SUPER FURRY ANIMALS

I agree... from the sounds of it, Chris Shaw saved the record from being a sonic travesty.

It was mixed by the guy who produces BSS, right?

I like the album a lot. It's much better than Love Kraft. Got a couple duds, but I think it's held up better than its predecessor.

Yeah.

If I'm going to listen to anything by this band, and I very rarely do these days, it's gonna be stuff from 1994-2004.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=84&v=G6XK_vIR7eY🕸

oh my, skip to 1:25

Ah thanks. Destroy has to be up there in the top 5 SFA songs. Would be happy to run a ballot poll but stuff seems locked down for an eternity hence already.

Still rep for HV and DDLY. Love Kraft can go eat a turd.

I prefer LK to either of those :/

prefer Love Kraft to all their other albums

hopefully there will now be multi-post breakdown explaining why this opinion is factually wrong

Normally I would, but... meh, I'm struggling to find the enthusiasm to do so. They were a phenomenal band up to that point, though - in hindsight, it was perhaps a bit naïve of me to think they could have kept up that quality forever.

Love Kraft is probably their worst album, but still very good. "Zoom" is up there with their best songs. A lot of the rest of the album is just a bit flat, there's not a whole lot that really stands out, though I enjoy it anyway and certainly listened to the album a lot back when it was released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VXsAiNdelk

I wish Gruff could write songs as good as this again. There was a period where he really was one of our greatest living songwriters.

Whoops:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQGnXbeO8AU

'Slow Life' was where it peaked - in hindsight, that would have been the best place to leave it.

A Would be happy to run a ballot poll but stuff seems locked down for an eternity hence already.

― wtev, Tuesday, July 18, 2017 1:42 PM

i hope you do this. they became my favorite band after The Boo Radleys broke up and love them immensely. i almost added this to the artist ballot list but backed out because i'm not sure how much interest there would be for this poll. to tell you the truth i signed up for Suede instead. don't worry about the back log as many people have dropped off and you might be able jump the queue. wtev, have you posted under a different name on ILx? you sound like you have been around...

i jumped the ship with Love Kraft thou i did buy that CD.

i also have like 30 CD singles by these guys...

n/m just counted it is 17 singles but still.

I'd be up for an SFA ballot poll... to be honest, the top 3 entries would be the easiest part of putting an SFA ballot together, but the other 17 entries...

There's definitely some good material on Hey, Venus but I agree with Bee OK re: jumping off at Love Kraft.

Hello Sunshine samples Wendy and Bonnie, who absolutely kicks ass!

Was listening to 13 by Blur the other day, and damn if "Battle" doesn't sound exactly like the Furries. Couple other moments on the album too. Have to imagine Blur or Orbit were listening to these guys when making it

I'd participate in an SFA poll too

Super Furry Animals toured with Blur on their tour for Blur ... they were definitely aware of each other!

lol only I was not aware

Trying to imagine what the results of an SFA ballot poll would look like... it really could go in any direction, as unpredictable as the band themselves used to be. The only two songs I'm confident of are the Top 2, but even then I'm unsure which way around they'd be.

jumped the ship with Love Kraft thou i did buy that CD.

So you've never heard Hey Venus! or DD/LY? They're good! Check them out.

Yeah, check 'em out and see what you think, just don't expect to have your mind blown.

(The latter in particular is one of their patchiest records.)

I find LK their patchiest, but that's fair. I really think HV! and DD/LY are underrated albums. Perhaps they're not SFA at their best, but I don't expect many bands 15 years into their career to hit that high point anymore anyway. It's a shame they've completely ignored them since their reunion, but I SUPPOSE the fans don't want to hear them anyway so I'm in a small minority of music listeners/fans!

I think we've had this conversation a few times by now...

Like I've listened to Hey Venus! twice this week and wondered why I didn't rate it highly when it came it out. It's a perfectly competent record. Maybe that's why it was so underwhelming? I dunno. Just, compared to my typical reaction to listening to LK these days, I find HV! a very enjoyable, easy listen.

Love Kraft is without a doubt their patchiest, but Dark Days/Light Years is their second patchiest and Hey Venus! is basically SFA in snack size.

Hey Venus! b-sides are pretty good, too. I really don't find much fault with it. It's just not a progressive leap over anything they've done, though it has a few brilliant odds and ends. DD/LY--we'll just continue to agree to disagree on that one! I'm still surprised no b-sides ever surfaced, but I guess they went in and out of the studio fairly quickly.

Rings Around The World is their patchiest record for me. I've never understood why people rate it so highly.

I thought it was the greatest album in the world when it came out (and I still love it), so I'll never understand people who don't rate it highly. :\ Another album with great b-sides, too.

n/m just counted it is 17 singles but still.

Always bought them because the b-sides were quality.

/wtev, have you posted under a different name on ILx? you sound like you have been around.../

'whatever' and something less appropriate before then. 10-12 years? Some time before the ysi threads took off on ilm.

I'm still surprised no b-sides ever surfaced

Unfortunately, I wasn't surprised... CD singles were on their way out and I remember the 'Run-Away' single being difficult to get hold of.

Always bought them because the b-sides were quality.

― wtev, Friday, July 21, 2017 2:26 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I agree - even as late as the Hey Venus! singles the B-sides were mostly great.

SFA didn't really write songs deliberately to be B-sides - most of 'em were originally meant to be album tracks but when assembling the albums they left 'em off. They just used to record songs and then make an album out of 'em, and then put the ones that didn't make it out as B-sides.

Who's up for a B-sides poll

I don't think you'd be able to fit 'em all in one poll!

Had they saved "Blue Fruit" for Love Kraft and dropped "Back on a Roll," people might have been kinder to the album. :)

'Blue Fruit' is awful, though!

Like, I can't see how the inclusion of one of their weaker B-sides would have helped. Love Kraft is an EP ('Zoom!', 'Atomik Lust', 'Cloudberries', 'Cabin Fever') that they inflated to album-length with subpar tracks.

Around the same era, tonally fits, still a Bunf song, and heck, I like it. Great outro, too! "Sunny Seville" wouldn't have fit. "Colonise the Moon" might've done something with a more interesting arrangement.

"Frequency," "Ohio Heat," and "Walk You Home" are all great, u mad

I have a soft spot for "Psyclone!" honestly. The strings make it special. The bass isn't bad, either. Will never understand what the hell they were thinking with "Lazer Beam." Gruff must've been asleep when he wrote it.

Not all of SFA's B-sides were A-side or album worthy, although many were. There's some great stuff like 'Waiting to Happen', 'Calimero', 'Hit and Run', 'Wrap It Up', 'Mrs. Spector', 'Colorblind', 'The Matter of Time', 'Charge', 'Edam Anchorman', 'Summer Snow', 'Sunny Seville' and 'These Bones' ...

... but there's also a few things that suck: 'nO.K.', 'Rabid Dog', 'Happiness Is a Worn Pun', 'Gypsy Space Muffin', 'Blue Fruit', 'Sanitizzzed' ...

'Colonise the Moon' sucks too.

"Frequency," "Ohio Heat," and "Walk You Home" are all great, u mad

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, July 22, 2017 6:53 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

'Ohio Heat' is passable but I loathe the other two. 'Frequency' is nothing special, but overrated like fuck by the hardcore. 'Walk You Home' is a drab, confused mess. I particularly hate 'Psyclone!' though, which is a cringeworthy lyric married to a drab tune that not even its multiple key changes can save.

I think "Sunny Seville" is more cringeworthy than anything on the album, lyrically. "Sucking on dictaphone"?

"Summer Snow," "Edam Anchorman" and "Patience" are so good