SFA’s Ringz ‘Round th’ Werld gets the big remaster anniversary treatment

[The Mollusk]

Full info H E R E !

20 years old and it doesn't look a day older than the day it was born! Big whopping 2LP/3CD set, lots of outtakes and remixes and B-sides, all remastered from the original tapes.

I fucking love this album, as should anyone else who likes daft but gorgeous proggy psych-pop (but not The Flaming Lips, fuck The Flaming Lips). I've got it on now as I cook some delicious kung pao cauliflower. Never get tired of how wonderfully fun, creative, rich, warm and downright groovy it is.

Also has no idea that Macca chews some celery on "Receptacle", which made me chuckle. Incidentally, Iggy Pop is credited in the liner notes for "[A] Touch Sensitive" which I've never bothered looking into but always been curious about. Anyone? buzby?

[holdover]

Oh braw! Many a night was enjoyed out my tits listening to the DVD version on my flatmates surround sound set up.

Great album.

Shame there's not a blu ray

[peanutbutter]

Was surprised how low the view counts on their youtube channel were a few weeks back, highest has like 500k https://www.youtube.com/c/superfurryanimals/videos

Do a bit better on Spotify, although considering they seem like they'd be great to slot into loads of generated playlists (90s ones, britpop ones, would fit quite well amongst stuff from mid-2000s US psychedelic acts) they probably could be doing better there too.

[imitationleather]

Was the first SFA album I ever got and still my favourite. Listening to this with my mates at lunchtime is one of my few genuinely fond memories of my entire schooldays.

[non capisco]

Someone ought to remaster 'Radiator', it's song for song my favourite SFA album but stick it on after anything else and it sounds about five times quieter.

'Receptacle For The Respectable' off 'Rings' is a perfect encapsulation of everything that's brilliant about Gruff and the Super Furries. Pop classicism, joie de vivre, a daft and restless spirit of experimentation that means a potential pop radio smash ends with a bloke screaming "WURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" against the textural backdrop of a load of radio dials going bezerk. I think only 'Mountain People' tops it as my favourite song of theirs because you get all of that plus that mile wide streak of yearning melancholy they sometimes gracefully employ.

[daf]

Someone ought to remaster 'Radiator', it's song for song my favourite SFA album but stick it on after anything else and it sounds about five times quieter.

Here you go : Radiator (20th Anniversary Edition) (2-CD)

the original 1997 album beautifully remastered from the analogue tapes + B-sides, alternate versions and unreleased demos

[non capisco]

Ooh, nice. I'll pick it up from somewhere other than old Cock Rocket's site. Ta!

[holdover]

Receptacle For The Respectable is great isn't it? I once made a pal nearly piss herself at a SFA gig. She didn't really know lots of their songs and started heading to the loo a few seconds in to Receptacle. I dragged her back as I knew she'd love the way that tune goes totally batshit.

[kalowski]

Pre ordered from the local record shop. Would love all the SFA albums on vinyl but they're pricy if they exist. Just want those wonderful covers at full size.
Really looking forward to this one... probably my favourite of their work. Or Radiator, Guerrilla or Phantom Power.

[falafel]

Saw them touring it in Southampton, never had there been a better user of surround sound. Fucking cracking album.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

These SFA reissues have been brilliant so far. I'm really grateful that they've been put together with real love and attention rather than been brickwalled and whacked onto some shitty coloured vinyl.

The first three are already reasonably hard to find on vinyl now, but you can pick the CDs up for less than a tenner each on Discogs and they're packed with bonus material. Their b-sides are nearly all brilliant (up until the Phantom Power era at least) and the outtakes and demos are really interesting to your SFA nerdz - you can hear bits of Love Kraft on the Guerrilla bonus disc.

The only slight gripe is that they swapped in the single mix of Something 4 The Weekend on Fuzzy Logic and the US mix of Play It Cool on Radiator, but at least the originals are there as bonus tracks.

Rings should be superb. The original vinyl edition is supposedly pretty ropey despite it fetching £200+ these days. The reissue will come without the gimmicks of the first release  (a 7" of All The Shit U Do was well hidden inside the gatefold, and side C played from the inside out) but Kliph who's overseen it says that's so they could focus on the sound quality.

