We have Wayyys of makin' you POLL! The SUPER FURRY ANIMALS Singles (Vol 1)

Juxtapozed with U

First time I heard that, I thought it was Elvis Costello. (listen to "I wanna be loved" and that one...)

Several of their best songs were never singles, SFA are an album band and you need their albums if you want to check them out properly.

Anyway, voted one song that is not on an album: "Ice Hockey Hair".

So many good songs there for real. I'm edging towards 'Demons' being my favourite but being held back by the fact I cannot remember it being a single at all

I remember a video for it, looked like it was filmed in South America.

I might vote the same as Geir here. I feel slightly dirty.

I like Northern Lites, The Man Don't Give A Fuck and God! Show Me Magic a lot too.

looked like it was filmed in colombia, hence i thought the whole song was some sort of self-loathing drugs reference. how shallow i am.

actually, SFA's videos are generally superb. "juxtapozed with u" has one of the best videos *ever* imo (with "it's not the end of the world" not far behind).

but the best song? it can only be "blerwytirhwng?". oh shit, or "slow life". argh, decisions. and i haven't even heard the full-length "ice hockey hair" yet.

Hometown Unicorn, Ice Hockey Hair, The Man..., Golden Retriever are all excellent, and the others aren't bad too. They were my favourite band during the period above. I don't agree that they're an albums band- they pull off both writing coherent albums and great singles, at least during this period.

Hermann Loves Pauline, love that song.

Hah! FRENCH BREAD!

As usual I am agreeing with Geir.

Blerwytirhwng? wasn't a single was it? I mean, it's the last song on the EP, but I suppose that means you can pick any of the tracks. And you'd pick Ice Hockey Hair over Smokin' any day. Don't remember Slow Life being a proper single either. Is the poll list from that Songbook vol.1 comp? I only have the dvd, which I should watch again as LJ is OTM above.

Also, up until Guerilla the b-sides were consistently great - Out-Spaced stands up as an album as much as a compilation, and there's plenty that didn't make it onto that.

Could vote for any of these though, Ice Hockey Hair gets it today.

SFA = best singles band of the last 10 years? The difficulty I'm having with this decision makes me think it might be so.

I'm now weirdly attracted by the idea of voting for "(Drawing) Rings Around The World", in its crystalline pop perfection. The parent album is as I keep saying one of this decade's top 5.

God show me magic. Easy.

All of these songs are great. Gotta go with "Ice Hockey Hair" though. Or "Northern Lites."

I adore Hermann loves Pauline so I'll rep that for everyone! Actually, I will rep it with MaresNest. Polish born but French-bred!

total fucking embarrassment of riches

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

When I first opened this thread I was sure I was going to vote "Juxtaposed", but thirty seconds later I was sure it would be "The Man Don't Give A Fuck". So I listened to all of these again and now I'm stuck between "Demons", "Golden Retriever", "Something 4 the Weekend" and "Northern Lites". Such a great, great, great singles band. Hunt3r OTM.

Fuck it, I'm going with "Golden Retriever", mostly because I'm not sure that it'll get as many votes as some of the more obvious singles.

aw but that's the derivative blues-rock one :(

I voted "Blerwytirhwng?" in the end! Incredible song.

I'd vote for "Organ Yn Dy Geg" if it was on here, but I guess I'll go with "Northern Lites" instead.

after my obsession with the Boo Radleys this band took over as my favorite, so hurt by those last two albums.

"Juxtapozed with U" is stunningly beautiful and therefore gets my vote.

a) cmon kids is awesome
b) the last SFA album was a bigger let-down than anything the boo radleys did

but i still prefer SFA so fair fucks

i was hurt by the last two SFA animals (to clarify). the Boo Radleys however released their second best album last.

animals have no idea how i typed that.

it's late!

ok so i misinterpreted you, well in that case i agree entirely (altho love kraft has its moments)

now i see what i did, that was suppose to be albums and not animals.

again agree, i came around to parts of Love Kraft but when i hear other Super Furry Animals stuff i can't think of how amazing they actually were. god is Hey Venus! bad, only could listen to it twice and once is on my CD.

i only listened to it once, full streaming on their myspace. absolutely 100% ghastly. derivative, uninspiring crap without an ounce of invention. (well, neo consumer is kinda catchy, and suckers is ok. that's ALL i'm giving 'em)

love kraft has two solid-gold winners in zoom! and cabin fever, and much of it isn't actually bad (lazer beam, psyclone, atomik lust being 3 perfectly good songs i could name)

of course RATW is one of the best albums ever, Phantom Power showed signs they were slowing down but the decline hasn't been arrested

i'm having a off day, sorry for sounding like an idiot.

adore Phantom Power but i know what you mean because it wasn't as strong as everything else they did before, damn good though. still made my top ten for that year but wasn't top five like all the others...

