Additional information
Initial quantities include a 13-track bonus CD titled OUT SPACED: B-SIDES & RARITIES '94-'98. Super Furry Animals: Gruff Rhys (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, Moog synthesizer); Huw Bunford (vocals, electric guitar); Cian Ciaran (vocals, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, electronics); Dafyod Ieuan (vocals, piano, drums, percussion); Guto Pryce (bass). Additional personnel includes: Gorwel Owen (E-bow, electric harpsichord, Fender Rhodes piano, samples); Lee Morrison (banjo); Andrew Frizell (alto saxophone, trombone); Simon James (tenor saxophone, flute); Martin Smith (trumpet). Electra Strings: Sonia Slany, Jules Singleton (violin); Clair Arster (viola); Dinah Beamish (cello). Producers: Gorwel Owen, Super Furry Animals. Using the psychedelicized prog-punk of Fuzzy Logic as 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 its songwriting and arrangements are mind-bogglingly intricate and eclectic. Songs boast intertwining melodies and countermelodies, with guitars and keyboards swirling around the vocals. Similarly, the production is dense and heavy with detail, borrowing heavily from prog rock and psychedelic pop, but pieced together with the invention of techno and played with the energy of punk. It's a heady, impressive kaleidoscope of sounds, but what gives Radiator its weight is the way the sonics complement the songwriting. SFA's songs are melodic, accessible, and utterly original -- melodically, they may borrow from '60s pop, but they rearrange the clichés in fresh ways. Also, Gruff Rhys has a fondness for revolutionary politics and the bizarre that helps give Radiator its intoxicating, otherworldly atmosphere, making it one of the few late-'90s albums that sounds inventive, vibrant, and utterly contemporary. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Reviews
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..."
