XL Recordings/Beggars Group US will re-release five Super Furry Animals that have gone out of print in the US: Fuzzy Logic, Radiator, Out Spaced, Guerrilla and Mwng, on double CDs. Empyrean Records US will also be releasing SFA vinyl (along with the upcoming new record) throughout '05.

Ever since Flydaddy Records went out of business, these records have been out of print in the US. Fuzzy Logic was put out on US Sony but they dropped them soon afterwards only to pick them back up worldwide, outside the US, in 2001. Beggars/XL was taking a wait and see approach towards Songbook but a funny thing is happening. I think SFA are finally getting the recognition they deserve and must be selling a few copies as well as getting critical acclaim. This needed to happen and will bring the total up to seven albums Beggars will release by SFA this year plus one remix album witch was out in the second half of last year.

For the bonus CD’s they should have just put out everything because they have 37 extra songs, during this time, but it leaves my collection a gold mine. Best band for the last 10 years and these albums are the main reason why.

Out March 22, 2005.



Fuzzy Logic 1996
DISC 2: BONUS TRACKS:
1.Organ Yn Dy Geg
2.Crys Ti
3.Lazy Life
4.Death By Melody
5.Waiting To Happen


AMG 4 ½ stars:
Super Furry Animals are eclectic, to say the least. Fusing together pop melodies, psychedelia, and art rock with an impish, punky fury, the band covers more ground on their debut album, Fuzzy Logic, than most indie bands do in their entire career.
----------------------


Radiator 1997
DISC 2: BONUS DISC:
1.Mu-tron
2.No K
3.Foxymusic
4.Hit & Run
5.Wrap It Up

AMG 4 ½ stars:
Using the psychedelicized prog-punk of Fuzzy Logicas a foundation, Super Furry Animals move even further into left field on their second album, Radiator. As before, the group displays a gift for catchy, deceptively complex melodic hooks, but now their songwriting and arrangements are mind-bogglingly intricate and eclectic. Songs boast intertwining melodies and countermelodies, with guitars and keyboards swirling around the vocals... It's a heady, impressive kaleidoscope of sounds, but what gives Radiator its weight is the way the sonics complement the songwriting...
--------------------


Guerrilla 1999
DISC 2: BONUS TRACKS:
1.This, That And The Other
2.Missunderstanding
3.Ms Spector
4.The Matter Of Time
5.Colorblind

AMG 4 stars:
It's difficult not to find Super Furry Animals' brand of pop infectious, particularly the collection of numbers compiled for Guerrilla, the band's third full-length and arguably most cohesive -- albeit pleasingly and consistently unpredictable -- one to date. Old-school techno remains in remnants, such as in "Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)." When it rears its head otherwise, it rests easily beside and within the majority of the fully-fledged pop songs.
-----------------------


Mwng 2000
DISC 2: BONUS DISC:*
1.Cryndod Yn Dy Lais
2.Trons Mnurdd
3.Calimero
4.Sali Mali
5.Hon Yw'r Gan Syn Myndi Achubyr Taih, (Nid)
*same bonus songs as the original US edition

AMG 4 ½ stars:
The very fact that Super Furry Animals had the courage to release Mwng, an all-Welsh language album, is proof that the group is the great eccentric band of their time. It doesn't matter that many listeners will not understand the lyrics, since the music is terribly effective in its own right. Ironically, Mwng is more of a pop album than its predecessor, Guerrilla, which often took fascinating detours into electronica-inspired pure sound. Mwng has more than its fair share of evocative sonic textures -- it's easy to get lost not just in the surface sound but what's buried beneath the melodies -- yet it's also a concise, sharply written psychedelic-pop record… Fuzztone guitars and floating keyboards vie for space in the mix, vocals swoon in reverb, horns sound equally eerie and enthusiastic, and instruments are compressed so they no longer sound normal… Mwng is simply intoxicating with its richly melodic songs and dreamlike flow. This is an otherworldly record not because it is sung in Welsh, but because the music is fully realized and visionary.
-----------------------


Outspaced 1998
Most sources say a bonus disc as well but can’t find any info on it. Where I got the track listing from says this one is only a single CD, so this is a maybe bonus disc. Was also the bonus CD with Flydaddy, very late 1999, release of Radiator.

