Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	83/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
NME	9/10
Pitchfork	8.3/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin	B+
The Village Voice	A−

You Could Have It So Much Better is the second studio album by Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand. It was first released on 28 September 2005 in Japan, and later on 3 October in the UK, through the Domino Recording Company. Recorded in both the United States and their own studio in Glasgow with producer Rich Costey, the album spawned four UK top 30 singles: "Do You Want To" on 23 August 2005, "The Fallen", "Walk Away" and "Eleanor Put Your Boots On."

The album became the band's first UK number one album and although their debut album was relatively successful in the United States, going platinum and reaching number 32, You Could Have It So Much Better managed to reach number 8 and earned gold status in the United States. The cover design is modeled on Alexander Rodchenko's 1924 portrait of Lilya Brik. It was produced by Rich Costey and Franz Ferdinand.

Initially it was reported that the album would simply be eponymous like the debut album, 2004's Franz Ferdinand. Singer Alex Kapranos explained, "The whole point is that the album doesn’t have a title. We decided quite a while ago that we didn’t want to give any of the albums titles, they were just going to be called 'Franz Ferdinand'."

He added, "The albums are going to be identified by their colour schemes rather than a title. The contrast of different colours creates a different mood. We experimented with different combinations of colours and this one stuck. At one level they looked good together, and they capture the mood of this record quite well."

However, on 1 August it was revealed that the band had changed their minds and decided to give the album a name. At first they revealed that the title Outsiders was considered before the current title was decided upon.

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Wikipedia