Super Furry Animals reissuing 'Radiator' on vinyl/CD for 20th anniversary

June 19, 2017

sfa

1997 was a seriously amazing year for UK music, giving us Radiohead’s OK Computer, Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, Supergrass’ In it For the Money, Primal Scream’s Vanishing Point, Mogwai’s Young Team, The Verve’s Urban Hymns, among many more. But perhaps my favorite is Super Furry Animals‘ second album Radiator, where the Welsh band went from being a lot of fun to one of the more consistently great, wildly creative bands of the era. (They still are.) The record incorporated Madchester-y shuffle (“Play it Cool,” “The Placid Casual”), Bowie-style spacerock (“Demons,” “Bass tuned to DEAD”), punk, and mutant pop (“Herman Loves Pauline”) into a style that became their own. Radiator also marked the start of their creative partnership with graphic designer Pete Fowler, who has done all their artwork since.

Originally released on Creation, the record has been out of print for some time but is getting a deluxe 20th anniversary reissue on vinyl and CD this year, remastered from the original analogue tapes. Say the band:

For three, contented months we lived in a house in constant earshot of military aircraft, to make ‘Radiator’ the album that it was. The original album sounded great when we emerged from our exile on Anglesey, and still does, but technology moves with the times and now we can hear it in higher-resolution, as nature intended.

“We’ve forgotten as much as we ever knew, so the rarities, demos and b-sides on the second disc are as much a surprise to us as they are to you.”

The vinyl is a double-disc gatefold edition, and the CD comes with a bonus disc featuring the Ice Hockey Hair EP, plus tons of outtakes and demos compiled by Kliph Scurlock. One of them is a cover of The Smiths’ “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” and you can stream that, along with the original album, below. Both are out July 28 and you can check out the CD tracklist below. It’s out July 28 and pre-orders are available now.

The band played both Radiator and their debut, Fuzzy Logic, in full on their 2016 UK tour. Let’s hope they’ll do that in the U.S.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtLh7VdhKmk

RADIATOR (2017 REMASTER) tracklist.
1. FURRYVISION™
2. THE PLACID CASUAL
3. THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE OF SCREAMING
4. DEMONS
5. SHORT PAINKILLER
6. SHE’S GOT SPIES
7. PLAY IT COOL (U.S. ALBUM MIX)
8. HERMANN ♥’S PAULINE
9. CHUPACABRAS
10. TORRA FY NGWALLT YN HIR
11. BASS TUNED TO D.E.A.D
12. DOWN A DIFFERENT RIVER
13. DOWNLOAD
14. MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
ICE HOCKEY HAIR E.P.
15. SMOKIN’
16. ICE HOCKEY HAIR
17. MU-TRON
18. LET’S QUIT SMOKING
ETC.
19. SMOKE
20. DIM YSMYGU
21. THE BOY WITH THE THORN IN HIS SIDE

DISC 2: CLARITY JUST CONFUSES ME (BONUS TRACKS)
B SIDES & SUCH
• CRYNDOD YN DY LAIS
• HIT AND RUN
• FOXY MUSIC
• PASS THE TIME
• CALIMERO
• B SIDE
• CARRY THE CAN
• WRAP IT UP
• TRÔNS MR. URDD
• nO.K.
• PLAY IT COOL (ORIGINAL U.K. ALBUM MIX)
DEMO VERSIONS, DEC 1996
• SFA THEME
• THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE OF SCREAMING
• TORRA FY NGWALLT YN HIR
• DOWN A DIFFERENT RIVER
• SHE’S GOT SPIES
• HIT AND RUN
• MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
• PLAY IT COOL
• BASS TUNED TO D.E.A.D
• NAFF GÂN
• THE PLACID CASUAL
• MUSIC BOX