đŸŽ” How Good Are They Really đŸŽ” Super Furry Animals

Loved those first 3 albums and a great live band. I found Rings Around the World quite bloated at the time and rarely went back to it and my interest waned from then on. Slow Life is a latter BANGER though.

4

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Also, I can’t think of a better intro than this:

(Does anyone know if an extended mix exists, based on the first minute and a half?)

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Saw them open with this once :heart:

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It’s been their opening song since Phantom Power, followed by runs around the world.
It’s an incredible 1-2 opener.

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I didn’t realise they were still going

Yeah, that’s probably my only criticism of SFA: I don’t think their live show has changed much (if at all) in a good 12-15 years. Starts with Slow Life, ends with The Man Don’t Give A Fuck. Mind you, if it ain’t broke.

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Saw them first on shows like Jools Holland and TFI Friday and found them really unlikeable somehow. Then I enjoyed the Radiator singles.

Finally I saw them live supporting Blur and they seemed so good. I guess some charisma doesn’t translate to TV or they just hated having to do that?

Anyway, caught them at Glastonbury that year or the next maybe. Someone tried to drive a fucking camper van through the crowd during Man Don’t Give a Fuck. Idiots. Naturally the crowd got on top and jumped up and down on it. The guy popped out of the sun roof to throw people off but someone pointed out the big BBC camera pointing at him so he relented


2/5.

My job means I have come into contact with a lot of musicians over the years. SFA were, by some distance, the rudest, most sullen and unhelpful of the lot. A very disappointing afternoon. Maybe they were having a bad day, but it has stuck with me for years.

1/5 for the experience of working with them, 3/5 for the high points of the music, 5/5 for Pete Fowler.

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5/5. Big band for me since my teens, from Fuzzy Logic onwards. Still love them just as much. One of the bands I’ve seen the most. Favourite gig was probably Shepherd’s Bush Empire when they were touring Ice Hockey Hair with Grandaddy in support. Amazingly fun albums, fantastic live. And I think Gruff Rhys is a stupendous lyricist.

Only album of theirs I’ve not been bothered about is Love Kraft. Out of Radiator and Guerilla for their best, but the former pips it for the tunes.

Radiator > Guerilla > Mwyng > Out Spaced > RATW > Fuzzy Logic > Phantom Power > Dark Days/Light Years > Hey Venus! > Love Kraft

Gonna give Love Kraft another listen - didn’t give it much of a chance when it came out.

Probably my favourite Welsh band.

2/5

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2
Nothing against them, music just didn’t connect at all.

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It’s a 5 from me btw. One of the bands I discovered who were kind of britpop-adjacent but showed me there was more to new music than Oasis and Blur (see also: Pulp, Spiritualized). Brilliant run of albums through to Rings, not that familiar with them after that PP only heard bits here and there but there’s enough to warrant a 5 for sure.

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5

For years I just listened to Songbook and never delved into their back catalogue. I did a few years ago and they’re now firmly one of my favourite bands. Slow Life is perfect.

Saw them at Reading 04 with my dad and we were both so knackered we just lay on our backs (was plenty of room in the Radio 1 tent that night, sadly) and listened. They played a really trippy show that night for some reason and it has become one of my favourite live music experiences. Sounded massive.

There’s a scene in the new Cold Feet which has the entire cast dancing around to Bing Bong, it was fucking weird.

IT WAS NO ORDINARY MOUNTAIN
IT WAS A STRANGE FUCKING MOUNTAIN

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Voted for Radiator, but Hey Venus! is not far behind. Very under rated album.
SFA get a solid 4 from me.

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Big 5 for me. I think there’s stuff to love on all their records, but their run of albums from Radiator through to RATW is incredible. I kinda get why the production sheen put some people off Rings, but stuff like Receptacle for the Respectable is as good as anything they’ve ever done. Super hard to pick a favourite album, but Radiator edges it for me. Really enjoy Lovekraft from their later stuff, but realise I’m probably one of the few who do.

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Like them a lot, great fun live. Rarely reach for one of their studio albums these days, but Songbook is as good a singles collection as they come and cements their place among Britain’s great pop bands. Probably a 4/5 for me.

Possibly the first HGATR that I cannot summon up any opinion on whatsoever. I suspect they’d probably irk me if they weren’t so easy to avoid but they literally have never infiltrated my life once. Abstain.

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Massive 5. One of the best discographies of any band I know. Nothing even close to a bad record in over ten albums’ worth, and their best stuff is transcendental.

Absolutely dumbfounded by some of the responses so far. Thought they’d absolutely clean up. Probably going to give the rest of this a miss.

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A 4, but a very high 4. Just not quite in my top, top tier of acts.

I’ve been with them from the start (‘mainstream’ start, that is. I’m not indie enough to have picked up those first 2 Welsh language EPs), first seeing them support The Bluetones at the Cambridge Corn Exchange and have seen them on most tours since then. I don’t think I saw them around the Love Kraft/Hey Venus period.

Favourite time was in Folkestone for the Guerrilla tour. They’d introduce that quadraphonic sound thing and it was immense. Such a great show. Then later on, when they played the Ben & Jerry’s Sundae thing on Clapham Common. Dancing around to The Man Don’t Give A Fuck with my, then, 4 and 1 year old daughters was a surreal as it gets.

Radiator is THE album for me, but that run from Fuzzy to Rings is as good as it gets (although I’m not as big on Mwng as many).

Super band and Gruff’s solo stuff since has been mostly on par with their stuff too.

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