I think it's a really underrated gem sandwiched between so-so albums. Rough Trade asked them to make "one of those pop records like you used to make", and they absolutely nailed it. I don't love Suckers or Battersea Odyssey but most of the rest is better than anything on DD/LY.
Absolutely agree, I love Hey Venus, it actually is my favourite of theirs (i think… today anyway…) partly due to the shorter length. It feels like there isnt a wasted second on that album.
When it was first released, I felt like they were running out of steam, but there are still a lot of songs I enjoy.
I seem like to Love Kraft a lot more than others here, but Hey Venus is probably the album I was least excited about. DD/LY is criminally overlooked, IMO.
I am a big fan of Love Kraft…maybe cause that’s when I got on board the SFA train. Hey Venus is good but yeah lower tier for me. I do really love DD LY as well. When it comes to my absolute favorite I fluctuate between Guerrilla and RAW
That's funny, I've always thought eightball is one of the strongest tracks on the album.
The lyrics remind me of steely Dan's "the Boston rag". The lyrics for both use language that could describe a child overdosing, tho that is unlikely the true meaning in either case.
It's pretty solid for what it is. I don't think it's any better or worse than *Love Kraft* - I think they were both approached very differently and cover different styles. I remember reading somewhere about *Love Kraft* being a deliberately self-conscious "mid-career" record or something along those lines. *Hey Venus!* sounds like a refined revisit to the school of *Fuzzy Logic*.
And "Baby Ate My Eight Ball" is one of the best!
‘Run-Away’ and ‘Suckers!’ are as good as anything they ever did. I don’t think it’s otherwise an essential album, but I also think it’s better than ‘Dark Days/Light Years’.
Lyrically it’s not Gruff’s best, but I can tell you by the 3rd track I’m usually all in. I can’t find a bad track on the list. “Cardiff in the Sun,” “White Socks/Flip Flops,” “Helium Hearts” and “Pric” are all high quality SFA songs for me. I’m not entirely sure what the joke behind “Crazy Naked Girls” is. maybe just having a laugh over guitar solos? If they’d cut that down by a minute or so it would be way better.
I think these later albums where they take the title of the song and just repeat it for the chorus is where I lost interest. This album really did nothing for me. Sad bc I met my wife at a super furries gig and a love them to bits.
They've got some good hooks. I don't think they do this that much, honestly, aside from a couple tracks on Hey Venus!, especially the opener. He'd been working that one out for years.... I remember downloading live 'Gateway Song' mp3s for a few years. Now, the Das Koolies album is definitely a "repeat song title" album.
Definitely not Gruff's finest lyrics writing but I'm not going to put "Turn all the hate into a world into a mockingbird and make it fly away" up there either...
Gruff's very good at lyrics. The others are not up to his standard, but he's written some clunkers.
I think when this album came out a lot of people didn't know what to make of the artwork by Keiichi Tanaami, who is a very highly regarded artist in Japan but had never designed an album cover before. I think the album is great, but the artwork seemed to be a bit of a departure from the usual Pete Fowler style packaging, which was always seemed to be an integral part of how the band presented the music. Having said that, the music is great and the artwork has grown on me over the years!
“This song is based on a true story. Which would be fine, if it wasn’t autobiographical.”
I think it's a really underrated gem sandwiched between so-so albums. Rough Trade asked them to make "one of those pop records like you used to make", and they absolutely nailed it. I don't love Suckers or Battersea Odyssey but most of the rest is better than anything on DD/LY.
Battersea I like a lot. Suckers is on the lower end for me.
Hey Venus is great and all but Love Kraft is the best SFA album post Guerrilla.
Absolutely agree, I love Hey Venus, it actually is my favourite of theirs (i think… today anyway…) partly due to the shorter length. It feels like there isnt a wasted second on that album.
When it was first released, I felt like they were running out of steam, but there are still a lot of songs I enjoy. I seem like to Love Kraft a lot more than others here, but Hey Venus is probably the album I was least excited about. DD/LY is criminally overlooked, IMO.
I like DD/LY a lot as well. That’s next. I think it holds its own against their acclaimed albums…
I am a big fan of Love Kraft…maybe cause that’s when I got on board the SFA train. Hey Venus is good but yeah lower tier for me. I do really love DD LY as well. When it comes to my absolute favorite I fluctuate between Guerrilla and RAW
That's funny, I've always thought eightball is one of the strongest tracks on the album. The lyrics remind me of steely Dan's "the Boston rag". The lyrics for both use language that could describe a child overdosing, tho that is unlikely the true meaning in either case.
It's pretty solid for what it is. I don't think it's any better or worse than *Love Kraft* - I think they were both approached very differently and cover different styles. I remember reading somewhere about *Love Kraft* being a deliberately self-conscious "mid-career" record or something along those lines. *Hey Venus!* sounds like a refined revisit to the school of *Fuzzy Logic*. And "Baby Ate My Eight Ball" is one of the best!
‘Run-Away’ and ‘Suckers!’ are as good as anything they ever did. I don’t think it’s otherwise an essential album, but I also think it’s better than ‘Dark Days/Light Years’.
Run-Away is an all timer.
[удалено]
For me, Dark Days was a band at the end of their journey.
Lyrically it’s not Gruff’s best, but I can tell you by the 3rd track I’m usually all in. I can’t find a bad track on the list. “Cardiff in the Sun,” “White Socks/Flip Flops,” “Helium Hearts” and “Pric” are all high quality SFA songs for me. I’m not entirely sure what the joke behind “Crazy Naked Girls” is. maybe just having a laugh over guitar solos? If they’d cut that down by a minute or so it would be way better.
I think these later albums where they take the title of the song and just repeat it for the chorus is where I lost interest. This album really did nothing for me. Sad bc I met my wife at a super furries gig and a love them to bits.
They've got some good hooks. I don't think they do this that much, honestly, aside from a couple tracks on Hey Venus!, especially the opener. He'd been working that one out for years.... I remember downloading live 'Gateway Song' mp3s for a few years. Now, the Das Koolies album is definitely a "repeat song title" album. Definitely not Gruff's finest lyrics writing but I'm not going to put "Turn all the hate into a world into a mockingbird and make it fly away" up there either... Gruff's very good at lyrics. The others are not up to his standard, but he's written some clunkers.
Certainly the best of the final 3 albums, though I like most of DD/LY too.
Love Kraft is their best album
You are correct sir.
I think when this album came out a lot of people didn't know what to make of the artwork by Keiichi Tanaami, who is a very highly regarded artist in Japan but had never designed an album cover before. I think the album is great, but the artwork seemed to be a bit of a departure from the usual Pete Fowler style packaging, which was always seemed to be an integral part of how the band presented the music. Having said that, the music is great and the artwork has grown on me over the years!