Hart, Lesh and Kreutzmann eventually reunited - first as the Other Ones and, in 2003 and 2004, for tours billed as the Dead. But despite pulling in almost $18 million, the 2004 Wave That Flag Tour was strained onstage and off, as the band-mates attempted to work out their post-Garcia roles.

Album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand Due Out January Producer Dan Carey.

By Brian Hiatt .

Earlier this year, franz ferdi-nand offered an online preview of a new song called "Lucid Dreams" -its danceable beat and crunchy guitars suggested that the Scottish foursome's third album wouldn't wander far from their established sound. But that was a fake-out: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is an aggressive left turn for the band, full of synths, drum machines and psyche­delic production. And the eight-minute-long final version of "Lucid Dreams" is radically different from that preview, with buzzy analog keyboards, spooky back­ground vocals and an electro-tribal groove that's half electronic, half live drums. "We took a little bit of time to evolve," says frontman Alex Kapranos, fresh from mixing the disc. The band recorded it at a leisurely pace over 18 months, mostly in a studio constructed in a rundown Glas­gow building. "We'd record one song five different ways, which is where the luxury of time comes in."