REWIND: Super Furry Animals - 'Play It Cool'

I didn't know about the Super Furry Animals until 1997, maybe because of the fact that their most popular song was never aired in the radio due to it containing over 50 examples of the word "fuck".

Then in 1997, the department store Leekes opened their very first English branch in my hometown of Melksham. The special guest at the opening ceremony? None other than football legend George Best. Famous for his drinking, I had an inkling that George may not have been 100% sober after I asked him to sign an autograph for my mom. "Who shall I write to to?" he asked. "Jayne" I replied. So i was quite surprised to be handed back a bit of paper that read "To Shane...". I wonder if he knew many other women called Shane...

I digress. Also at Leekes on that day was the local GWR roadshow, a radio station which sadly became gobbled up by the despicable Heart FM a few years ago. What they did at these Roadshows was have prize giveaways, basically a good way of getting rid of all the many promo CDs they were sent. Since they had quite a limited playlist, they probably gave away some incredible stuff. In fact I know they did, since I was the recipients of one of their 'goody bags', which contained a CD copy of 'Play It Cool' from the Super Furries, with b sides too. It wasn't long before this bright, fascinating group became one of my favourites, and I soon rented out a copy of their classic second album 'Radiator' from the local library. After that, I was truly converted.

I love the feelgood breeze of the song plus such enjoyably quirky lyrical treasures as "raising money for the sex appeal". In some fresh, off-the-press news, frontman Gruff Rhys is preparing his fourth solo album for release, and this one sounds rather ambitious... 'American Interior' is "a multi-sensory experience telling the incredible true story of John Evans" to be released on 5 May. Evans was a Welsh farmhand who traveled to America in 1792 to try and discover more about a Welsh-speaking Native American tribe. More details can be found HERE. https://twitter.com/superfurryhttps://www.facebook.com/superfurryanimals.sfa?fref=ts