Apparently the high-res digital download features 75 tracks - that's 20 more than are on the triple CD. Can't wait.

[Kankurette]

Oh, sweet. Always reminds me of working in Oxfam in 6th form cos the shop manager was an SFA fan and we used to have this album on rotation. Fuzzy Logic is my fave but I have a soft spot for it, not least because of the Beach Boys reference.

[Excellent_Biscuits]

Genuinely think it's their first duffer. Please don't all jump on me at the same time.

Juxtaposed is a classic obviously but what else?

All their albums before this one was hit after hit.

[kalowski]

Juxtaposed is a classic obviously but what else?

Every other track.

[willbo]

i bought their 2 disc greatest hits used a few weeks ago. I should probably dig that out along with radiator which I also have somewhere. I always meant to get Rings in my teens but somehow never got round to it.

[daf]

Juxtaposed is a classic obviously but what else?

"Receptacle for the Respectable" - surprised that wasn't a single!

[Brundle-Fly]

Superb album! Can't believe it's twenty years old. I remember listening to it all the time at the Edinburgh Fringe that year.

It's a shame they didn't stick with the original working title, Text Messaging is Destroying the Pub Quiz as We Know It as it would have captured the album in perfect 2001 aspic. Additionally, in response to today's thread title, somebody could have wryly posted 'Michael Stipe considers a rewrite'.

[imitationleather]

Every other track.

Yeah man has it arse about tit. Juxtaposed is probably the only not-fantastic track on the album.

[RickOtter]

Juxtaposed is a classic obviously but what else?

Presidential Suite is a thing of soaring beauty, and Run!Christian, Run! is possibly the greatest record they ever made (though I realise I could argue that case for most of their output)

[DrGreggles]

Run Christian Run is superb.
Always one of the best moments from their live shows - although that's full of them.

[SteveDave]

Incidentally, Iggy Pop is credited in the liner notes for "[A] Touch Sensitive" which I've never bothered looking into but always been curious about. Anyone? buzby?

It samples a Stooges song. From wiki

All tracks are written by Super Furry Animals, except "[A] Touch Sensitive" which contains a sample of "Ann" by Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton and Iggy Pop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ5tILS6bHA

[Hat FM]

spose there won't be a tour for this one as Gruffington will be touring his latest (amazing) album in the autumn and presumably winter.

i prefer radiator to RATW but their fourth is a real thing of beauty as they got to make the massive album they wanted to at that moment thanks to the cash from Sony. Juxtaposed was pushed massively on MTV i seem to remember. Its not my favourite sfa tune by any stretch but annoyingly is always the one that a casual observer will think of when you mention sfa.

[SteveDave]

This was the record where they lost me a bit. It felt too long. Or maybe it was just too many long songs bunched together? Or maybe it was me. No, it was them.

I bought "Phantom Power" when it came out but only because it was £8 in Asda and then ignored them until they ended.

The fool I am for not even giving "Love Kraft" a cursory listen though. It's my favourite record of theirs now (taking over from "Guerilla") and one I am hotly anticipating a re-release of.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

This was one of the first DVDs I ever bought (buy two get one free, in the HMV January sales). I never really got into it though, as DVD turned out to be a bit of a crap format for music. Slinging a CD on is a lot more convenient and better sounding than having to go to the living room, switch on the PS2 and telly, navigate through the DVD menu, then listen through the telly's speakers and the whirring of the PS2.

[falafel]

Wasn't much point in buying the DVD if you didn't have a 5.1 setup. The visuals were... OK. It was the only 5.1 thing I ever found worth a listen - that and Vespertine by Bjork which was actually on SACD so sounded much better than DVD.
Still basically a gimmick, but a pretty good one.

[Dusty Substance]

Juxtaposed is a classic obviously but what else?

All their albums before this one was hit after hit.

Good grief, who here knew that Juxtaposed "was initially conceived as a duet but both Brian Harvey and Bobby Brown turned the band down"? https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Juxtapozed_with_U
https://archive.ph/20121223160511/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/genres_artists/rock_pop/sfa_rings_around_world.shtml