Super Furriest album poll

It's quite a discography, isn't it? 10 albums since 1996. Has anyone else even come close to being this prolific AND this damn good?

Radiator, but everything since 2001 or thereabouts is largely forgettable.

Guerrilla was my pick.

Despite the perpetual quality-control, I predict that this poll will mainly come down to Radiator, Guerilla & Rings for most people, which is a shame b/c it ignores the many fine points of the other albums. I could be wrong about this, and I hope I am, so plz make this interesting ILX.

Rings for me, but I've never been more than a casual admirer.

Radiator for me. The only ones I haven't got are Phantom Power and Hey Venus, I love all the others to various degrees.

Huw Bunford shops in my local Tesco!

I think I'd have to listen to them all again, and I also think it's too soon to vote for the new one as I always over-rate their albums at first. I know there was a poll on it recently, but I think Songbook could've been included here as well, if we're having Out Spaced.

Has anyone else even come close to being this prolific AND this damn good?
Also, the first 5 (not including Out Spaced) came out 1996-2001, so it's perhaps fair to let them back off a bit after that.

Might have to vote Fuzzy Logic, just because it's where I started, and it's probably the one still I play the most. We'll see.

Fun fact: I once acted as liaison for SFA to re-cop on their weed stash (it is their fuel, they smoke gargantuan amounts) after they had to ditch what they had before crossing the border from Canada into Michigan. This bought me passage on their bus for pre-show rituals, which centered around playing rap cassettes on a Radio Raheem-size ghetto blaster they'd purchased in NYC. Good times, good times..

xpost: Outspaced, being a compilation of non-album material, warrants inclusion IMO. But Songbook is basically a greatest-hits situation which is, you know, different.

Yeah, fair enough. If Ice Hockey Hair was on Out Spaced though, it'd probably get my vote. (For some reason I thought there were some b-sides on Songbook, not really counting Blerwytirhwng? as a b-side).

Also not compiled: a few of the tracks from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (In Space)

I think this poll will see Guerilla, Radiator, and Rings get plenty of votes each, and the others all trail, with maybe Mwyng doing better than the recent LPs; purely because the two camps of fans, i.e. like everything up to Mwyng but think the rest is pants, and think they're remarkably consistent across career, both prefer G, R, and RATW. If that makes sense.

I've really not phrased that very well.

"Radiator".

That is, even if you really like Hey Venus!, say, as opposed to thinking it's complete shit, you're still almost certain to like Guerilla more, and vote for that. It's everyone's-third-favourite-album syndrome, whereby the stuff that a handful of people really like but most think is shit gets more votes than the stuff everyone agrees is pretty good but not the best.

So, basically, the first-past-the-post system of politics.

I wouldn't be surprised if they end up in the same order as the Pitchfork ratings place them:

Guerrilla
Rings Around The World
Phantom Power
Radiator
Love Kraft
Fuzzy Logic
Out Spaced
Mwng
Hey Venus

I would, that looks totally anti what's been said so far.

I like Guerilla, but to me it becomes a bit too eclectic to be a contender here. Besides "Radiator", I prefer "Phantom Power" (very underrated!) and "Rings Around The World". They may have lost it slightly lately, but not until after those two albums.

Nah.

Guerilla
Radiator
Rings Around The World
Mwyng
Fuzzy Logic
Out Spaced
Dark Days/Light Years
Phantom Power
Hey Venus
Love Kraft

is my bet.

"It's quite a discography, isn't it? 10 albums since 1996. Has anyone else even come close to being this prolific AND this damn good?

― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, March 26, 2009 9:53 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark"

um, yes. yes, they have.

You're referring to Ryan Adams, correct?

I was thinking GBV.

Radiator and RATW fightin' it out for me

You know what, I've never listened to a SFA album in my life before, which is strange because I've been aware of them from the start and equally aware that they epitomise everything I like about music. Is it too late to start?

If Ice Hockey Hair was on Out Spaced though, it'd probably get my vote.

