Radiator (album)

Radiator
Studio album by Super Furry Animals
Released	25 August 1997
Recorded	1997
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	46:54
Label	Creation
Producer	Gorwel Owen & Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals chronology
Fuzzy Logic (1996) Radiator (1997) Ice Hockey Hair (1998)
Singles from Radiator
"Hermann ♥'s Pauline" Released: 24 May 1997 "The International Language of Screaming" Released: 12 July 1997 "Play It Cool" Released: 22 September 1997 "Demons" Released: 17 November 1997

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Pitchfork Media	(8.6/10)[2]
PopMatters	(favourable)[3]
Tiny Mix Tapes	[4]

Radiator is the second album by Super Furry Animals. It peaked at #8 on the UK charts.^[5] In 2005, it was reissued with a bonus disc of other tracks from the time.

In 2000 Q magazine placed Radiator at number 73 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

Singer Gruff Rhys has described Radiator as "more interesting" than the band's debut Fuzzy Logic with the group taking advantage of producer Gorwel Owen's "Atari computers, and banks of old vintage synths" to create an album which was "musically ... much more adventurous".^[6]

The track 'Download' repeatedly appeared on the hit Welsh TV Show 'Lois' about a young teenage girl struggling to come to terms with her anorexia.

Release and reception

Stylus Magazine named Radiator in a list of "Ten essential albums" released by Creation Records in a 2003 article about the label.^[7]

Track listing

All songs by Super Furry Animals.

1. "Furryvision" – 1:26
2. "The Placid Casual" – 2:49
3. "The International Language of Screaming" – 2:14
4. "Demons" – 5:11
5. "Short Painkiller" – 0:38
6. "She's Got Spies" – 4:43
7. "Play It Cool" – 3:16
8. "Hermann ♥'s Pauline" – 4:43
9. "Chupacabras" – 1:26
10. "Torra Fy Ngwallt Yn Hir" – 1:54
11. "Bass Tuned to D.E.A.D" – 3:20
12. "Down a Different River" – 5:37
13. "Download" – 3:19
14. "Mountain People" – 6:18

Reissue bonus disc

1. "Mu-tron" – 3:16
2. "nO.K." – 2:12
3. "Foxymusic" – 3:49
4. "Hit & Run" – 3:29
5. "Wrap It Up" – 3:25

"nO.K." plays the theme of "The International Language of Screaming" on an acoustic guitar, without the vocals, accentuating the alphabet being read in both English and Welsh in the background. As the title implies, the recitations of the alphabets omit the letter "K". This was in response to the popularity of Kula Shaker at the time who had adopted the letter K as part of their manifesto. SFA recorded nO.K leaving out the letter K as an anti Kula-Shaker stance. ^{[citation needed]}

Personnel

• Gruff Rhys- vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, Moog, claps
• Huw Bunford- electric guitar, backing vocals
• Cian Ciaran- electronics, Rhodes piano, piano, backing vocals, claps
• Guto Pryce- bass, sub-bass, claps
• Dafydd Ieuan- drums, percussion, backing vocals, piano

• Les Morrison- banjo (Demons)
• Gorwel Owen- E-Bow, samples, electric harpsichord, backwards Rhodes
• Martin Smith- trumpet
• Simon James- tenor sax and flute
• Andrew Frizzell- trombone and alto sax

• The Electra Strings:
• Sonia Slany- violin
• Jules Singleton- violin
• Clair Arster- viola
• Dinah Beamish- cello

References