Fuzzy Logic (Super Furry Animals album)
Fuzzy Logic | ||||
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Studio album by Super Furry Animals | ||||
Released | 20 May 1996 | |||
Recorded | 1996 | |||
Studio | Rockfield Studios | |||
Genre | Art rock,[1] glam rock,[2] pop,[1][3] psychedelia,[1][2][3] punk rock,[1][3] rock[2] | |||
Length | 41:47 | |||
Label | Creation | |||
Producer | Gorwel Owen, Super Furry Animals | |||
Super Furry Animals chronology | ||||
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Singles from Fuzzy Logic | ||||
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Fuzzy Logic is the debut album by the Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals. Recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and released on the Creation label in May 1996, it was positively received by critics, who felt it was an eclectic if inconsistent mix of psychedelic music and glam rock, and was included in Q Magazine's list of recordings of the year. It has retained a modest respect among some critics; it was listed in Q's "Best British Albums Ever" in July 2004, and is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[4] It contains two top 20 hits in "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" and "Something 4 the Weekend"; it also contains the singles "God! Show Me Magic" and "Hometown Unicorn". It reached number 23 in the UK Albums Chart on release.
Recording
In a 2008 interview with Uncut Gruff Rhys described the process of making the album:
“ | We'd signed a deal and we were sort of blagging a bit ... We'd heard about Rockfield Studios and we wanted to record there because they had jacuzzis and you got three meals a day, all the wrong reasons for going to a studio.[5] | ” |
Although the album was conceived as a reaction to Britpop which the band felt represented a "conservative backwards movement in music" they soon realised that they were in an "old 70's studio making [a] 70's rock album".[5] Former members Rhys Ifans and Dic Ben contributed to the track "Long Gone" by leaving an answerphone message which plays as the song comes to a close.[6]
The album cover is a montage of photos of Welsh-born drug smuggler Howard Marks, the subject of the song "Hangin' with Howard Marks". Marks visited Rockfield during the making of the album at the band's request.[5]
Reception
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [7] |
Mojo | [8] |
NME | 8/10[9] |
Pitchfork Media | 8.4/10[10] |
Q | [11] |
Rolling Stone | [12] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [13] |
Uncut | 9/10[14] |
Vox | 9/10[15] |
Jon Wiederhorn in an October 1996 review in Rolling Stone felt the album was "rich in hallucinogenic spirit and shimmering guitars", and invoked the spirit of early 70s pop.[12] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic commented that the band combined psychedelia and art rock with pop melodies in an intoxicating manner, but that he thought the album didn't quite hold together because of its eclectic nature.[1] James Delingpole in a January 1997 review in The Daily Telegraph felt the band had a "strange mix of Bowie-esque glam rock, school-of-Syd-Barrett psychedelia and DIY kitsch", which resulted in a "delightfully skewed" album.[2] The album was included in Q magazine's list of recordings of the year.[16]
It reached number 23 in the UK Albums Chart on release.[17]
Legacy
In a June 2005 Pitchfork Media review of the 2005 reissue, Marc Hogan felt the album was a good introduction to the band's "candy-factory chameleon act" with music styles including "synth-laced punk-pop", "slanted pop" and "Pipers-era Floyd", though the album wasn't fully consistent.[10] Rod Stanley in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die felt that the band would go on to record better albums, but that the inventiveness of the album's blend of "Sixties pop, punk rock, and psychedelia, with an underlying Nineties dance sensibility", made it both joyful and exciting.[3]
It was listed at 42 in Q's 2004 list, "50 Best British Albums Ever".[18] In 1999, critic Ned Raggett ranked the album at number 74 on his list of "The Top 136 or So Albums of the Nineties".[19]
Track listing
All tracks written by Super Furry Animals.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "God! Show Me Magic" | 1:50 |
2. | "Fuzzy Birds" | 2:28 |
3. | "Something For the Weekend" | 2:33 |
4. | "Frisbee" | 2:22 |
5. | "Hometown Unicorn" | 3:33 |
6. | "Gathering Moss" | 3:22 |
7. | "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" | 3:17 |
8. | "Bad Behaviour" | 4:26 |
9. | "Mario Man" | 4:08 |
10. | "Hangin' with Howard Marks" | 4:20 |
11. | "Long Gone" | 5:20 |
12. | "For Now and Ever" | 3:33 |
2005 reissue bonus CD | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
1. | "Organ yn Dy Geg" | 2:56 |
2. | "Crys Ti" | 1:56 |
3. | "Lazy Life (of No Fixed Identity)" | 2:15 |
4. | "Death by Melody" | 2:32 |
5. | "Waiting to Happen" | 2:34 |
2016 deluxe edition bonus tracks | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
1. | "Lazy Life (of No Fixed Identity)" | |
