Super Furry Animals, "Show Your Hand" (Hey Venus!)

http://www.peoplesrepublicofdis.co.uk/albums/album16/tumbleweed.sized.jpeg

So sad.

sounds great.

Come again, Noodle?

What's sad, Ned?

That the reaction should be tumbleweeds. (As I like SFA, see.)

Hey, the music's good. Whatever.

But they're so boring

yeah, i'm sure you're a barrel of fun.

I used to be.

Its not really me shtick anymore though, oh leave me alone. *leaves*

my shtick

Nah, they're pretty great. Great new single, too.

get one (1) copy of rings around the world, listen to it all the way through, and then tell me they're boring.

Okay, I don't actually mind that one. Mainly 'cos of Juxtaposed wit U. But Lovekraft and Phantom Power were insanely boring.

I used to love the Furries. A few albums ago.

I still do. How about that

I've never listened to either Phantom Power or Lovekraft. I take it I'm not missing much then. My favourite stuff is Radiator-Guerilla era, but I've never really loved them.

Tumbleweeds be damned! I'm excited for it (but then again, I'm boring, so.)

Phantom Power is (aside from The Piccolo Snare and to a certain extent Hello Sunshine) pretty boring until track 10 (Cityscape Skybaby) whereupon it suddenly becomes reasonably awesome. Unfortunately, by then it's too late to really salvage the album. Love Kraft has a storming first two and last two songs, but in the middle it sags a little; it's still miles better than PP.

RATW is one of my very favourite albums full stop, without a single weak point and with many, many awesome surprises. Radiator is only just behind it, being another highlight of my collection.

My fear for SFA is that they retreat into rootsier rock, and forget the innovation that made them great (the signs have been there over the past 2 albums, after the mindfuck stroke of genius that was RATW).

I think Phantom Power is fantastic, LK is middling, and that the new one is probably going to redeem LK. Candylion wasn't too bad either.

I never saw the fuss about RATW. I don't think it's anywhere near as good as the 1st 2. It does have some good tracks though.

I'd also like to point out that with the benefit of hindsight, Guerrilla was actually one of SFA's low-points. It's sandwiched between two vastly superior albums.

AHHHHH. I don't think I'll agree with anything you've said so far. Guerrilla is my favorite SFA album, followed closely by RAtW and Radiator. I rarely find consensus on anything this band has done, if ever, so I find these declarations about where they've fallen off or where they've made their best music highly amusing.

They certainly divide their own fans like few others do. Maybe if I went into specific songs you'd start agreeing with me.

looking forward to hearing the new stuff. a band like very few others.

<i>They certainly divide their own fans like few others do. Maybe if I went into specific songs you'd start agreeing with me.</i>

Probably not. There isn't a song on Guerrilla that I dislike.

Another funny thing is that your sentiments about Phantom Power were basically the same sentiments many had about RAtW: bloated, self-important, joyless. I obviously don't agree, but I think it's something to consider. Love Kraft just doesn't work very well as an album. There are several tracks that sound like b-sides--bad ones by the band's standards.

I'll stand by Phantom Power, though. With the exception of a track or two, I think it's an amazing record.

I did NOT say that PP was 'bloated' or 'self-important'; quite the opposite, in fact! I don't think it's ambitious enough! Too much of it is taken up by stock, folksy/bluesy meanderings which don't attempt the sonic hi-jinks of RATW, to the album's discredit. You're completely misconstruing my words, making them fit the stereotype when in fact they have no intention of doing so.

I dunno, something about songs like "Venus and Serena," "Piccolo Snare," "Bleed Forever," etc. really works for me. I like the more lo-fi approach. Mwng is one of my favorites, so maybe that's it.

Good band with very good albums. We've discussed them way too often around here, I know there's a thread where we ranked all of their albums, etc. The end.

Well, there's a new album and a new single. I figure that deserves a thread.

And going by the single, a lot of people are going to be pretty happy. It's not an over the top pop song or anything, but it's got a lot going on. And I from what I understand, so does the rest of the album.

There are over 15 SFA threads on ILX, and I don't need to search to tell you that. The more the merrier, though!

I haven't heard Mwng, I must rectify this. I've heard that the last track is a thing of astonishing power.

"Piccolo Snare" is ace. The best song on the first half. By miles.

the last track on 'mwng' is a blinder......

I really really really want to hear this.

yes, "Gwreiddiau Dwfn" is amazing, one of my very faves of theirs - bleak and amazing.

http://www.soulstrut.com/images/reviews/crates/motown/average-white-band---show-y.jpg

I can't share the song.

One of the SFA side projects has produced a few songs that you people can listen to - http://myspace.com/thepeth

A friend of mine got the album yesterday - apparently it is old-skool SFA, more similar to Radiator or Guerrilla than the others. "It has stompers, ballads, the country one, the Ennio Morricone one, everything you want. Only 35 minutes long as well".