AMG 4 stars:
Following in the footsteps of others, SFA released Outspaced, their own compilation of B-sides, in the fall of 1998, a year after Radiator hit the stores. Instead of taking the completist route, SFA constructed Outspaced as an actual album, leaving many very good songs behind on the singles. This is bound to frustrate fans who haven't bothered to collect every single, but the approach results in a better, tighter album -- one that doesn't quite rank with their official albums, but nevertheless amply proves that SFA takes more risks and reaps greater rewards than most of their contemporaries. Even on the earliest material, SFA was gleefully recontextualizing, pulling techno, indie, and classic rock into unpredictable forms. Unlike some bands, they didn't save their riskiest material for B-sides. What's really impressive is that the English songs sound as magical, baffling, and unusual as their Welsh counterparts, which only emphasizes the uniqueness of SFA's vision. These sort of revelations are best appreciated by the dedicated, but that's why Outspaced remains an essential addition to any hardcore fan's collection.



If this just seems like too much music but are curious about them than a good place to start is Songbook, Vol.1: The Singles which was put out on January 25, 2005 with AMG also giving it a 4 ½ stars rating: “It could be argued that Super Furry Animals were the great British band of the late '90s, boasting bright, zippy tunes that put Blur to shame while incorporating electronica more seamlessly than Radiohead, but since the Welsh quintet cheerfully traveled outside the mainstream -- a byproduct of which was having very few of their albums appearing on both sides of the Atlantic simultaneously -- they were always a cult band… Including such non-LP masterpieces as the gorgeous "Ice Hockey Hair" and the still-invigorating ethereal protest anthem "The Man Don't Give a Fuck."

Particularly for listeners who have never had a chance to be part of the cult, and are looking for a way to become acquainted with this terrific, unique band.”

Edit: Wait doesn't that make it 5, stupid unofficial SFA web-site.

I own most of their stuff - b-sides included so i doubt i'll lay down cash to get these

I probably get them. Uh...after I work out of the debt I've accumulated since before Christmas.

i only have their last couple and always wanted to try mwng, deterred by the whole foreign-lang thing. i think i'll try this -- emusic has been good putting out extended version rereleases.

I only have Phantom Power and Rings Around the World. I just bought the singles collection and am loving the early stuff.

Yeah, this would be good for me.

I really like Fuzzy Logic and Guerilla....this is good news

Dang! I just discovered them about a year ago and went apeshit and bought all their albums. If I had only waited...

I was bored and playing on the Internet this last week. Decided to check out a Super Furry Animals board. One of the threads asked if anyone knew what songs are going to be on the bonus CD’s. I posted this thread a little while back and was going to link it up and give Obner some love. Changed my mind when I saw that I referred to the unofficial site in my original post. So I just listed what was coming out on the bonus CD’s.

Checked that same unofficial site and saw: Extra tracks are reported to be as follows (unconfirmed)… thanks to...BeeOK. That is so cool to get credit.

This is fun as well because of what CMJ said (highlighted):

Fuzzy Logic:

Rolling Stone (10/17/96, p.132) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...while FUZZY LOGIC is rich in hallucinogenic spirit and shimmering guitars, SFA also evoke the decadent '70s pop of Mott The Hoople and David Bowie, while the album's celestial-flute passages and overdriven guitar storms resemble...Mercury Rev..." Mojo (6/96, p.120) - "Most impressively, [FUZZY LOGIC] features often impossibly hare-brained lyrics that make reference to shellsuits, unicorns and by-pass roads, and a tremendous sense of playful experimentation." Alternative Press (1/97, pp.81-83) - 5 (out of 5) - "...[Super Furry Animals] dive into their overwhelming toychests and deliver the stuff of which fearless dreams are forged." NME (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #4 in NME's 1996 critics' poll. Melody Maker (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #3 on Melody Maker's list of 1996's `Albums Of The Year.' Melody Maker (5/11/96, p.40) - Recommended - "...Once, there were drugs. Now there are Super Furry Animals....FUZZY LOGIC contains 12 deceptively gleeful, fun-size trips. Nothing has made me feel quite like it since staying in and playing [Supergrass'] I SHOULD COCO first presented itself as a substitute for going out and picking mushrooms...