Swear blind my copy (which is a promo) has this song on it - can't check right now tho

'Fuzzy Logic' is still the best.

I was going to as well. Apparently not. xpost

Smokin' is on Out Spaced, mind. The non-compiled Ankst stuff isn't that great, except for Organ yn dy geg.

won't vote cus i haven't heard a lot of them
but i have heard Radiator, Fuzzy Logic, Rings, and Mwng
and of those it's Ring not even anywhere close to a competition
Rings Around The World just blows those others 10000000 miles away

You might as well vote for that, then, b/c none of the other contenders which you've not heard would be likely to change your opinion.

I managed to get either promos or cheap off the Quayside market, all the DVD editions of the albums that had them.

Which was nice.

I'm very drunk and therefore may be exaggerating but i do really lvoe Rings

Radiator for me, then Fuzzy Logic, then Guerilla.

Am at work so must be brief, but

RATW
Mwng
Radiator
DD/LY
LK

is my top 5

RATW being (easily) one of the best 5 records of this decade

And in answer to Nick's original conjecture, no, I can't think of such consistency AND profuseness displayed elsewhere. Blur almost came close. Sort of.

In the same period, Blur have done... Blur, 13, and that Banksy one. Damon's other work makes him pretty prolific...

Also, shocked that you prefer LK to Guerilla.

Not in the same period. Blur pretty much owned the 90's. I was looking to transfer that period of SFA success anywhere else...I'm stumped!

Six.By Seven maybe? :D

I'm probably wrong about LK. I may change my mind. "Zoom" alone has promoted it above G and PP

actually PP is my official 5th choice, sorry 4 the challops

I said to Em earlier that I was having "an odd relationship with SFA" right now, that they were like a person I've been vague friends with for years but never been best friends with, and now I suddenly realise that everyone else has moved away and got boring IT jobs and doesn't care about music anymore, and actually SFA and me have had loads in common all along but just kind of did our own things.

I'm flabbergasted that grozart's never listened to an SFA album; I just kind of assumed that they were your favourite band.

"the brown-haired girl next-door who was the right one for you all along" is pretty much a description of SFA someone else busted out on ILX once...he's OTM

anyway, enuff posting at work, i have customers innit

Has anyone else even come close to being this prolific AND this damn good?
zeppelin

Has anyone else even come close to being this prolific AND this damn good?

The Beatles! Recording career of 7 1/2 years!

Very few of these records are uninteresting and some are more consistent than others. But Rings is the place where their two defining qualities—their eclecticism and tunefulness—come together best.

voted phantom power partly so it'll get a vote and partly because I think it might actually be my favorite. anyway they don't have a bad album imo.

LoveKraft isn't getting a vote, right?

Love Kraft gets a bad rap unnecessarily, prob bc it has a lot of long, slower orchestral numbers. But I think it's quite good.

The Beatles! Recording career of 7 1/2 years!

I should qualify that I meant during the same time period; i.e. since 1996.

Its about time for another SFA love-in, isn't it? I think I'm going to listen to these all today.

love kraft is great, I like pretty much every song on it

which I couldn't say about radiator or guerrilla

Radiator is the best and probably always will be. Phantom Power second and Rings Around the World third (since I prefer the pastoral PP stuff to the string-drenched RATW stuff like "Presedential Suite". The new one will go in second or third I think. Guerrilla is obviously amazing in places but to me doesn't carry off stylistically diverse but coherant as well as the above.

I'd go:

Rings Around the World
Mwng
Radiator
Guerilla
Love Kraft
Phantom Power
Hey Venus!
Out Spaced
Fuzzy Logic

Not sure where to place the new one yet.

Artists going at a similar pace to the Furries:

Deerhoof (ten albums since '97)
Drive-by Truckers (seven albums since '98, including a double album)
Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel (eleven albums, including a double, since '96)
Of Montreal (ten 'proper' albums and a whole bunch of other crap since '97)

also, Animal Collective - seven LPs since '02 or so.

