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Rating: Super Furry Animals are one of the most interesting groups on the British scene.
Over the course of 5 albums (plus the b-sides collection "Spaced Out"), the Welsh band has demonstrated a remarkable consistency and an extraordinary ability to expand their sound while essentially remaining true to themselves.
From the beginning, their peculiar form of brit-pop stands out for its ability to encompass a wide variety of musical genres including pop, punk, electronic, '70s disco, often switching from one genre to another within the same song.
What unifies and gives cohesion to their works is the common parodic attitude that leads them, more than to passively reproduce past models, to reference them with irony in a different context.
Radiator maybe still remains their best work to date (while waiting for the brand new album "Phantom Power," due to be released on July 21). Despite being only the second album by SFA, it contains a valid summary of all their styles and strong points, from the pop anthem "Hermann Loves Pauline," to the pop-punk of "She's Got Spies," to the melodies sung in Welsh in "Torra Fy Ngwallt Yn Hir" (in this regard, one of the best albums is "Mwng," sung entirely in Welsh, recorded by SFA with a few thousand pounds and became the best-selling Welsh album in history) to the dreamy ballad of "Down A Different River."
In any case, if you appreciate the genre, it's worth getting all their albums: the ability these guys have to pull out pop melodies is impressive, as is their ability to deconstruct, extend, modify, and continually enrich them.
Ultimately: they know how to entertain without ever being trivial.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 The Placid Casual (02:49)
Pawprint marks leave a telltale sign
There's a furry friend loose and commiting a crime
Takes no precaution leaving the fold
For the placid casual have remote control
Fuzz clogs up my video
What do we do now
Now we are free again?
Freetown rocked in Sierra Leone
When Valentine Strasser danced his way to the throne
Gunpowder smoke took a heavy toll
But they weren't placid casual so they lost control
Fuzz clogs up my video
What do we do now
Now we are free again?
03 The International Language of Screaming (02:14)
It's not where you're from
It's not where you're at
It's not where you've been
It's where you're between
It's not what you've been
It's not what you've seen
It's where you're between
It's not what you've seen
It's where you're between...
La la la la
La la la la
La la la la...ooh-oh ooh
La la la la...ooh-oh ooh
From A to B
Then on to C
Don't stop the journey
Till you get to Z
Till you get to Z
There's nothing to see
Don't stop the journey
There's nothing to see
Don't stop the journey
Every time I look around me everything seems so stationary
It just sends me the impulse to become reactionary
Spell it out, rip it up, rearrange it on the contrary
If I scream it, I mean it, I hope you will understand me
La la la la
La la la la
La la la la...ooh-oh ooh
La la la la...ooh-oh ooh
04 Demons (05:11)
Clarity just confuses me
The lines drawn on a map, a strange assembly
When there's northeners in southeners
And westenders in eastenders
And sunny days in January
Left spaces in my diary
But the demons never need to know
What the demons never got to see
As we fall in and out of line
Stay in touch now for a while
Cos I know that apathy only ruined me
Hanging around waiting for calamity
And by the year four million
Our skins will be vermilion
I own a dartboard memory
So I'll forget any felony
But the demons never need to know
What the demons never got to see
As we fall in and out of line
Stay in touch now for a while
Cos I know that you know
That we know they don't know what's going on
But the demons never need to know
What the demons never got to see
As we fall in and out of line
Stay in touch now for a while
But the demons never need to read
What we never got around to write
A flirt with mediocrity comes with a heavy penalty
Cos I know that you know
That we know they don't know what's going on...
07 Play It Cool (03:15)
Dormant vices turned on their devices
Now she's raising money for the sex appeal
And when she grazed her knee upon the astroturf
All her blood turned green as the tv screamed:
"Whatever you want to do, do it now and pay later
Whatever you want to say, say it now and pay later
Whatever you want to clean, wash it now and go later
Whatever you want to do, do it now and pay later"
Cos it's no problem if you play it cool
Things are different if you act a fool
The electric mistress always sounds so bold
She says I'm free to do anything I'm told
I try the latest newsflash, it's sensational
I feel so seduced, tell me to reproduce
"Whatever you want to do, do it now and pay later
Whatever you want to say, say it now and pay later
Whatever you want to pray, pray it now and pay later
Whatever you want to do, do it now and pay later"
Cos it's no problem if you play it cool
Things are different if you act a fool...
09 Chupacabras (01:26)
Chupa chupa chupacabras chupacabras chupacabras!
Chupa chupa chupacabras chupacabras chupacabras!
Have you heard about the bat?
Eats your goat and then your cat
Soon enough you will not smile
When it comes you'll run a mile
It says:
Soy super bien soy super super bien soy bien bien super bien
bien bien super super! Soy super bien soy super super bien
Soy bien bien super bien bien bien super super!
From Mexico it came to me
I saw it down in Miami
It vamps in and out of style
When it comes you'll go loco
It says:
Soy super bien soy super super bien soy bien bien super bien
bien bien super super! Soy super bien soy super super bien
Soy bien bien super bien bien bien super super!
Chupa chupa chupacabras chupacabras chupacabras!
Chupa chupa chupacabras chupacabras chupacabras!
Soy super bien soy super super bien soy bien bien super bien
bien bien super super! Soy super bien soy super super bien
Soy bien bien super bien bien bien super super!
13 Download (03:19)
There are people who think, and people who don't
And the people who don't are the ones who have most
There are people who lie, and others who'll cry
And the people who lie are the ones that get by
In the corporate rush to devour the new
We'll be losing our friends who will number but few
Position yourself on another mans cruise
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Other reviews
By temi
Radiator features 14 compositions of incredible freshness, yet never banal.
The album closes with "Mountain People," foreshadowing sounds found on their later masterpiece "Rings Around The World."
