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Track Listings
| 1. Something for the weekend | |||
| 2. Its not the end of the world | |||
| 3. Northern Lites | |||
| 4. Juxtapozed with U | |||
| 5. Slow Life | |||
| 6. Fire in my Heart | |||
| 7. The Man don't give a F*** | |||
| 8. Hermann Loves Pauline | |||
| 9. Play it Cool | |||
| 10. Ice Hockey Hair | |||
| 11. Do or Die | |||
| 12. (Drawing) Rings around the world | |||
| 13. God! Show me Magic | |||
| 14. Ysbeidiau Heulog | |||
| 15. Demons | |||
| 16. Golden Retriever | |||
| 17. The international Language of Screaming | |||
| 18. Hello Sunshine | |||
| 19. Hometown Unicorn | |||
| 20. If you don't want me to destroy you | |||
See all 21 tracks on this disc
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Product Description
Product Description
Review
Songbook Volume One is a collection of all 20(!) of their Creation/Epic singles to date, along with "Blerwytirhwng" from 1995's pre-Creation debut EP Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyndrobwllantysilio-gogogochynygofod (In Space).
Two of the many highlights on Songbook include the sublime "Ice Hockey Hair" and the epic "The Man Don't Give A F***" - here in it's original version rather than the near half-hour acid freak out that ends their live shows.
Over the last nine years The Super Furry Animals have made consistently excellent music but have frequently been over-looked by critics and have failed to achieve great commercial success. The breadth of ideas on display here is astonishing. From the fried space-folk of "Hometown Unicorn" via the lone indie/calypso crossover of "Northern Lites" to the airbrushed MOR of "Juxtapozed With U" and the Orbital-tinged "Slow Life".
There's evidence of a Beach Boys influence on the mellow "Hello Sunshine" and "Don't Want Me To Destroy You". While there are also great hairy rock outs such as "Golden Retriever", "God! Show Me Magic" and "Do Or Die". Every track is unskippable, making this one of the best singles collections ever. Completely brilliant. --Ian Wade
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Customer Reviews
Songbook is a collection of the finest singles from one of the most colourful singles bands of the last decade. The bizarre and entertaining publicity stunts have ranged from arriving to festivals in a pink tank to pissing about with Yetis, while the music remains just as weird and wonderful. Every alt-rock classic is here, from the early fuzz-rock of God! Show Me Magic to Caribbean-flavoured classic Northern Lites. It's a showcase for the fact that the Furries are as original and daring as experimentalist mates Mogwai, but their best tunes will remain stuck in your head for weeks. They're one of the few bands who can create an instant Top 20 hit and still stick two minutes of Japanese phone noises at the end of it.
If you're not yet an SFA devotee, this is the perfect starting point. It's a Greatest Hits that's far more than just a collection of their most commercial work: amidst the 21 tracks are two songs sung in Welsh, a seven-minute techno exploration and a chart hit with the most uses of the f-word in it ever. Funny, accessible and original, and this is just volume one.
Maybe it didn't grab me that first time because I was listening to it in the rainy spring, because this is perfect summer music.
The ballads and love songs - the singles that first drew me to the collection - are the most immediate tracks here. They are tender, modest, humorous and human. The childlike lyrics of the gorgeous 'Fire In My Heart' ('I've got pins and needles for you') the wailing harmonies on the happy-sad (hence the rather wonderful question mark) 'It's Not The End Of The World?' the shimmering 'Juxtaposed With U' all sing of the summer. And, of course, 'Hello Sunshine' does too - how can it not with a name like that?
The rest of the collection spins like a kid's yoyo through various styles - 'Something 4 The Weekend', a britpop love-song to drugs, the samba of 'Northern Lites', the glorious two fingers to The Man of 'The Man Don't Give A....'. '(Drawing) Rings Around The World' feels like flying in a plane above the clouds on a midsummer day, whereas 'Golden Retriever' is lurching, long-haired 70s rock.
However, as much as the collection rockets through different styles, strands run through the work of SFA that ties it together.... Read more ›
Each studio album is well worth purchasing individually, however this compilation is a good starting place for the uninitiated (then go and buy all the studio albums).
Go and see them live, grow your hair like an afghan hound, learn to believe in the power of SFA - you're life will never be the same again!
Woof!
i) Why's it not in chronological order? Generally I think this is a terrible idea for Greatest Hits compilations but it really would show just how much and how often the Super Furries have progressed, so I think it'd make sense to begin with the Britpop of Fuzzy Logic, work through the experimentation of Guerilla and finish with the lush strings of Rings Around The World and Phantom Power. It also means you could finish on the epic 'Slow Life', which would be a better closer than 'Blerwytirhwng?'.
ii) 'Blerwytihrhwng?'. Why? It's a pretty cool song and the ending is beautifully weird, if overstretched, but it was never really a single; just something from the B-sides album. 'Smokin'' should be there instead - it's on the DVD, after all - 'cos it was on the Ice Hockey Hair EP so has more of a mandate as a single. Better song too.
iii) 'The Man Don't Give A F***' is only included as a Radio Edit and not the full 22-minute live version I saw in Hammersmith. Shame, but I suppose it has to be that way for new fans picking up a Best Of. Which makes me reiterate the bizarre inclusion of 'Blerwytihrhwng?'.
I suppose that's kinda it. INCREDIBLE BAND, BRILLIANT ALBUM, GET IT. Don't stop there though - they're an albums band, so make sure you own them all! Especially Radiator and Rings Around The World.
There is no denying the quality and quirkiness of the music they have produced over the last decade though, and this singles collection is testamount to this.
From the first singles to the the present day there is something for all fans of quality rock/pop.
If you haven't purchased any of the SFA albums this is an ideal way to get into the group.
The collection is comprehensive and I thoroughly recommend it to all music fans.
The CD is basiclly all of SFA's released singles, this is only the third SFA CD i have purchased but if you... Read more
If you don't buy this album, there has to be something seriously wrong with you -... Read more
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