I went with the underrated "Play it Cool" in the end. Really, though, on any given day, it could have been almost anything else on the roster.

hermann loves pauline, alhough i like most sfa songs the same.

"Play it cool" got me into them.

Up till then, they just looked like a bunch of stoners having a laff.

Now, I know that they be musical geniusses who like a draw.

That's the point.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

If "Sidewalk Serfer Girl" had been made a single, and it's a crime that it wasn't, then that would have gotten my vote easily.

I went with Juxtapozed.

It's been a long while since I listened to some SFA, so decided to put on Songbook (rather than any of their proper studio albums) while having my morning coffee and breakfast. I bought this compilation when it came out for completist reasons pretty much, and as such I've seldom listened to it. However, listening to all of these singles, back-to-back, one after the other, from their prime period of 1994-2003, is reminding me why I fell in love with this band to begin with.

I would have voted for 'Slow Life' here. To me, it's SFA's defining song and would have been the perfect track to finish their career on, especially with it being the final track on Phantom Power, an album which many consider to be their last truly great album.

It's incredible to think that this compilation will be ten years old this year. It came out at the absolute peak of my SFA fandom, and I remember rushing out to excitedly buy it even though I'd already heard the songs on it hundreds upon thousands of times before, just so I could have a copy of the limited edition version with the pop-up sleeve.

I still think that Love Kraft is wonderfully produced and is a great headphones record, but while listening to this compilation and thinking back to how exciting it was to be an SFA fan circa Songbook and how the future of the band seemed full of endless possibilities, it was definitely the beginning of the end for me. Two albums later (the very good but not incredibly spectacular Hey Venus! and the woeful Dark Days/Light Years) and I have really very little interest in checking out any of their new music, collectively or individually.

But man, what a great thing it is to be reminded of how I felt about this band when they were at their peak, when they actually meant something to me.

Yes.

I'd put this album up with the Beatles' "1" for consistency and commerciality and invention.

i bought all their albums and singles for that matter as i was a mega fan. the track-list looks amazing and i could see myself playing that over and over again.

The newer 'greatest' double CD is basically this, irrigated with the best of the post-Phantom tracks, is also ... perfect

Nothing with 'Bing Bong' and/or 'Mt.' or 'Inaugural Trams' is perfect. The latest compilation has all three, so obviously I disagree!

this is a band who i know i'd have fallen in love with if I'd paid a bit more attention back in the day

At their peak, they were leagues ahead of The Boo Radleys and I'm sure Martin Carr himself would agree.

yeah, i mean, they're the epitome of 'stuff i liked' in the 90s, I just never really heard much beyond the hits

Man, you don’t like “Inaugural Trams”? Love that song. Great lyrics, too.

At their peak, they were leagues ahead of The Boo Radleys and I'm sure Martin Carr himself would agree.

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican)

Haha, not even close. They didn't have an album as good as Giant Steps or even C'mon Kids. The Boo Radleys b-sides were also miles better and I love SFA, they were my favorite band for a long time.

Boo Radleys never captured my imagination like SFA did.

same tbh

The reason for the Boo Radleys comparison, of course, being that they were both on Creation and part of the Dick Green stable of acts rather than the Alan McGee stable, but also because the influences of both bands are quite similar.

I'd say the all the albums from '97 to '03 are all better than Giant Steps.

Carr was (still is, as far as I'm aware) a huge fan, of course. Several SFA tracks got Bravecaptain remixes.

I'd still put Giant Steps above the lot, but the other SFA albums are up for eggs.

Gruff's voice is priceless. That's the element that makes SFA so special to me.

Always found Boo Radleys vocalist a bit devoid of personality.

Really? I've often found that his (Gruff's) voice is a barrier for a lot of people. I'll admit it was an acquired taste on the earlier records, but his voice got a lot better as time went on. I like it, personally - it's got a nice warmth to it.

I know what you mean about Sice's voice - there's a few moments in the Boo's catalogue where I'm not sure he knows what he's singing about or even cares. It works best as this little voice in the middle of a shoegazey storm.