released You Could Have It So Much Better

The band spent much of 2005 in the studio in Glasgow working on their follow-up album, You Could Have It So Much Better , which was released on 3 October 2005. The band initially intended to leave the album self-titled like their debut, but they changed it to You Could Have It So Much Better…With Franz Ferdinand before settling on the final title. The album’s cover design was modelled on Alexander Rodchenko ‘s 1924 portrait of Lilya Brik . The band attempted to broaden its musical range on the album; Hardy said, “There’s more to life than disco-beat guitar music”. It was generally well received in the press and seen as an album equal to, or better than, their first by most critics. It entered the UK Album Charts at Number 1 and the US charts at Number 8. The album eventually sold 2 million copies worldwide.