Anyway, the worst SFA has ever done stil >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> that Gruff Rhys solo album. Dunno what was wrong with him then, but the album lacks everything that is great about SFA, even though you can hear it is the same guy.

I remember when Love Kraft came out thinking it was a bit generic, but later listens suggest it has a real depth to it. I still voted for Radiator, though.

How many SFA albums do you need? At this stage I have five, and don't really feel like I need any more, unless I get Mwng sometime.

Having gorged myself on all the albums and pretty much all the b-sides for the last fortnight, I feel like I still need more.

yah if you like what you've heard, you should hear 'em all (with perhaps the controversial exceptions of fuzzy logic and hey venus)

ESPECIALLY "Mwng", that album rules so so hard

Well it certainly wins for my favorite all Welsh language album.

Greatest working band in the world as far as I'm concerned. Their bad tracks are rarely bad. I think people tend to get a bit hyperbolic about how "overrated" some of their albums are--Rings in particular. I love everything they've done. And both of Gruff's solo albums are fantastic. What's wrong with them?

And Love Kraft is an album that gets better with age. Very misunderstood IMO. I think part of the pleasure in listening to the band is seeing them develop through their career. How did they go from "God! Show me Magic" to "Walk You Home" to "White Socks/Flip Fops"

what is your order for their albums teflon monkey?

I'm still tussling over LK vs PP for my 5th-favourite

I have to say i'm starting to look forward to my (chronological) reassesment of Love Kraft. And the last one. Picking a favourite won't get any easier mind. Disappointed in the growing Fuzzy Logic lack of love on here though.

"Disappointed in the growing Fuzzy Logic lack of love on here though."

Me too. There are perhaps one or two slightly weaker tracks in the second half of the album, but it's pure genius, especially the first 7 songs = nearly all of them 10/10.

I KNOW YOU CARE ABOUT MY ORDERING SYSTEM SO
Guerrilla
Radiator
Phantom Power
Fuzzy Logic
Dark Days/Light Years (and rising, might be one of my fave raves so far)
Mwng
Out Spaced
Rings Around The World
Love Kraft
Hey Venus

Guerrilla
Mwng
Fuzzy Logic
Rings Around the World
Outspace
Love Kraft
Hey Venus
Radiator

I really like the new one a lot. And I think that I enjoy Radiator the least of their albums. The production gets tiring on my ears.

Outspaced
Love Kraft
Phantom Power

Just obtained DD/LY today: Holy Shit, this is GOOD.

Yes to ^^^^ this! I haven't heard SFA's whole discography yet, but if there are a lot of SFA albums better than DD/LY front-to-back then this group is beyond amazing. The Very Best of Neil Diamond and Trams are on nonstop repeat for me these days.

Really, really trying to hold out for the U.S. physical release (I'm sort of OCD about buying physical copies of favorite bands when I already have the rest of their discography), but I just saw it isn't due until the end of May now!

Really, really wish "Mt." didn't exist...still, a very good record, despite the 2nd track completely destroying all the gloriously-attained momentum of "Crazy Naked Girls". The way that song takes 5 minutes of weirdly-lumbering stop-start chanting and guitar heroics to find its pulsating groove is just magnificent. But before we can get too much of a good thing...we plunge straight into the clunker. Ugh.

Fortunately, they spend the rest of the album making up for it. Only really "Cardiff In The Sun" numbers amongst their VERY best songs, but there's remarkable consistency at play here.

I like Mt. better than Crazy Naked Girls. Better groove, a narcotic-vibe, and less abrasive. But this part -- "there's remarkable consistency at play here" -- I'll happily cosign.

guess i'm a sucker for welsh. "lliwiau llachar" is my favorite on the new one, and mwng is still my favorite album of theirs. can't say why for sure except maybe cuz gruff's vocals sound even more to me like robert wyatt's when he's not singing in english, and i'm a sucker for robert wyatt too

everything since 2001 or thereabouts is largely forgettable. RONG.

You know what, I've never listened to a SFA album in my life before, which is strange because I've been aware of them from the start and equally aware that they epitomise everything I like about music. Is it too late to start?

