Everything he touches is solid gold. The Neon Neon album is fantastic, especially when he takes the lead on tracks like I Told Her On Alderaan. And then nearly every Super Furry Animals album is fantastic, with the exception of Love Kraft. He doesn't write shit songs ever. His sense of melody and harmony is incredible and he has a fantastic sense of humour.
I'm gonna have a Gruff Rhys day, in honour of the man.
^ 5
I wish
people would stop saying "with the exception of love Kraft". It is actually an excellent album and I think the only reasonable critism that I think can be made is that it isn't as instantly accessable in comparision to other albums. I know plenty of people who have turned round and said they were relistening to love kraft and didn't realise how great it was. So i would recomend you do this yourself in celebration of Gruff Rhys day.
Personally
I don't think Love Kraft's a bad album - it's a good one. I don't think it's as good as any of SFA's other LPs though. It's not like many other bands where their worst album is clearly pretty damn poor.
Gruff Rhys
is also well fit. Phwoar!
hes a hottie!
my GF loves him, but I'm not jealous. Better him than, er... someone else not as cool. Or something.
^This
Love Kraft has Zoom! on it, which is a contender for best album opener ever.
Gruff Rhys is consistently excellent - how many other songwriters have released so many great albums (8 SFA studio albums, 2 solo albums, and now Neon Neon)?
God bless Gruff and all who sail with him!
you ought to probably also
check out the pre SFA stuff
http://www.welshbands.eu/pastbands/ffacoffipawb/
^ha
they're even wearing their own band t-shirts. Defo a large no no.
Hail Love Kraft
I consider it a great one, better than Guerilla. His solo one Candylion is a beauty. Just got the Neon Neon cd this morning and can't wait to give it a play. The mixtape thang on Pitchfork is excellent http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/47233-neon-neon-mixtape-mp3. Had that on twice today already. Spoke to him at last years Green Man and he's a beautiful gentle soul.
I don't have Rings Around The World. Is that wrong?
totally agree with the above
Love Kraft has some great stuff on it. When they played Zoom on the last tour at Birmingham Academy every hair on my body was stood up. Unbelievably good tune.
Candylion is quality too.
yes
the guy is the best songwriter britain has produced in the past 15 years, and i'd say has one of the best singing voices.
well said, lgordon!
haha...
i'm just writing a review of Neon Neon and pretty much said exactly the same
I'm with you on this
I got into SFA 12 years ago when I first heard Hometown Unicorn. Shortly after Fuzzy Logic came out and blew my young impressionable mind.
The quality control of Rhys' songwriting is extraordinary. In the main his lyrics show imagination, intelligence and humour. Very occasionaly he'll hit a duff line as highlighted in Smokin' - "Gonna manage my time just like Johan Cruyff, if we do it together we've got meaning of life".
But the hooks, melodies and timing of the majority of SFAs output together with Rhys' solo material and collaborations with Boom Bip and Mogwai have all been to a consistently high standard.
The man hasn't put a foot wrong in the 13 years he's been on the scene. A brilliant, unpredictable individual seemingly capable of producing any style of music.
I think his Vocals on Dial:Revenge
make it Rock Action's stand out track
that johann cryuff line is genius!
I agree with the 'except love kraft' comment above, main reason being Gruff handed over song writing duties on loads of it. Although having said that i thought hey venus was a bit boring as well, apart from 'runaway'.
SAF have got loads better live though recently.
jesus, my spelling
what you on about !?
"Gonna manage my time just like Johan Cruyff, if we do it together we've got meaning of life"
Thats a genuis line !
my spelling also..
"Genius"
I agree 101%
Where can I get this neon album?
shops
:D
Love Kraft
is wonderful. Shush.
But yes, Gruff is King.
.
"I don't have Rings Around The World. Is that wrong?"
yes, it's their best album. they got progressively better up til then, then got progressively less good but still great from then onwards.
urgh
nah rings around the world is merely ok
Argh!!!
For all the undue criticism Love Kraft gets, RATW gets undue praise.
Anyway, glad to see some Gruff Rhys love here.
*nods*
the only good thing about wales.
i agree
he is a legend. am listening to neon neon now. would love him to do a more techy project like the huge wig out at the end of 'no sympathy'. didn't SFA start out as a 'dance' act???
also
love kraft is great. cabin fever, frequency and zoom! are 3 of their best for me
aye, he's great.
i'm just listening to the neon neon tracks on myspace now too, is that the whole album on there?
