super furry animals

[Melz]

Picked up the Hermann Loves Pauline single at a CD fair a while back just because of Calimero and the other B-side on there, "Trons Mr. Urdd" (which I have been told translates as "Mr. Urdd's Pants"). Calimero's a great track though, especially live when Gruff sings "I feel like chicken tonight" towards the end.

Also, around that time period was a track named "Hit And Run" on the Demons single which is ace too!

Melz
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"It's too beautiful to stay inside..."

[Tommy Tynans Lovechild]

thank u good people - copy of single came through my postbox this morning and got to work just a little bit later 'cos i kept having to play calimero just one more time...
oh oh oh oh oh oh etc etc etc!

[Melz]

http://www.nme.com/reviews/story.htm?ID=11336

Review of the SFA Glasto set, whilst dissing Thom Yorke and Radiohead in the process.

Oh yes, and I've heard the track "Liberty Belle" from the new album thanks to a friend of a friend of a friend. If this isn't going to be the next single, there's something wrong. Safe to say that we're all going to be in for a treat with this new album.

Melz.
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"It's too beautiful to stay inside..."

[Kris]

NME is always a hilarious read.

"Thom, consider yourself upstaged". It's exactly the same as the "I'm here for Spiritualised while Faithless are boring the pants off everyone on the other stage" quote from last year.

Now, unless you are GOD HIMSELF, how can you be in two places at once and know who upstaged or bored who?

Kinkster
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"fashioned by the blade of a world that doesn't care,
feeling so removed, drifting thru stealing air then...
pause and think about it, try to move and shift the pain, but it's there you feel it kicking and you scream and feel alive."

[GOD ALMIGHTY]

I moonlight for the NME on my days off, okay?

[Melz]

Oh dear, someone beat me to that one. Hee hee!

Melz
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"It's too beautiful to stay inside..."

[Melz]

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS
"PHANTOM POWER"
(As described by Mr. Melz)

1. HELLO SUNSHINE
Begins with a sample which sounds so devoid of all hope that the world just seems empty. Then Gruff's voice arrives and pretty much says "Don't worry, it's all okay. We're here now.". Beautifully smooth opening to the album and also includes the line "I'm a minger, you're a minger too, so come on minger, I want to ming with you." Wonderful.
On the DVD: A face mouths the words and changes colours. Okay.

2. LIBERTY BELLE
Undoubtedly my favourite song on the album. The kind of catchy, feel-good tune SFA are used to creating, and once again showing their disgust for the current world situation "You know we're digging to hell, drowning in our oil wells". If this isn't a single then there's something wrong.
On the DVD: Water. Water. Water. End.

3. GOLDEN RETRIEVER
The first single, and might I say a very strange choice of single. Up-tempo bluesy rock versus lyrics which seem pointless enough to make it a pop classic.
On the DVD: Sparkly colours. Then more sparkly colours in the shape of a dog. Pretty.

4. SEX, WAR AND ROBOTS
Pleasant track sung mostly by guitarist Huw Bunford. Great lyrics to this one "I program robots to make them lie" and of course "If tears could kill, I'd be a long time gone"
On the DVD: Two funky looking creatures spin around. And around. And around.

5. THE PICCOLO SNARE
The SFA death march. Begins as a slow, deadly war chant and builds into a cold yet typically Furry track.
On the DVD: The screen changes colour a few times. Whoopee.

6. VENUS & SERENA
Another SFA pop gem. Full of wonderful effects and very upbeat. The soundtrack to our summer. This year's "Betsi's Beads", perhaps?
On the DVD: A lava lamp. Watch and be hypnotised.

7. FATHER FATHER #1
Sounds like the DVD menu tune from Rings Around The World with an extra bit of blues in the background.
On the DVD: Some girl looks on in disbelief as the imposing red shapes look very... imposing.

8. BLEED FOREVER
The SFA music spectrum reaches far to the softer, acoustic ballady end and calms everything down even more.
On the DVD: Oh look. More red. How surprising.

9. OUT OF CONTROL
And then STRAIGHT to the far reaches of the other end of the spectrum for SFA's killer rocked-up metal-ish beat-em-up trash-it-all anthem. Fits well on the album as a kind of wake-up call after two relatively slow songs.
On the DVD: That giant bubble thing from The Prisoner claims another victim.

10. CITYSCAPE SKYBABY
"She came in smelling of cabbages" croons Gruff over a melody which begins wich an evil twinge and evolves into a more simple SFA track. Fantastic.
On the DVD: More pretty colours.

11. FATHER FATHER #2
This sounds like the intro to "No Sympathy" but with a happier sound. Sounds like track 7 is this track's evil twin.
On the DVD: That girl looks even more confused this time as everything goes very very blue.

12. VALET PARKING
The song to listen to whilst driving on a sunny day with Gruff providing a commentary on a journey from Cardiff to Vilnius via Berlin.
On the DVD: An old-style wireless radio flashes and bounces along in time.

13: THE UNDEFEATED
The brass section comes out in force for yet another cheery pop song with very interesting lyrics and some great effects including an outro where the band were let loose with sub-machine guns and recorded to include a kind of irony.
On the DVD: The clock from phantom-power.com makes an appearance.

14. SLOW LIFE
SFA's electronic epic combined with great instrumentation as the track develops and some of their strongest lyrics to date makes this a spectacular album closer. Nice one SFA!
On the DVD: Yep, you guessed it, more pretty colours. Except this time, it works!

Overall, beautiful album. Some really stand-out tracks. Easily lives up to the high standards after Rings Around The World. An altogether more easy-going and altogether more "Furry" album. Imagine Radiator with the scope and depth of Rings Around The World and you're pretty much there. Fantastic.

Melz.
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"It's too beautiful to stay inside..."

[CranesAreFlying]

I picked up a copy of 'Rings Around...' the other week 'cause it seemed like you all agreed SFA were great. well, the record is really damn good. i love the post-glam angle going on there. and i've been listening to it quite a bit. but it came with a second disc with songs like, "tradewinds," "roman road," "patience," "happiness is a warm pun," etc. I was wondering where these songs come from? are they on a previous record or are they B-sides or something?
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"Even I know the solution: love, music, wine and revolution..." (magnetic fields)

Vodamusic.com

[billycasper]

Ok, I’ve only had it for one day and got VERY drunk as part of my initiation ritual I felt I should go through to listen to it for the first time, but my initial impression is that it’s the best British album since C’mon Kids. Hope it lasts… Total punching the air in glee count while listening: 6.

One gripe about the DVD though – is there any way of listening to the album all the way through with the videos? I could only work out how to watch the videos if I used the individual song selector, which really broke up the flow of the record, especially with all those added intro bits.

Not worked through the remixes yet, but of course gave the bravecaptain one a listen – great stuff. Actually thought there was a bit of a boo sound to the original version anyway, so interesting that martin got to tackle it. Mind you, I hear the boo radleys in everything…

[sparky]

the b-sides of the rings around the world album were almost the highlight of the whole thing for me. 'tradewinds' is cool, whilst 'edam anchorman' blending into 'all the shit u do' is one of the great sfa moments. i agree about the dvd though, it's a bit like hard work in some ways. they said they wanted the focus to be on the surround sound rather than the videos, but i only got a cheap telly! producer's commentary is great, and some of the mixes are cool too. we'll have a clip of the bravecaptain mix on this site next week...