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at a glance...
Hometown:
Cardiff, Wales
First Recordings: 1993
Personnel:
Gruff Rhys- lead vocals, guitar
Dafydd Ieuan- drums
Huw Bunford- vocals, guitar
Guto Pryce- bass
Cian Ciaran- keyboards, electronic business
In the Family :
High Llamas, Catatonia, FC Kahuna, Mogwai
Notes:
The two most important things to know about the Super Furry Animals is that their debut EP was called Lianfairpwllgywgyllgoger Chwymdrobwllty- siliogoygoyocynygofod (In Space) and in 1996 they drove around the European summer festival circuit in a purple tank fitted with a sound system blasting techno. Oh, and they've also made some of the most interesting music of the '90s and '00s. In 1996 they released their first LP, Fuzzy Logic. Full-on pop-techno-punk-prog rock, it won people over because it was very different from most other music being released at the time. The lyrics showed songwriter Gruff Rhys to be mischievous, but simultaneously big-hearted and politically aware. In 1997, SFA followed up with Radiator. Guerrilla topped them both for pure insane pop experimentalism in 1999. In 2000, the Super Furry Animals released Mwng, sung entirely in Welsh. Throughout the Super Furry Animals have remained fun, eccentric, dedicated to leftist, humanist, for-the-working-man politics. There's not much more you could ask of them.
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Super Furry Animals
Rings Around the World
Epic, Released 2001/2002
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How did the Super Furry Animals get so fucking ballsy? Rings Around the World proves that these guys are shameless criminals, blatantly ripping off every melodic psychedelic pop recording released since 1967. Do they care that it's obvious they're lifting a melody straight from John Lennon on "Alternate Route to Vulcan Street"? Do they care that every other track is reminiscent of a Beatles song, or a Beach Boys song, or an ELO song? I don't think they care. Not one bit. And you know what? I don't care either. There is genius in Rings Around the World, and it doesn't matter that SFA steal like bastards because citing their influences is irrelevant. It's never retro with the Super Furries; it's more like a renaissance.
SFA are ballsy because they have to be. They have always had an agenda driving their artistry, and Rings Around the World is the next chapter in SFA's campaign to get humanity to wake the hell up. There's plenty of the usual mega-fun rock'n'roll and rambunctious techno outbursts, but as usual there is also a message. It's conveyed with a degree of whimsy and sarcasm, but the undertone of wide-eyed concern remains. They laugh and shake their heads at our technology-obsessed, media-polluted culture on "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" and "Presidential Suite", while "Run, Christian, Run!" and "Fragile Happiness" are confused, disappointed, and fighting to remain idealistic.
Despite the accessible melodicisim, Rings Around the World at times sounds like the work of a band at the end of its rope. Not only are the Super Furries desparately trying to save the world, apparently they've been struggling with heartache. Now, SFA do not have a super-large catalogue of love songs, so revealing this vulnerable side makes the tenderly dejected sentiments of "Alternate Route to Vulcan Street" extra touching. Of course, even the most common theme turns biting, inappropriately playful, and just a bit odd under the Super Furries' orchestration, so "No Sympathy" sounds like a parody of a grandiose '70s rock ballad, with SFA harmonizing sweetly, "You deserve to die." "Receptacle for the Respectable" is one step further, a fantastic four-parter beginning with a Byrds-style strum and closing with a strange metal boogie featuring a really scary, pissed off Cookie Monster on vocals. Yeah, it sounds ridiculous, but honestly, it's amazing.
The Super Furry Animals have sometimes bitten off more than they can chew musically, resulting in some occasionally incohesive albums. Since their last recording, Mwng, SFA have learned to focus a bit more. Rings Around the World flows extraordinarily well, making it all the more powerful. Not to worry though; they haven't gotten all "mature" and boring. The Super Furry Animals remain more imaginative, outspoken, and humble than the majority of all the other music you're going to hear in your life. Ballsy.
If you like Super Furry Animals, check out:
The Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour
Super Furry Animals Fuzzy Logic
Super Furry Animals Radiator
Electric Light Orchestra Eldorado
The Beach Boys The Beach Boys Today!/ Summer Days (And Summer Nights)
Supergrass In It For the Money
Blur The Great Escape
The Boo Radleys Wake Up, Boo!
The Apples in Stereo Discovery of a World Inside the Moone
-- Lori Latimer
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