God! Show Me Magic
Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.
With 7 albums (not including the b-sides, greatest hits & remix albums) under their belts the Super Furry Animals have a wealth of material to draw from, and every single song last night blew me away. In my mind SFA should be bigger than (bloody) Coldplay.. but I guess they are just slightly too odd for the mass market. And that suits me fine. I don't want to watch them with 50,000 others. I think though, that their undoubted strangeness makes people overlook just how good their songs are.
Opening with one of my particular favourites - 'Slow Life' (see below) - got me onside straight away however it wasn't until a majestic version of 'Hello Sunshine' three songs in that I started feeling really furry. I think the entire audience went weak at the knees. I certainly did. 'Rings Around the World' and 'Do or Die' got everyone jumping again, after which came a couple of tracks off the new album 'Love Kraft'.
I managed to download it on Thursday, and I am happy to report that it is very excellent. Good though the album is though, nothing prepares you for quite how good these songs sound live. Somerset House is a stunning venue anyway... an open air cobbled courtyard surrounded on all four sides by 18th Century splendour... and with a surround sound system in place the songs echoed around the warm London night in a dazzling fashion.
'Zoom!' and 'Frequency' are the two I remember, along with upcoming single 'Lazer Beam' (which i'm not all that keen on at the moment). 'Zoom!' is the opening track on the album.. and while you might think to begin with that it's pretty typical SFA stuff, you just wait till the choir comes in half-way through. Lovely.
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS - ZOOM!
'Frequency' is the moment of incredible beauty that the band seem to come up with on every album. Fuck Barry White... give the object of your desires a CD with 'Hello Sunshine', 'Fire In My Heart', 'Presidential Suite' and 'Frequency' and he/she will be putty in your hands.
Speaking of 'Fire in My Heart', that was another moist-eyed moment. A declaration of love to counter the carnage of the previous day. Everyone reached for the person nearest and hugged them dearly. The bombs were of course well and truly in the minds of those that managed to attend... clearly a lot of people had decided not to make the journey into town. 'Juxtaposed With You' fired out the SFA message of love to the centre of London. 'You've Got to Tolerate, all the people that you hate' rang across The Thames. I also remember a stunning version of 'Run! Christian, Run!' (from 2001's 'Rings Around The World' - their best album IMHO) a glorious track accompanied by an echoing slide guitar. What a great sounding instrument that is. Brings back memories of the KLF's 'Chill Out'.
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS - RUN! CHRISTIAN, RUN!
They ended as usual with their twenty minute techno freakout version of 'The Man Don't Give a Fuck' - which had me leaping up and down like a man possessed, before a strangely anti-climactic finish.. some supposedly amusing video credits. The ending hung in the air like a burning Zeppelin, and that was it.
Although as you can probably tell I thoroughly enjoyed myself the show wasn't a patch on the Royal Festival Hall gig last year. Where were these supposed Futuristic Robots? They also didn't play two of my favourite songs.. 'Demons' and 'Presidential Suite'. (Boo)
Despite this the SFA live experience is always a wonderous thing to behold. If you ever have the opportunity to see them don't hesitate for a second.
If you don't have any of their records, please buy 'Songbook' - the greatest hits album - immediately. What else are you going to spend 8 quid on.. Crack?
'Love Kraft' is out on August 22nd.
Be Excited.
With 7 albums (not including the b-sides, greatest hits & remix albums) under their belts the Super Furry Animals have a wealth of material to draw from, and every single song last night blew me away. In my mind SFA should be bigger than (bloody) Coldplay.. but I guess they are just slightly too odd for the mass market. And that suits me fine. I don't want to watch them with 50,000 others. I think though, that their undoubted strangeness makes people overlook just how good their songs are.
Opening with one of my particular favourites - 'Slow Life' (see below) - got me onside straight away however it wasn't until a majestic version of 'Hello Sunshine' three songs in that I started feeling really furry. I think the entire audience went weak at the knees. I certainly did. 'Rings Around the World' and 'Do or Die' got everyone jumping again, after which came a couple of tracks off the new album 'Love Kraft'.
I managed to download it on Thursday, and I am happy to report that it is very excellent. Good though the album is though, nothing prepares you for quite how good these songs sound live. Somerset House is a stunning venue anyway... an open air cobbled courtyard surrounded on all four sides by 18th Century splendour... and with a surround sound system in place the songs echoed around the warm London night in a dazzling fashion.
'Zoom!' and 'Frequency' are the two I remember, along with upcoming single 'Lazer Beam' (which i'm not all that keen on at the moment). 'Zoom!' is the opening track on the album.. and while you might think to begin with that it's pretty typical SFA stuff, you just wait till the choir comes in half-way through. Lovely.
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS - ZOOM!
'Frequency' is the moment of incredible beauty that the band seem to come up with on every album. Fuck Barry White... give the object of your desires a CD with 'Hello Sunshine', 'Fire In My Heart', 'Presidential Suite' and 'Frequency' and he/she will be putty in your hands.
Speaking of 'Fire in My Heart', that was another moist-eyed moment. A declaration of love to counter the carnage of the previous day. Everyone reached for the person nearest and hugged them dearly. The bombs were of course well and truly in the minds of those that managed to attend... clearly a lot of people had decided not to make the journey into town. 'Juxtaposed With You' fired out the SFA message of love to the centre of London. 'You've Got to Tolerate, all the people that you hate' rang across The Thames. I also remember a stunning version of 'Run! Christian, Run!' (from 2001's 'Rings Around The World' - their best album IMHO) a glorious track accompanied by an echoing slide guitar. What a great sounding instrument that is. Brings back memories of the KLF's 'Chill Out'.
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS - RUN! CHRISTIAN, RUN!
They ended as usual with their twenty minute techno freakout version of 'The Man Don't Give a Fuck' - which had me leaping up and down like a man possessed, before a strangely anti-climactic finish.. some supposedly amusing video credits. The ending hung in the air like a burning Zeppelin, and that was it.
Although as you can probably tell I thoroughly enjoyed myself the show wasn't a patch on the Royal Festival Hall gig last year. Where were these supposed Futuristic Robots? They also didn't play two of my favourite songs.. 'Demons' and 'Presidential Suite'. (Boo)
Despite this the SFA live experience is always a wonderous thing to behold. If you ever have the opportunity to see them don't hesitate for a second.
If you don't have any of their records, please buy 'Songbook' - the greatest hits album - immediately. What else are you going to spend 8 quid on.. Crack?
'Love Kraft' is out on August 22nd.
Be Excited.
posted by headphonesex @ 1:19 PM