― the next grozart Not at all. Jump on in, the water's weird.

the worst SFA has ever done stil >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> that Gruff Rhys solo album. Dunno what was wrong with him then, but the album lacks everything that is great about SFA, even though you can hear it is the same guy.

Geir, have you heard the first (all-Welsh) Gruff Rhys album (Yr Atal Genhedlaeth)? Because it's a fucking pop monster. It's the opposite of the big, lush SFA sound but to my ears there's hardly a duff moment on it. Helps that if any of the lyrics suck, I have no way of knowing. No habla Cwmraeg. Candylion, I'll agree, was a bit limp, "Skylon" excepted.

Louis, your knee-jerk hatred of pop upsets me. Mt is great!

Still can't decide on what to vote in the poll. Listened to LoveKraft again the other day and was surprised how much I enjoyed it - if it wasn't for Psyclone and Back on a Roll I'd really love it. Haven't tried Hey Venus again yet.

After getting DD/LY on cd I was surprised at how long it is! It really doesn't feel like an hour, I guess because the beginning and end are kind of drawn-out a bit, and there's 4 relatively long songs, and Where Do You Want To Go?/Lliwiau Llachar takes longer than you think. The only disappointing thing on this album is the way Helium Hearts fades out, like they've created this beautiful song and don't quite know what to do with it.

I hope these guys never break up. each new album = comfort music.

New album is great, and if any of you are interested in their acid techno side I would recommend Acid Casuals, the side project of Cian from the band.

wtf "kneejerk hatred of pop", if I had that then would I like that slew of tracks towards the end? :-P

You hate the whole of Hello venus! though!

Rings Around The World
Guerrilla
Phantom Power
Dark Days/Light Years
Mwng
Hey Venus
Love Kraft
Radiator
Out Spaced
Fuzzy Logic

"Radiator" would be much higher on the list were it not for its atrocious sound, which hurts my ears after awhile. I tracked down the vinyl, thinking that it might be a mastering issue - nope. It needs a full remixing job, methinks. A "Radiator" with the sonic quality of, say, "Hey Venus" would be revelatory.

For the record, I have mellowed greatly to Hey Venus on hearing it again more recently, although it's not something I'll ever return to much, or care deeply for.

Radiator does have a really odd, brash sound. I don't dislike it, but it's nowhere near as easy on the ear as DD/LY or Hey Venus! or PP. I guess they were still very much finding their feet.

Even Guerilla sounds ten times better. Hermann Loves Pauline is easily one of my top 5 Furries jams, but the opening five seconds make headphone listening nigh on impossible.

Went through the whole discography, and now:

Fuzzy Logic
Guerrilla
Radiator
Outspaced
Mwng
Rings Around The World
Dark Days/Light Years
Hey Venus!
Love Kraft
Phantom Power

Radiator is the best and probably always will be.

otm

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Ice Hockey Hair EP
Guerrilla
Radiator
Dark Days/Light Years
Rings Around The World
Phantom Power
Fuzzy Logic
Out Spaced
Mwng
Love Kraft
Hey Venus

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Man, how did Mwng only get 2 votes??

"Everyone's second favourite syndrome", isn't it?

Surprised at the love for Fuzzy Logic. It's not bad, but it just seems so... amateurish compared to everything else they've done, in terms of consistency.

I panic voted for Fuzzy Logic, as I thought it would be under-represented, and I really couldn't choose between any of the first six - I think a lot of it just comes down to what was going on when the album came out, and how I feel about that now. Incidentally, just noticed that apart from the new one and the compilations, all their albums have been released between May and August.

They're a summer band.

Wasn't the new one released just after clocks went forward?

Ya and it also brought a heatwave with it

The correct answer, of course, was Love Kraft

they are so old and dull now. although i got in trouble for saying that before but i can't imagine them doing anything exciting ever again. maybe that's the point of being old. you just make middle of the road competent things that will get you features in mojo.

They're older now...

and by the looks of it, not releasing a new record either.