Apparently several of the tracks were twice as long and they cut out the wiggy bits. Which means no spastic techno noise but I think it's probably a good thing as a whole.

As someone who thought the last two albums were way too lethargic this makes me happy.

they're playing the ica tonight apparently...

and i for one welcome this return to earlier form, for i'm bin a wee bit bored since guerilla.

yay!

Check out the live stuff on YouTube and see for yourself. Every single track is solid, if not great.

This is their smartest album since Mwng. It's short (35 minutes long), it's sweet, and it's well-written

get one (1) copy of rings around the world, listen to it all the way through, and then tell me they're boring.

-- Just got offed, Saturday, June 2, 2007 3:51 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Link

done and done.

this sounds more promising tho.

Let me add that "Into the Night" is unbelievable and features one of the best hooks Rhys has ever written. Hyperbole sucks, yes, but trust me.

lol at "smaller is better" snobs -- short albums can be crap too duh -- but yay at advance reports saying that the record is good

I'm slightly worried that the album is so short, myself. As long as it's only got about 9 or 10 songs on it, it should be OK, but most of my favourite SFA songs take a bit of time to develop and blossom (or work together in a sequence, which I guess is the aim of this one).

Yeah my favourite stint on any Furries album is the middle section of Radiator where all these really short spiky songs cannon into one another.

Shorter isn't necessarily better, but it's a nice change for the band.

There are eleven tracks on the album, although the first track, "The Gateway Song," is like a minute long at the most.

xpost: I know what you mean, but actually Hermann Loves Pauline right through to the end is masterful in my book. This does incorporate Chupacabras -> Torra Fyngwalt Ny Whatever (all 3 glorious minutes), but I think the second half of that album is fairly wonderful throughout.

My favourite SFA stretch is the opening triptych of RATW, which flows like a beast on heat AND incorporates three of their best songs (IMO).

The new album is hopefully more "Radiator" than "Fuzzy Logic". I mean, the debut was almost a completely ordinary indie rock album, lacking most of the musical elements that made them SFA later on.

Yeah.

I've been almost completely uninterested since Guerilla. I can't even remember how more than about three songs from the last three albums go. Ergo I am hopeful for this.

<img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/61n6pR2ZsdL._SS500_.jpg";>

vomit.

oops!

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/61n6pR2ZsdL._SS500_.jpg

Huh.

They didn't go with Fowler this time. Now, Love Kraft's art was pretty bad, but that's just obscene.

i love it actually

can't wait to hear this album, hope that they come back strong.

Wow, Matt, this seems good. I liked 'Love Kraft', but it was a bit boring, I don't really listen it in daily rotation, nor 'Phantom Power'. So I hope this will be return to form.

God damn I am excited for this

OK i changed my mind, as i must of been drunk or something...that cover is horrible.

is anybody really digging Gruff's newer solo album? i have bought it but have only played it once so far, need to correct that.

thanks!

i now got that feeling in my stomach. i SO badly want this to be good because it's Super Furry Animals. won't be able to hear it tonight however.

i listened to it earlier today. on first listen, it's pretty good.

Personally I am waiting for Geir's appraisal

Sorry Teflon Monkey, I had to delete that link - it's really not cool to post entire albums here.

album is a real grower. forget the idea that it's a 'new radiator' or bllx like that. it works in its own way: perhaps the shorter songs make it better, i don't know yet, but the boys don't make bad records. full fckg stop.

Give That Keeps On Giving the one that makes the best earliest impression. Others will grow I'm sure.

bloody hell this is one fine album.

I'm enjoying it - Show Your Hand is probably my favourite right now, mostly because it had good associations before I'd even heard the recorded version.

the backing vocals to 'baby ate my 8 ball'......

surprised that there is not more discussion about this album. was Love Kraft that damaging to this band? maybe we are waiting for the offical release.

upon first and only listen i think it's OK. the beginning starts off sounding like Love Kraft, then about forth song or so it goes into another direction. it's only one listen but i don't think they will ever reach the heights that they once had. it's entirely too mellow for SFA but does sounds like i will buy it, hopefully that because of the music and not blind faith. need to listen again but i'm overwhelmed with new music at the moment.

I don't really agree that the beginning sounds like <i>Love Kraft</i>, "The Gift That Keeps Giving" aside.

It all really opened up on my second or third listen. It's not their greatest album ever and it's not the most exciting release of the year, but I think it's a really enjoyable album that I band I've only been disappointed with once (Love Kraft). Definitely an improvement over that one.

"Baby Ate My Eight Ball" is a ton of fun. That and "Let the Wolves Howl at the Moon" are my favorites.

Honestly, I like every track.

