Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla poll

while we wait around for me to do this artist poll and since there was so much talk on their main ILM thread. i decided to see what was already polled and stunned that we have not done this album yet.

excited to re-listen to this this week, it has been awhile.

i forgot all about the pregap hidden track. never understood those things especially if they were real songs.

"The Citizen's Band" is fantastic and I thought it was cool that they stuck it on the recent best-of

it's either "Northern Lites" or "Some Things..."

I liked that I only found out about citizens band a couple of years after getting this album. It was as if super furry animals had released this amazing new song except that I already owned it. Rewinding the first track was a bit of a hassle though.

i got mobile phone

I do find "Wherever I Lay My Phone" and "The Door to this House" to be...a bit much

It's got to be Northern Lites which really is a ridiculously perfect song. Second place would be Chewing Chewing Gum. This is a great album.

great album cover too

not

'Some Things Come From Nothing' is the centrepiece of the record and one of the best things this band did overall, so that.

I do find "Wherever I Lay My Phone" and "The Door to this House" to be...a bit much

― Simon H., Thursday, April 19, 2018 2:02 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I loved both of these tracks at the time, and while I still don't want to skip them or anything, I think they've probably aged the worst of all of SFA's electronic tracks.

I'd forgotten about 'Chewing Chewing Gum' - I'd rank that as being down there near the bottom of the pile of tracks from their classic era. The rest of the album still holds up.

Northern Lites. One of my favourite songs by them and the song I most look forward to when I listen to this album.

couple songs up there with their best, but this is my least favorite of their first five albums

^^^this

one of their weaker batches of b-sides, too

I think it's a better record than Fuzzy Logic - I agree that the b-sides around this time were a mixed bag, though!

I think 'Mrs Spector', 'The Matter of Time', 'Colorblind' and 'This, That and the Other' are great. 'The Matter of Time' does what Love Kraft does, but does it better. The best I can say about stuff like 'Rabid Dog' and 'Missunderstanding (sic)' is that they're not awful, but they're not essential either.

I always thought it said Marry Me for the lyrics for "Northern Light."

Don't worry me or hurry me.
Blow me far away to the northern lites.
Abandon me, abandon me.
Blow me far away, blow me far away to the northern lites

Anyways it still gets my vote here, such a wonderful song.

Surprised this one wasn't polled before.

Is no one gonna rep for “The Turning Tide”? One of my favorites by SFA.

One of my favorite songs to sing along to.

'The Turning Tide' is a great one, yeah... another one of those SFA tracks that would have made a great single.

yeah, great song

Feels out of time in the best way

I went to play this today but it's not on Spotify.

It should be! (Unless they're planning on reissuing it...)

None of the albums btwn Radiator and Love Kraft is on North American Spotify (with the exception of Mwng). The 2cd best-of covers a fair bit, though.

Listen to Mwng instead, it's better ;)

Mwng is probably my 2nd fave behind RATW

High five!

Yes, I love Mwng.

Just going to have to dig out my old CD

Mwng is fucking sublime from beginning to end. Christ, they were such a great group for about a decade.

I just want to vote the whole album.

Went for 'Fire in my heart' just cuz.

"Keep the Cosmic Trigger Happy" is *maybe* their best 60s/70s psych-pop pastiches.

'60s/'70s psych-pop pastiches are pretty much what this band have built their entire career on.

Voted Chewing Chewing Gum

Voted Northern Lites, one of their best singles - I'm not a huge fan of this album compared to the ones either side of it but Turning Tide and Citizen's Band are both lovely. I have a weird memory with Citizen's Band of it being on an NME cover CD except presumably due to some mix-up they'd put on that snippet from the very end of ...Trigger Happy instead, looks like it was this one: https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Bands-Who/release/1052328

I went to play this on YouTube but songs are missing there too

'60s/'70s psych-pop pastiches are pretty much what this band have built their entire career on.

I was referring specifically to songs that feel like they could have legitimately come from that era, not just wearing the influence. I'm thinking of stuff like "Run-Away" and "Hello Sunshine," if that makes any sense.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

that was one of the worst covermounts I ever incidentally bought

I really like 'Chewing Chewing Gum' and 'The Door To This House..." They're both odd little numbers, but rewarding upon repeat listens. I particularly like the harmonizing on 'Chewing Chewing Gum.'

