Sort Furry Animals Album by Album

Coincidentally, the day the new Gruff Rhys album arrives I'm closing in on the end of the S section of my records and about to start listening to Super Furry Animals. First up and still fizzing with energy like the first time I heard it in 1996 is their debut album.

 Soy super bien. Their finest hour.

SFA OK.

More SFA. The biggest selling Welsh language album ever.

At the midpoint of SFA albums now. This is the major label big budget album, featuring Paul McCartney and John Cale. Side three plays inside out and the bonus 7" is simply a lock groove sample of the song "All the Shit U Do".

A slight disappointment after their first 5 albums, but it still contains the majestic opener, Hello Sunshine.

Every band has to have a worst album, even if it's still pretty good.

Every now and again a band presses the reset button on their career, often after they've ended up in a creative cul-de-sac or have experienced a level of public indifference or a backlash about their music (REM with Accelerate and U2 with All That You Can't Leave Behind spring to mind). The band return with a back to basics album doing what they do best. I think this is what happened here. It's an enjoyable, and relatively brief, album.

If this is their final album then it's a wonderful way to end things.

Old Suede / New Suede

I absolutely loved Suede when they first started. Loved in a "buy everything they released" kind of way, from the Drowners right up to the singles from Coming Up. Those first three albums got a lot of plays. It went a bit quite good to average for a while after that as they started to sound tired of being Suede and, although they didn't release anything bad, there was a distinct feeling of having dialed it in for their last album. I was quite relieved when they packed it in, leaving some fond memories rather that tarnish things with ever decreasing quality with their output.

When the band reformed I was prepared for them to go through the motions and play a few arena gigs, but instead they sounded like a band reinvigorated. Bloodsports was a solid album, almost as if it was there to set the record straight and keep their legacy intact. What came next was a revelation. Night Thoughts and The Blue Hour have both been absolute cinematic stunners - two of their finest -  full of the pomp of and swagger of early Suede, but with an added mature and elegance.

Flaming Lips On The Phone

Manchester Academy
6/9/19