Radiator:

Q (6/00, p.64) - Ranked #73 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "...Fired by an explicitly oppositional, post-acid house form of Celtic romanticism....The album's recording was essentially Five Go Mad On Anglesey, in winter..." CMJ (3/22/99, p.24) - "...Replete with grandiose melodies and sweeping psychedelic rock overtones, the album....flamboyant pop, which is bouncy, bubbly and riddled with hooks that kill on the first swipe....should become a favorite for trendspotters eagerly anticipating the next UK invasion." Guitar Magazine (7/99, p.100) - "...will send you back to listen time and time again...


Guerrilla:

The Super Furries' reputation as a marvelously inventive band is enhanced still further with this, their fourth album. Both music and lyrics reveal a willingness to experiment--often with stunning results. For starters, sample the brass-flavored calypso of "Northern Lites," the bizarre but insanely catchy electronica of "Wherever I Lay My Phone," the psychedelia of "Night Vision," and the tender paean that is "Fire in My Heart." Gruff Rhys continues to sing of unconventional subjects--how many bands pen songs about chewing gum and mobile phones? All manner of weird and wonderful synthesizer noises are at the Furries' disposal, tying in well with some acrobatic vocal lines that are high enough to rival the Beach Boys'. Better still, GUERILLA is extremely well structured, rewarding a complete run through even more than a five-minute snapshot. It's also an extremely uplifting experience. SFA has made an album you're likely to return to again and again, until it's under your skin

Spin (9/99, p.187) - 8 out of 10 - "...nothing short of a declaration of war on humorless rock wankers....more fun to listen to than Ian Anderson standing on one leg blowing a flute..." Q (7/99, p.124) - 3 stars (out of 5) - "...[GUERRILLA] explodes all over the place with almost cartoon glee....The brightness of palatte is undeniable..." Mojo (7/99, p.109) - "...Choc full of great melodies...pushing the envelope in umpteen directions....one of the most frothily inventive pop confections....Magical stuff." Alternative Press (10/99, pp.111-2) - 3 out of 5 - "...what makes [SFA] extraordinary...is their concise alchemy of pop styles both past and present, chummy and exotic....you will inderstand what true bent craft is at hand - one that most provincial British pop never approaches..." CMJ (7/26/99, pp.25-6) - "...SFA has morphed itself...into a psychadelic melting pop....always captures an enviously gentle interplay between organic and electronic instruments." NME (6/12/99, p.31) - 9 out of 10 - "...GUERRILLA is the sound of thunderous imagination and three-dimensional vision..." Melody Maker (6/5/99, p.37) - 4 1/2 stars (out of 5) - "...a garishly wonderful rock album....GUERILLA will mash your summer lengthways, whenever it's loose....beautifully suggestive and inspiring....

Mwng:

Rolling Stone (8/17/00, p.114) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...[SFA] have the pop chops to make its experiments catchy. Tight arrangements of melodic bliss cross the Welsh-language barrier...with a bittersweetness a baby could comprehend..." Mojo (6/00, p.97) - "...Their commitment to their own cultural heritage and language has worked to everyone's advantage here...The rehearsal-room feel succeeds in capturing [a] organic, woody mystical atmosphere..." Alternative Press (11/00, p.130) - 4 out of 5 - "...This is roots music for highland mushroom gobblers stuck between 2 centuries..." CMJ (7/24/00, p.3) - "...A robust, nostalgic trip through the '70s....SFA fashion delicate ballads and soft, demure songs that reach for the orchestral grandeur of art rock..." NME (12/30/00, p.77) - Ranked #9 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year". NME (5/13/00, p.32) - 8 out of 10 - "...They've never stopped developing, never stopped ticker-taping ideas like some crazed code-breaking computer....MWNG is sung entirely in Welsh...[and] it's a beautiful language, a perfect mirror to their musical mix of friction, space and softness..." Melody Maker (5/16/00, p.46) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Brilliantly clever....It might sound a bit low-budget, but it's a band speaking from their heart....a sad, beautiful record, another potent SFA spell which you'll find impossible to shake off...

