Super Furry Animals - Radiator

9.5 - Wales - 1997

- Masterpiece -

For anyone getting into the wonderment that is the Super Furry Animals, this, their second record is probably the best place to start. Building on the punk-inflected pop-psych of their debut, Radiator finds the group expanding their sound (a few more electronics than on the debut) and polishing up their song-writing chops in what can only be described as an incredible leap beyond the already pretty decent Fuzzy Logic. Pretty much every track here is an utter gem from the clattering, but delightful, mess of fuzz-tones and sub-bass of "The Placid Casual" to the post-punk Steely Dan of "Play It Cool" and gentle, piano-led electro-psych of "Download". "The International Language Of Screaming" is a great example of the SFAs' uncanny ability to craft an infectious pop single out of the simplest of forms, whereas its immediate follow-up, "Demons", (a personal favourite) showcases their deftness at creating sprawling psychedelic epics (without the epic runtime!). Although not the strongest track on this embarrassment of riches, "She's Got Spies"is perhaps the archetypal Super Furries song as it switches from slow verse to quick chorus like some type of punk rock / Beach Boys mash-up.

Throughout, Gruff Rhys' astounding vocals anchor the record, along with some great harmonies by his fellow Furries. The lyrics run the gamut from endorsements of revolutionary politics to Dadaist free assocation and silly puns: "The Placid Casual" has a shout-out to Sierra Leonian dictator Valentine Strasser and "Hermann [Love]s Pauline" pointedly asks "Why do you do what they tell you" in between garbled biographies of Albert Einstein and Marie Curie (who, we are told, was "Polish-born but French-bread / Ha! French bread!). Album closer, "The Mountain People", offers a melancholic and thoughtful rumination on Welsh identity as a contrast to the utter silliness of the delightful pop of "Torra Fy Ngwallt Yn Hir", a Welsh-language track that, as best as I can make out, is about cutting one's hair. Really, the only possible weakspot on this fantastic record is "Down A Different River", the obligatory "maybe-they-have-too-many-mid-tempo-tracks-on-the-second-side" track, but even that one's a winner even if it is a little ponderous. In all, I'd still say Mwng is their best album, but that's possibly the contrarian in me; Radiator is their greatest.