh air – interesting, upbeat, youthful, cool music for the cool kids, not boring dance or “slow-jams” for the chavs and the tasteless. This was art rock nouveau-stylee, not just recycling the bloody Beatles again. Plus it contained real instruments and real musicians really playing them. I would not of course be as narrow minded as to suggest that all music must have guitars and guitarists and real drums etc., but circa 2004 the only guitars in the charts were attached to either Busted or The Darkness. Boo indeed. 
Admittedly, musically and lyrically Funeral is much better than Franz Ferdinand. This is a charming, yet poignant album, which is a truly accomplished fantastical feat of musicianship, with as marvelously diverse instruments as viola, melodeon and French horn. It is passionate and painful, and perfectly captures the tender conception of the album for the group; evoking a bittersweet, detached sense of numbness that is surely familiar to us all. Rich, poignant, attractive and innovate, Funeral is a truly remarkable album; Franz trumped this year very slimly, essentially because of the joie de vivre and influence they begot through their eponymous. 