Super Furry Animals - Out Spaced

8.5 - Wales - 1998

For their collection of b-sides and rarities, the Super Furry Animals decided to make more of an album than a comprehensive compilation of non-album tracks. While this choice is unfortunate for the completist, it does ostensibly make the record a better listen. And Out Spaced does work as an album, one that stacks up well with the rest of the Super Furries oeuvre, even at this, the height of their career. Indeed, it's a testament to the group that their "cast-offs" are as good as many bands' a-sides. In fact, because of the Furries' freewheeling imaginations, some of their most interesting work can be found in the tracks that for whatever reason could not be included on their long-players. Consequently, for example, a good chunk of this compilation is in Welsh (I've always felt the SFAs sounded best when singing in their native, very musical language) as Creation records wanted Fuzzy Logic to be as accessible as possible to English-speaking audiences. 

To take a census: Of the thirteen tracks here (not including the pre-gap hidden track), four are Fuzzy Logic b-sides, while two are Radiator b-sides (a curiously low representation). Two tracks come from each of the pre-Fuzzy Logic EPs "Moog Droog" and "Llanfair... (In Space)". The non-album single "The Man Don't Give A Fuck" rightly starts off the compilation, and the stop-gap post-Radiator "Ice Hockey Hair" EP is represented by "Smokin'" (which, like "The Man..." could be regarded as a non-album a-side). Finally, the most genuine "rarity" on the set is "Dim Brys Dim Chwys", a lovely slice of woozy electronica that the band contributed to the 1995 Ankst compilation Triskadekaphilia. The fact that these thirteen tracks represent the cream of only four years of recording further shows the creative strengths of the Super Furries.

Despite the disparate sources, the material hangs together well (although not in chronological order, the album is well sequenced). Given that Out Spaced draws on the group's earlier -- hell, earliest -- work, it's going to sound a bit more raw and punky. To that end, "Guacamole" (a last minute sub on the "If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You" single when the band were unable to secure the rights for the Steely Dan sample in "The Man Don't Give A Fuck") sounds like a slightly better version of "Bad Behaviour" (with a slight rockabilly tinge). Further, both "Arnofio / Glô In The Dark" (from the "Something 4 The Weekend" single, and perhaps the highlight of the compilation) and "Focus Pocus / Debiel" (from "Moog Droog") show the band's uncanny ability to effortlessly shift between spikey fuzz-punk to mellow space psych within a single chord change. The aforementioned "Dim Brys Dim Chwys", despite being possibly the oldest thing here, presciently anticipates the Furries' later, more electronic work. Elsewhere, "Pam V" sounds like something Prince could have made had he come from the Welsh mountains and the closer "Blerwytirhwng?" is a wonderful blend of 70s AOR and 90s indie-pop (that is, before it degenerates into a cacophony of bizarre metallic noise). Really, the only time this collection dips below excellent are the two Radiator b-sides which are merely quite decent.