A few tracks on this made me hopeful (especially Neo Consumer) and it's much better than anything they've done recently. To compare, I went back to Radiator, and to be honest that wasn't really doing much for me either, so maybe I'm just in the wrong mood for these guys at present. God knows I loved the first two + Mwng at one time.

with you teflon monkey. i think (as with all their albums) it takes a little while to tune into what the boys are up to. after repeated listens this is sounding like a really tight version of the best that the band can do, almost like a greatest hits without you knowing any of the songs beforehand. example: 'suckers' is a big tune, will be great live, and builds like 'mountain people' while having the same drone as 'smokin'. the backing vocals on 'baby ate my eight ball' are bananas, and the chinese influences are great. more to say but i'll wait.

and i know love kraft was their most disappointing album, but i think only a couple of tracks are duds. 'psyclone' was genius - and gets a reprise on the new album as 'milky way'...

Initially underwhelmed, now completely blown away!

'milky way' should read 'into the night'

re: lovekraft. whatever one might think of it as an album it's great on headphones.

ps, anyone know if it's still mario caldato jr doing the knob twiddling on 'hey venus'?

No, it's Broken Social Scene producer David Newfeld, who I think did a fantastic job.

Does the beginning of "Carbon Dating" remind anybody else of Eno's "Put A Straw Under Baby?"

This album is incredible. It might be the most "natural" sounding album of the band's career. So much lush yummy pop goodness. Kudos to Newfeld and god bless SFA!

Also, there's a fuckload of hammered dulcimer on it.

The sequencing of tracks is also great, so all the hammered dulcimer stuff comes in a bunch of tracks together.

What i thought was the weakest track 'battersea odyssey' uncovers layers of hooks. Even bunf's wobbly vocals can't hide the truth.

I agree. It's further evidence that they're just all-around great musicians and songwriters. Maybe some of the most underrated out there.

Is this album actually released yet?

Not till August

how good is the US bonus disc?

1. Never More
2. Aluminum Illuminati
3. These Bones
4. That's What I'm Talking About

and videos?

Those are the UK b-sides. They're pretty good songs, well up to the usual SFA standard.

"Aluminium Illuminati" and "These Bones" are great.

Anyone seen them live ? Covering this for a local paper tomorrow .

Yeah. It wasn't their best show. They didn't seem to evolve much past their last couple iterations. They're still opening with "Slow Life" and "Drawing Rings Around the World."

Nice to see this didn't get the hammering here that it might have. I've seen disparaging remarks about it dropped on non-SFA threads so was expecting "GAWD this band used to be good but the new album suxxorz". A year on it sounds better to me than it did upon release (and it didn't sound bad then). Not their best record, but they seem (to me) incapable of making a bad one, and I do like every track on Hey Venus!. Anyone with further thoughts?

Hey venus! is an excellent shuffle play album. When one of the album songs comes on, it just dominates.. the impact is less as an album.

I'm noticing this about a lot of albums I pooh-pooh'ed from recent to albums released decades ago, and I wonder if some albums weren't meant to be "albums". Or have I become Web 2.0? ;_;

I'm giving this another listen (starting with "Neo-Consumer" because those first 4 tracks really were that boring) and it's certainly better than I originally gave it credit (I actually trashed it to within an inch of its life)...there's still a little something missing, however.

That's 2 bad you think that, 'cos IMO the two best tracks (other than the brilliant Battersea Odyssey) are Runaway and The Gift that Keeps Giving? How can't you LOVE The Gift? Incredible song...

Their new album sounds like a huge change in direction based on this glowing review: http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=6&p=1110&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Sounds like they've been listening to me! :D

I was perfectly happy with the ballad-heavy trip they were on, but I'm even happier that they seem to be making an album that from all I can tell will continue in the tradition of their more "experimental" stuff. I get chills thinking it might approach Guerrilla's greatness.

I'm just psyched that they're going for the RATW-esque kitchen sink approach once more! :P

Time to listen to those first 4 Hey Venus! tracks again.

"Inaugural Trams" : http://www.mediafire.com/?z5jyoyqmjnz

Comes out tomorrow and all four or five published reviews are extremely positive. I'm PSYCHED. Too bad the album art is even crazier/uglier than the last one.

prefer beastie boys or aesop rock

I am completely stoked for this

you know what's quite lol?

the fact that 'that's what i'm talking about', a hey-venus-era b-side, would have been the best track on the album by, like, miles

just a little observation

It's a great song, yeah. I don't know that it would've fit anywhere on here, though... And there's great songs all over the album. All the same, I could go for something in that vein next time. Very strange track.

I don't think the band have a very strong sense of what their best songs are sometimes. They seem like they cluelessly release stuff and hope for the best. That's why they're my favs. They don't really have a filter. They just produce these misshapen albums and keep missing the mark by a micro dot. Just the best.