-----------------
Some more good news, Gruff Rhys has been bumped up and will be relesed a month earlier in the US. New date is now Tuesday!

This band sounds intriguing. I think I will buy the Songbook album and quite possibly more.

I'm going broke on that Tuesday, damnit.

They sing a number of tunes you won't be disappointed in.

Very true indeed. I am excited now to get the reissues.

Cool, I’m glad you liked Songbook… and that is only a taste. You add that extra disc of B-sides, with songs like “Waiting To Happen”, “Death By Melody” and “Hit & Run” (possibility my favorite B-side outside “Ice Hockey Hair”) and I realize no other band today stacks up against them.

This was pointed out to me by British reviewer Alan Woodhouse about Songbook… and is about right:

"When Super Furry Animals got a deal with Creation Records during the label’s cash-laden days in 1995, there were more than a few sniggers. Initially, they were dismissed as another of Alan McGee’s dodgy post-Oasis signings alongside 3 Colours Red, Hurricane #1 and Heavy Stereo. The first two EPs were promising enough concoctions of oddball psychedelia and tunesmithery but they merely hinted at the bountiful, mind-frotting future of techno-broadcasting tanks, 40ft evil bears, headbanging yetis and celebrity celery-munchers (Paul McCartney-Bee). In an era dominated by Britpop’s musically conservative, cocaine-fuelled triumphalism and Union Jack-waving, the prospects for a five-piece of scruffy, futurist prog rockers being around after the bubble burst, let alone a whole decade on, seemed decidedly remote…

And so the group set off on a remarkable run of hits. No fewer than 17 of the 21 tracks included here made the UK Top 40. Collected together, they make McGee’s decision to snap them up look less like heady self-indulgence and more an act of astonishing foresight at least on a par with signing Oasis. Incredibly, while the Gallagher brothers’ Beatles obsession remains as reliable as their Glasto performance wasn’t, it’s the Furries who’ve mirrored the Fab Four’s sly subversion of the charts far more effectively. Frontman Gruff Rhys summed up the five-piece’s philosophy best when he sang on the joyous glamfest of 1997’s ‘The International Language Of Screaming’, “Every time I look around me everything seems so stationary/It just sends me the impulse to become reactionary”. Mad for it? Bloody bonkers for it more like…

The group’s brash, pioneering spirit is clearly exerting an influence today; you can bet your life that The Futureheads and The Coral own these records, while SFA’s former touring partners Goldie Lookin’ Chain have taken their fun-loving approach right down to base level and into the Top Five. The story’s not over, of course. Super Furry Animals are a band who are always looking to the future but this collection ensures that no-one will ever forget their amazing past."

I will admit that Phantom Power is a bit of a disappointment but does include one of my favorite songs on headphones from 2003 called “Slow Life.” They just set the bar so high for themselves, with each release sounding unlike anything they have done in the past, that it almost sounds like Rings Around The World part two. Not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination but was the first SFA album that did not make top five in my end of year countdown, it was 14 in 2003.

I’ve been a bit overboard about this band but if I turn one person on to them than it was well worth it. They should be on par with the Flaming Lips, Radiohead and Wilco’s of the world today. The tide is turning, however, and you hear the whispers with maybe the new album being the fire that finally pushes them into the well-deserved limelight.

