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Tommy BOO



Joined: 21 Aug 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 17:12    Post subject: hey venus! Reply with quote

I finally bought "Hey Venus!" the other day and I got to say that I was very positively surprised after I had heard it for the first time.
One of the reasons why I didn't buy the album until now is that most of the comments (including the ones on this board) that I had heard about the album were quite negative... Gah, I will never listen to anyone else's opinions anymore! Laughing

I already loved "Hey Venus!" after I had played it just once, which happens very rarely when I buy albums, and I don't think it has ever happened with a Super Furry album yet. I found "Love Kraft" a bit boring at first, but after a couple of months it had become one of my favourites and I'm still discovering new things in the music when I listen to it and I love it now. And the same goes for all the other SFA albums as well... except that I still don't understand why a lot of people seem to like "Guerrilla" so much.

"Hey Venus!" has been in my CD player for a couple of days now and I can't stop listening to it. The last two songs ('Battersea Odyssey' and 'Let the Wolves Howl at the Moon') aren't as good as the other songs on the album, which was a bit disappointing as SFA have always written great album enders, but even those songs are ok. All the other songs are just fantastic, especially 'Into the Night' and 'Show Your Hand'.
And 'Run-Away' is the most catchy song that the Super Furries have ever recorded. I think the SFA are just getting better and better. Smile

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Last edited by Tommy BOO on Fri Mar 07, 2008 09:56; edited 1 time in total
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Tommy BOO



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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 17:23    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kris wrote:
Just to be clear though. It's a nice album. Apart from Suckers, it's absolute pants compared to Radiator or Geurrilla.

Oh Kinkster... After mocking Queen (the band), calling "Hey Venus" a nice album (and especially calling it absolute pants compared to their worst album) and using far too many superlatives and song-of-the-years to describe songs or bands that I've never even heard of, I'm not sure if I can take your music recommendations seriously anymore.

Well, I think you did once recommend "A Ghost Is Born" by Wilco to me which is an excellent album, so maybe I'll forgive you. Razz
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Kris



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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 09:26    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sooo, just to be clear..... if i recommend artists you've never heard of, they must be rubbish? Yeah?

Also, My post on Hey Venus mentioned welcoming the band back into my heart... you totally missed the point Razz

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Tommy BOO



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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 09:50    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kris wrote:
Sooo, just to be clear..... if i recommend artists you've never heard of, they must be rubbish? Yeah?


Yeah... or then again, I may not have been completely serious. Surprised
Perhaps I'll check out The Gutter Twins Laughing

Let's make a deal, dear Kinxy. I'll listen to "Guerrilla" or your beloved LCD Soundsystem for a day if you listen to "Love Kraft". Razz There are some ace tunes on that album as well, you know, it just needs more time than the other SFA albums.

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Tommy BOO



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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 09:51    Post subject: Re: hey venus! Reply with quote

Tommy BOO wrote:
I found "Phantom Power" a bit boring at first, but after a couple of months it had become one of my favourites and I'm still discovering new things in the music when I listen to it and I love it now.

I just realised that I actually meant "Love Kraft" there, although I suppose that the same goes for "Phantom Power" as well...

(Edited now)

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discoRdance



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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:49    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kris wrote:
Just to be clear though. It's a nice album. Apart from Suckers, it's absolute pants compared to Radiator or Geurrilla.


Hey Venus! is easily their least great album... before that, I'd have said Phantom Power... before that, there was no such thing as a SFA album that wasn't the business. I didn't like Gruff's 2nd solo album as much as his first, either, but I still prefer it to Hey Venus! His first solo album is great, as well.
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Melz



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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 14:44    Post subject: Reply with quote

I still think all their albums are great. Hey Venus! and Phantom Power do seem to have a lot in common though, as do Love Kraft and Guerrilla (stick with it Tomi - you'll love it eventually).

Hey Venus! is a triumph though. Maybe not as experimental as usual, but as a pop album it does the same job as Fuzzy Logic and Phantom Power. I reckon 'Suckers!', 'Gift That Keeps Giving', 'Run-Away' and 'Into The Night' are up there with their greatest. As for those last couple of tracks, they definitely grow on you.