Cian's voice goes great with Gruff's.

I only started really noticing his voice after the band 'split up.'

Probably doesn’t hurt that hello sunshine includes a legit
Sample from a record from 1969 in the intro

Xpost to Simon

Always felt Guerrilla was a bit of an odd album, it sounds like they wrote and recorded it really quickly though I don't know if that is the case or not. Not quite on the same level as Radiator and unexpectedly weird in places.

They were recording a completely separate album at the same time, so the story goes. I guess it’s never going to see the light of day if it hasn’t already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wxdcOZDdZ0

I would’ve taken more of that. 👍🏻

Always felt Guerrilla was a bit of an odd album, it sounds like they wrote and recorded it really quickly though I don't know if that is the case or not.

It wasn't the case.

'Y Teimlad' was recorded during the Guerrilla sessions, done at Real World alongside all the tracks from Guerrilla, all the B-sifes, plus the Das Koolies stuff and other unreleased things.

*B-sides

Last two tracks on the Peel Session are the only 'Das Koolies' tracks that exist, if they're indeed Das Koolies tracks. I think you can hear the Moog Taurus on the 'DX Heaven' recording, which was supposed to heavily feature on the Das Koolies album (according to what I've read). Not that interesting, but 'Charge' is awesome.

'Charge' was intended to be a Das Koolies track - in fact it's subtitle is 'Theme from Das Koolies' ...

Steelwerks in Stone was meant to be some sort of experimental record, but from what little anyone knows about it, it sounds like the kind of horrific shit that should stay in the can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a_87I8nxe8

This is apparently another one. It resurfaced as an Acid Casuals track. It's not very interesting either. There was an interview where they said whatever the longest track on the techno dump was the title track, 'Steelworks in Stone.' I'm skeptical it's that one.

Anyway, I love Charge. More of that, less of the uninteresting techno stuff.

Once the techno stuff dropped on the net, I was hoping interviewers would stop asking them about their 'lost' techno album. It really sucked!

I am voting for "The Citizen's Band" as that is rare treat when I hear it. Could never rewind CDs properly.

i really have no idea what is going to win this?

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

very worthy top...4, at least

Incredible album.

Funny that “Do Or Die” got no votes. I think of that one as the most typically SFA track here.

yeah that's my biggest surprise. wasn't it a single too?

'Do or Die' was a single, but it's kinda dwarfed by some of the bigger songs here. I'm more surprised at the 0 votes for 'Night Vision' and the 4 votes for 'Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)' ...

I’m surprised The Teacher got a couple votes. That’s one of my low key favorites. It’s got that manic lysergic sound that SFA were so good at in their early years. The screaming helps.

Do or Die is a great opener.

I used to have this perception of their earlier, happier songs striding the line between bliss and complete existential destruction.

I hope I’m not the only one.

I

'The Teacher' has always been a favourite - they re-used the riff again for 'Happiness is a Worn Pun' which isn't anywhere near as good.

why would you be confused by votes for a great big joyous anthemic techno-romp

It's just not a song I see mentioned much by anyone, and not one the band seems to remember going by their live performances.

The played The Teacher at Glasgow Barrowlands in 1999, where I also witnessed an eccied guy appear to dry-hump his pal in time to the closing sequence of Mountain People

Hahaha!!9

"Do or Die" is my second favorite track on the album, surprised it got 0

Still don't understand why "Citizens Band", one of the best songs on this album, is a pregap track rather than, say, "Night Vision". I didn't even know the track existed for years

I mean it's a fairly SFA thing to do

What the band used to do was just record a whole bunch of stuff that they felt was worthy of recording and then later get together to democratically decide a running order and what to include on the album and what to leave off. Obviously, with all five people involved, it meant some album worthy stuff ended up on the B-sides or, in the case of 'The Citizen's Band', ended up as a hidden track. From what I remember, they wanted it to be like when you discover a hidden level on a video game or something like that. It's better than any of the singles they released from that LP.

It's good but I think Northern Lites still bests it (with Ice Hockey Hair being the crowning glory of that whole era)

Either 'Ice Hockey Hair' or 'Slow Life', I'd say.