2. | "Don't Be A Fool, Billy!" | |
3. | "Death by Melody" | |
4. | "Something For The Weekend" (Original UK album version) | |
5. | "Dim Bendith" | |
6. | "Waiting To Happen" | |
7. | "Arnofio/Glô In The Dark" | |
8. | "Guacamole" | |
9. | "The Man Don't Give A Fuck" | |
10. | "(Nid) Hon Yw'r Gân Sy'n Mynd I Achub Yr Iaith" |
2016 deluxe edition bonus disc – Lost on the Bypass Road | ||
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No. | Title | Length |
1. | "Frisbee" (Demo) | |
2. | "Something For The Weekend" (Demo) | |
3. | "Hangin' With Howard Marks" (Demo) | |
4. | "Sali Mali" (Demo) | |
5. | "Bad Behaviour" (Demo) | |
6. | "Lazy Life (of No Fixed Identity)" (Demo) | |
7. | "Mario Man" (Demo) | |
8. | "Death By Melody" (Demo) | |
9. | "Hometown Unicorn" (Demo) | |
10. | "Waiting To Happen" (Demo) | |
11. | "If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You" (Demo) | |
12. | "Gathering Moss" (Demo) | |
13. | "The Man Don't Give A Fuck" (Demo) | |
14. | "Fuzzy Birds" (Demo) | |
15. | "For Now And Ever" (Demo) | |
16. | "Frisbee" (Live at Phoenix Festival) | |
17. | "Organ Yn Dy Geg" (Live at Phoenix Festival) | |
18. | "Fix Idris" (Live at Phoenix Festival) | |
19. | "Something 4 The Weekend" (Live at Phoenix Festival) | |
20. | "Hometown Unicorn" (Live at Phoenix Festival) | |
21. | "If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You" (Live at Phoenix Festival) | |
22. | "Focus Pocus/Debiel" (Live at Phoenix Festival) | |
23. | "Bad Behaviour" (Live at Phoenix Festival) | |
24. | "Mario Man" (Live at Phoenix Festival) | |
25. | "God! Show Me Magic" (Live at Phoenix Festival) |
- The American release replaces "Something for the Weekend" with the longer single version of the song known as "Something 4 the Weekend".
Personnel
- Super Furry Animals
- Gruff Rhys – vocals, guitars, analogues, claps
- Dafydd Ieuan – drums, percussion, vocals, piano, claps
- Cian Ciaran – keyboards, analogues, vocals, claps
- Guto Pryce – bass, Hammond, vocals, claps, analogues
- Huw Bunford – guitars, vocals, e-bow, cello, claps
- Additional musicians
- Gorwel Owen – piano, Hammond, Rhodes
- Jez Francis – piano on "God! Show Me Magic"
- Matthew Everett – violin
- Chris Williams – violin
- Helen Spargo – viola
- Catherine Tanner – cello
- Martin Smith – trumpet, tenor horn
- Simon James – saxophone, flute
- Andrew Frizell – saxophone, recorder, trombone
- Lindsay Higgs – balalaika
- Rhys Ifans & Dic Ben – answering machine message on "Long Gone"
- Technical personnel
- SFA – songs, production
- Gorwel Owen – production
- Andy Wilkinson – engineering
- Nick Brine – assistance
- Brian Cannon @ Microdot – design, art direction
- Toby Egelnick – inside design, layout
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Fuzzy Logic – Super Furry Animals". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- 1 2 3 4 Delingpole, James (4 January 1997). "Super Furry Animals: Fuzzy Logic (Creation)". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- 1 2 3 4 Stanley, Rod (31 Oct 2005). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Cassell Illustrated. p. 773. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- ↑ Dimery, Robert, ed. (2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 0-7893-2074-6.
- 1 2 3 Martin, Piers (April 2008). "Album by album: Super Furry Animals". Uncut (131): 70–72.
- ↑ Fuzzy Logic (CD booklet). Super Furry Animals. London: Creation Records. 1996. p. 6. CRECD190.
- ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
- ↑ Segal, Victoria (January 2017). "Super Furry Animals: Fuzzy Logic". Mojo (278): 110.
- ↑ Williams, Simon (18 May 1996). "Super Furry Animals – Fuzzy Logic". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- 1 2 Hogan, Marc (June 6, 2005). "Super Furry Animals: Fuzzy Logic / Radiator / Out Spaced / Guerilla / Mwng". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- ↑ Doherty, Niall (December 2016). "Super Furry Animals: Fuzzy Logic". Q (366): 117.
- 1 2 Wiederhorn, Jon (17 October 1996). "Super Furry Animals: Fuzzy Logic". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). "Super Furry Animals". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside Books. p. 796. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ↑ "Super Furry Animals: Fuzzy Logic". Uncut (235): 51. December 2016.
- ↑ Beaumont, Mark (July 1996). "Super Furry Animals: Fuzzy Logic (Creation)". Vox: 92.
- ↑ "Rocklist.net ... Q magazine Recordings Of The Year". rocklistmusic.co.uk. 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- ↑ "Super Furry Animals". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
- ↑ "Rocklist.net - Q Magazine Lists: 50 Best British Albums Ever!". rocklistmusic.co.uk. 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- ↑ Raggett, Ned. "The Top 136 Or So Albums Of The Nineties". Freaky Trigger. Archived from the original on 20 January 2000. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
External links
- Fuzzy Logic (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)
- Fuzzy Logic (Adobe Flash) at Myspace (streamed copy where licensed)