The b-sides haven't been as brilliant this time around though, aside from 'These Bones' which is utterly ace.
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CranesAreFlying



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 07:38    Post subject: Phantom Power Reply with quote

I have to defend Phantom Power from an American point of view. IMO, 50% of the record is ABOUT American foreign policy post 9/11. The record helped me through a very dark period of my country's history. In trying to understand all this bullshit (bombing the people of Afghanistan because there were no actual military targets there, invading a country (Iraq) which had nothing to do with anything, the doctrine of "pre-emptive war", the clampdown of civil liberties at home) Phantom Power spoke to me very clearly. The record was one of the few touchstones I could rely on to reinforce to myself the idea that I was not absolutely batshit crazy. The record's last two tracks gave me hope that in the new globalized digital future we all faced, perhaps things would be different. A rallying cry for organization, and a plea to not give up. Other interpretations are welcome, but that's what the album meant to me.

How the hell have you guys been anyways? Missed you all. Wink
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discoRdance



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 15:36    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like that SFA are usually political with a small p - even if some of Phantom Power seemed a little uninspired (Hello Sunshine, for one), but there's good stuff on even the albums I've said aren't their greatest. A less than great SFA album is still better than most bands' albums. It's just that they've raised our expectations so high.
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Tommy Tynans Lovechild



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PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 21:25    Post subject: Reply with quote

love the furries as much as any band ever and the only albums of theirs i think are short of superb are rings around the world and love kraft. do agree its political with a small p and run christian run (for example) was as inane and pointless lyric i've heard and no way near as strong as, say, Sacks what did the christians ever do for us? in terms of a critical religious statement. same with some of the pp stuff though out of control is a brilliant post sept 11th song. and its a fantastic album.
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CranesAreFlying



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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 03:42    Post subject: Aha but... Reply with quote

To me, hello sunshine seemed completely politically relevant 'because' it was 'apolitical'. again, maybe it's just my interpretation, but as an american it seemed like a political statement. from this shore at that time "In honesty it’s been a while, Since we had reason left to smile" seemed like a modern hippie rejection of the Bush/Blair empire. the understatement sharpened the effect. it's not so much like a political statement exactly, but an expression of, "oh well, here we go again, hold on to your hopes people". the very idea of putting out a song called "hello sunshine" post-9/11 and the invasion of iraq seemed to me to be a political statement.

ie: a reassertion of humanism in a social/political atmosphere of chauvinism and jingoism.
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discoRdance



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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 14:47    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't see the 'so apolitical it's political' angle ...unless you wanna argue Britney Spears' last album was fiercely political, but everyone's entitled to their own interpretation!
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CranesAreFlying



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 06:03    Post subject: "political with a small p" Reply with quote

Exactly!
And I think in terms of the times, that was exactly what was needed!

Because a work of art can be political without being "about politics". And it can be more powerful/meaningful for it.

It's also an issue of context and perspective. Russians, for example, were not really introduced to the Beatles until the 1980's. And the music meant something to them and was very important to them. Was it the same exact meaning that we had in the 60's? Probably not, but in the end it didn't matter.

I guess I'm saying that the Furries were probably not oblivious to how their words would be understood in America, Europe, etc. So a lot of Phantom Power is "small p" political, but I think quite intentional.
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jjon



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 15:50    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah, I could talk for hours about why I love Guerrilla and Phantom Power so much. I won't, though. Not here.
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discoRdance



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 16:44    Post subject: Re: "political with a small p" Reply with quote

CranesAreFlying wrote:
I guess I'm saying that the Furries were probably not oblivious to how their words would be understood in America, Europe, etc. So a lot of Phantom Power is "small p" political, but I think quite intentional.


I think they've always been political in a subtle way, rather than ramming their politics down people's throats and alienating a lot more people than they already do by being so brilliant! How many people think The Man Don't Give A Fuck is just a fingers to the world anthem about not giving a fuck? I'd say a fair few. Phantom Power is littered with wordplay that can be considered political but at the same time is fairly ambiguous. I liked the lyrics more than the tunes on that album, actually.
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