--------

I also saw that the so-called Hip board stole this post and posted it over there this last week, without giving me credit for all the research. The reason why I knew it was taken from me was because what they posted; it was word for word and had the exact same heading. When in actuality it’s the first four albums that are being re-released and one B-sides comp. Surprised that I caught it because I hardly go over there anymore and over the “it’s a trap” phenomenon that you feel when you first join. After being there for over a year the juvenileness is so old. They are just repeating the same things over and over again with members saying the board sucks or quit on a daily bases when I was still frequently looking at it. I will admit that they have some good threads, every once in awhile, but the bullshit is not worth it anymore. So I was going to call them on coping my post but ultimately decided against it.

-------------
N E W S:

Gruff Rhys first solo album is out in the US on Rough Trade as of Feb 22.

A track by DJ BOOM BIP featuring SFA’s frontman GRUFF RHYS is to be released as a single. Rhys sings on the track 'Do's And Don'ts', which appears on the album Blue Eyed In The Red Room, released February 21 in the UK (March 8 in the US).

Now it’s confirmed that, due to demand, the track will be released as a single on April 11 (in the UK). <Dalan had a link up, featuring this song, a few weeks ago>

Super Furry Animals have recently completed their new album, the follow up to 2003’s Phantom Power, though no release date has been set. <I posted why this album will sound like no other they have done on my old SFA thread “The hardest working band in the world today” and will have to look up if you are interested>

np: Pulp – We Love Life

flowthgin and SFA seem like a good fit indeed. All hail the power of Obner. And BeeOK, who started this thread. And the Super Furry Animals.

It is a very good fit. Thank you BeeOk. I just bought Rings Around The World and Phantom Power and I love them both. For some reason I am addicted to the song Juxtaposed With U.

Delayed

Now these won't be out until April 12.

I've never heard an album, but I think I've liked every song I've heard on various home-made comps from friends, and I've almost pulled the trigger on Rings Around the World a couple of times.

Any word on vinyl of these re-releases?

Currently the best band in the world.

The Singles/B-sides collection is better than most bands' albums.
(And it came with my copy of Radiator.)

that's what i'm waiting for.

“The best band in the world making music that nobody else has the imagination, talent or ball to make.” A quote from the Spring 2005 issue of Under the Radar magazine with SFA in a 10-page feature and on the cover. Here is some left over stuff: http://www.undertheradarmag.com/sfa.html

The reason for bumping this thread is because these re-issues are, finally, being released today. That is all of them are except Guerilla for some odd reason, that one is coming out two weeks later on April 26 instead. Still no word on the vinyl.

News


The first UK single off the forthcoming SFA album will be entitled 'Laserbeam', and will be released in July. With the new Super Furry Animals album following in August.

So with that they are doing a low level tour to get ready and so I almost had a heart attack. As you may or may not know I idolize a musician named Martin Carr. He use to front the Boo Radleys, my favorite band from the 90’s, but now is Bravecaptain. My favorite band, for about the last 10 years has been SFA. I would do almost anything to be able to see this show!

On a side note: I found out that the delayed Boo Radleys Anthology double album, now titled Find The Way Out, will be out on May 23, 2005. So I posted it on their board, as that is new info, and immediately a poster found the track listing. Well Martin dispelled that track listing but it will be Remastered. "it's been really hard picking the songs. i would have left most of the singles off but they have to go on so i was left with about twenty songs out of over 150 that i could choose. so some of yr favourites may not be on there but then neither are some of mine." Martin Carr

Do you think it's worth selling my old copies just to get the new ones with b-sides?

Does Outspaced include a lot of these b-sides?

I can't wait for the new album.

Outspaced does not contain these b-sides. Personally, I think it's worth selling the old copies to get the three that have b-sides attached (Outspaced and Mwng are issued in their original form. If you do not have a two-disc version of Mwng, then sell your one-disc version and get this reissue. Otherwise save your money, the reissue is exactly the same as the original two-disc version.)

I bought Mwng, Radiator and Fuzzy Logic for the first time today and I am really glad I did!