I think so.
That alderaan song is pop GENIUS.
neil young - sample and hold on neon neon's mixtape
its the most slagged music by writers in 80s, now everybodys playing; erol alkan to thom yorke, sonic youth to pete tong. neon neon is cool though.
that mobile phone song on guerrila
Is a very shit song. But that aside, yes he is great.
he does seem
like a true gent too
he seems like a true gent
not if you ask george lamb....he said he was really anti-social and rude.....
hmmmm........universally liked and found to be pleasant- collaborates with loads of people, hasnt put a foot wrong in 13 years.....vs george lamb....hmmmmm
my favourite thing gryff has done
has to be the celery chewing bit or eating the crisps as a homage to mcartney on pet sounds....genius!
Who is he?
lead singer/main songwriter for the Super Furry Animals
/solo artist/collaborator/deity.
No, who is this Gryff
character?
I am in a pedantic mood.
Keep the Cosmic Trigger Happy
the song that makes me smile no matter what :)
my email address
references this song, has done since before the release of Guerrilla, and I'm still a little embarrassed by it cause it sounds a bit shit. But hey, I loves the Furries.
Just to damper some of the fun here
I've got a solo thing he sings in Welsh. It's not that good...cos he sings in Welsh. NN is good, not fantastic. But yeah SFA are well cool, obv.
Neon Neon
the track Michael Douglas is great
"I need more stuff, give me more stuff, I see my reflection, in Michael Douglas's mirrored sunglasses"
Oh the glamour
other peripheral SFA stuff to hunt down
Omni (Cian's mellow 'techno record') - Acid Casuals
The Peth (Daf and Guto's new band with Rhys Ifans)-LP due this year
The Serpents -(featuring Gruff and Daf) You have Just been poisoned by the serpents LP
Ffa Cowfi Pawb (pre SFA band- as mentioned earlier!)
-and if you're a REAL geek (!) have a look at
Depressed Celts Volume 1 (SFA's record label showcase LP)
Sounds of Monsterism Island (sleeve artist Pete Fowler's compilation of tropical psychedelics).
and
Ffa Cowfi Pawb
YES. This is so much better than I thought it would be.
Yr Atal Genhedlaeth?
It's great. A dozen or so short pop songs - something that trancends language. It's worth looking up the translations and meanings too, since you'll find out that they're just as good as much of the SFA material - Epynt being a mountain in the Breacon Beacons, but also a play on the words Euro (E in Welsh) and Pound (Pynt)
Candylion is quite good as well.
This statement means
that you haven't listened to much music outside of indie then.
Jesus
^ Can someone translate this please???
Nothing this guy says makes any sense whatsoever.
Does anyone else find this, or is it just me?
Agreed.
I’ve always felt SFA were a top band hindered by a stupid name. Maybe people would have realised how great and sensitive some of the songs were if they weren’t by a band called ‘Super Fury Animals’.
I don’t know maybe I’m underestimating people.
Gruff’s probably one of the most stoned song writers in the country though, there’s no contention there.
A lot of people I've spoken to
have been put off by Gruff's Welsh accent. It's a shame
I guess it's one of the things
that really makes them what they are, and if you don't like it. Strange though - I love it. Just tell them they're racist next time.
But the Beatles became massive
and their name is equally as retarded.
What's even less fair is SFA are vastly superior to the Beatles on many levels.
Time, I hope, will tell. I know for a fact that in a squillion years when we're all dead and gone and the aliens/robots from outer space descend upon the ravages of our once lush earth to see what unholy twattery was the end of us, they'll discover SFA albums and consider them the highest of our human art.
Super Furry Animals are brilliant
That is all.
Gruff Rhys is from outer space
His tunes are out of this world :D
Lewis aren't you, like, half his age?
Implying that he might be one of the best of *my* generation but not of yours :D.
I like his stuff a lot. I don't own loads of SFA stuff but I always have time for it.
That said I don't like the statements about 'best songwriter of a generation'. You can't really tell until that generation's all washed up. Bob Dylan was one of the greats of his generation as we can clearly see by his legacy. Give us another 20-30 years before you start working out who was best in our generation. :D