It does have its redeeming qualities. It has better bass than the Fuzzy Logic reissue and packs more punch. However, it just sounds a bit squashed and it just sounds a bit fatiguing after a while...
Radiator is available on HDTracks in 96kHz/24bit. After quick search I've found a DR file for it and now I see some Hi-res tracks are more compressed then CD tracks. For ex, Play It Cool: CD - DR7 -0.13 dB HD - DR6 -0.10 dB It's no big difference, but still.
They're the exact same master. The differences your DR meter is picking up is whatever happened when it was dithered down from 96/24 to 44.1/16.
OK Thanks. As someone who prided myself in collecting what I thought were all the tracks of the group, I have been blissfully unaware of that for the last 16 years. Guess i'll be paying a visit to Amazon or ebay later then. For anyone interested, there were also a few exclusive songs/tracks included in Gruff's film Separado which have not had any kind of audio release other than what is on the DVD.
It seems like the majority of SFA side projects are quiet right now. I really hope this means a new SFA album is on the way.
Do we have any more comments on the differences, if any, in sound quality between the 2 versions of the Radiator CD? I'm hoping that the new CD will be slightly less compressed? Yes? No?
There are sections that are as compressed as the original CD, but for the most part, it's less compressed. For example, it doesn't hit peak volume at the beginning of The Placid Casual and stay there for the rest of the album. The technological advances in A-D converters in the last 20 years also comes into play as the fresh transfers from the 1/2" mixdown tapes allow for more of the original information to be present. Also, this mastering doesn't add extra high end to an already trebly mix like the original CD did. What you hear on the new master is a fairly accurate representation of what the tapes sound like with some eq here and there to bind the record together and some compression to make it rock. If you have high res capabilities, the 96/24 download is the way to go, in my opinion.
Thanks. Not knowing anything about the Super Furry Animals I was prompted to investigate Radiator by a review in Uncut. I've listened to it a few times now on You Tube & I'm very taken with it. It strikes me as being a 1990's version of Todd Rundgren's A Wizard A True Star which is one of my favourite albums. I'll have to investigate the rest of their catalogue but other than for Fuzzy Logic the DR numbers for their other albums don't look appetising. I assume the remaster of Fuzzy Logic is also an improvement?
You need to check out an early Butthole Surfers album like "Rembrandt Pussyhorse", "Locust Abortion Technician" or "Hairway To Steven"
You should check out Guerilla and Rings Around The World for sure. There's a ton of experimenting going on in both, but also huge pop hooks. I'm a huge fan and those two albums are in my top 3 for SFA releases.
Get everything with no exceptions. It was a while back now, but their last album, 'Dark Days/Light Years' was brilliant. Love Kraft and Hey Venus are very much worth having too; whilst maybe not as good as the earlier ones up to the aforementioned 'Phantom Power'. Dark Days... is as good as anything they have done though.
I always think of Phantom Power as a somewhat inferior version of Rings. It's another kitchen sink album (and probably about 2 songs too long). While it does have plenty of great material on it, somehow it's just not as exciting as Rings, IMO.
Phantom Power and Rings are incredible albums, my two favourites from SFA and two of the best albums of the last 20 years, IMO. Their whole catalogue is consistently good.
And all those remixes as well, but I don't know if they are available elsewhere. Rings is my favourite of theirs, start to finish every song is at the very least great and it's full of interesting music. Favourite track is Ice Hockey Hair which I think is incredible.
Very much so. In fact, one thing I forgot to mention earlier, is that this is the first time these albums have been mastered from the 1/2" tapes. They were both mixed to 1/2" tape (at 15 i.p.s.) and DAT simultaneously and the DATs were used to master the records previously. And I would highly recommend checking out the rest of their catalog (in chronological order), but SFA are also quite probably my second favorite band of all time after the Beatles, so take my recommendation with how many ever grains of salt you see fit.
I didn't know that, but am now the owner of a £2.99 multichannel SACD of the album. Hurrah. I get why people don't rate it, I guess mostly because it has that stoner ambience of everything being played at a seemingly dreary tempo, and Gruff having only a few lead vocals with the others stepping up, but as an actual album, it's peerless in their catalogue. It hangs together supremely well, and is stunningly well-produced. And although Gruff is far and away their best singer, Daf and Cian are pretty good.
