''Radiator'' is the second studio album by Welsh

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian C ...

. It was released in August 1997 by

Creation Records Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...

, and later the same year in the United States under Flydaddy Records. It peaked at number eight on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. In 2005, it was reissued with a bonus disc of other tracks from the time. Singer

Gruff Rhys Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys (; born 18 July 1970) is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He forme ...

has described ''Radiator'' as "more interesting" than the band's debut ''

Fuzzy Logic Fuzzy logic is a form of many-valued logic in which the truth value of variables may be any real number between 0 and 1. It is employed to handle the concept of partial truth, where the truth value may range between completely true and completely ...

'' with the group taking advantage of producer Gorwel Owen's "

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

computers, and banks of old vintage

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

" to create an album which was "musically ... much more adventurous". In 2013, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' ranked it at number 92 in its list of

the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...

. The ''Radiator'' campaign also marked the first time the band worked with graphic artist Pete Fowler, who provided paintings for the album and accompanying singles' sleeve. The band felt working with Fowler had provided them with a distinct visual identity, and apart from '' Hey Venus!'' have collaborated together on each album since.

Release and reception

In 2000 ''Q'' magazine placed ''Radiator'' at number 73 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' named ''Radiator'' in a list of ten essential albums released by

in a 2003 article about the label. In a 2017 list of the 50 Best Britpop Albums,

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

placed ''Radiator'' at number 39. In 2013, ''

'' ranked it at number 92 in its list of

Track listing

* Some American releases were packaged with ''

Out Spaced ''Out Spaced'' is a 1998 B-sides and early releases album by the Super Furry Animals. First editions of the album were in rubber case shaped like a nipple. The first track is notable for containing a sweary sample and still being released as a s ...

'', the band's 1998 B-sides collection.

Personnel

– vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, Moog, claps *

Huw Bunford Huw "Bunf" Bunford (born Huw Cennydd Bunford; 15 September 1967 in Cardiff, Wales) is a musician best known as the guitarist in Super Furry Animals. Biography Bunford studied at Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) and worked as a te ...

– electric guitar, backing vocals * Cian Ciaran – electronics, Rhodes piano, piano, backing vocals, claps *

Guto Pryce Guto Dafydd Pryce ( Welsh pronunciation: ; born 4 September 1972) is a Welsh musician best known as bass guitar player and songwriter in the band Super Furry Animals. With them he has recorded nine UK Albums Chart Top 25 studio albums, plus num ...

– bass, sub-bass, claps *

Dafydd Ieuan Dafydd Ieuan (born 1 March 1969) is a Welsh musician, best known as the drummer with the band Super Furry Animals, The Peth and The Earth. Ieuan played with Gruff Rhys in their early band Ffa Coffi Pawb. He was a drummer for Welsh band Ca ...

– drums, percussion, backing vocals, piano *Les Morrison – banjo (on "Demons") * Gorwel Owen – E-Bow, samples, electric harpsichord, backwards Rhodes *Martin Smith – trumpet *Simon James – tenor sax and flute *Andrew Frizzell – trombone and alto sax *The Electra Strings: *Sonia Slany – violin *Jules Singleton – violin *Clair Arster – viola *Dinah Beamish – cello

References

External links

''Radiator''
at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

(streamed copy where licensed) {{Authority control Super Furry Animals albums 1997 albums Creation Records albums Albums produced by Gorwel Owen Albums with cover art by Pete Fowler