''Fuzzy Logic'' is the debut album by the Welsh rock 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 ...

. Recorded at

Rockfield Studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was originally founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Facilities Rockfield is a two- ...

in Wales, and released on the

Creation Creation may refer to: Religion *'' Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing *Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it *Creationism, the belief that ...

label in May 1996, it was positively received by critics, who felt it was an eclectic if inconsistent mix of

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis ...

and

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on div ...

, and was included in '' Q Magazine's'' list of recordings of the year. It has retained a modest respect among some critics; it was listed in ''Qs "Best British Albums Ever" in July 2004, and is included in the book '' 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''. It contains two top 20 hits in " If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" and " Something 4 the Weekend"; it also contains the singles " God! Show Me Magic" and "

Hometown Unicorn "Hometown Unicorn" is the debut single by Super Furry Animals, released on Alan McGee's Creation Records label on 26 February 1996. It reached #47 in the UK Singles Chart and was voted as "Single of the Week" in ''NME''. The packaging of the sin ...

". It reached number 23 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

on release. In 2013, '' NME'' ranked it at number 245 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 indust ...

Recording

In a 2008 interview with ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

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 formed ...

described the process of making the album: Although the album was conceived as a reaction to

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

which the band felt represented a "conservative backwards movement in music" they soon realised that they were in an "old 70's studio making 70's rock album". Former members

Rhys Ifans Rhys Ifans (; born Rhys Owain Evans; 22 July 1967) is a Welsh actor and musician. He was the frontman of Welsh rock music bands the Peth and Super Furry Animals. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in ''Notting Hill'' (1999), '' Kevi ...

and Dic Ben contributed to the track "Long Gone" by leaving an answerphone message which plays as the song comes to a close. The album cover is a montage of photos of Welsh-born drug smuggler Howard Marks, the subject of the song "Hangin' with Howard Marks". Marks visited Rockfield during the making of the album at the band's request.

Reception

Reviewing ''Fuzzy Logic'' in 1996 for '' NME'', Simon Williams commented that debut albums "rarely come as multi-layered, as lovingly-manipulated as this". A rave review in ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...

'' praised the album as "the stuff of which fearless dreams are forged". Jon Wiederhorn of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' felt it was "rich in hallucinogenic spirit and shimmering guitars" and invoked the spirit of early 1970s pop music.

James Delingpole James Mark Court Delingpole (born 6 August 1965) is an English writer, journalist, and columnist who has written for a number of publications, including the ''Daily Mail'', the ''Daily Express'', '' The Times'', '' The Daily Telegraph'', and ' ...

in a January 1997 review in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' wrote the band had produced a "strange mix of Bowie-esque

, school-of- Syd-Barrett

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic dr ...

and DIY kitsch", which resulted in a "delightfully skewed" album.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

later commented that on ''Fuzzy Logic'', the band combined psychedelia and

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

with pop melodies in an "intoxicating" manner, and that despite not being fully cohesive as an album, "the individual pleasures of each song become more apparent with each listen". ''Fuzzy Logic'' was named the third best album of 1996 by ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' and fourth best by '' NME''. The album was also included in '' Q'' magazine's list of recordings of the year. ''Fuzzy Logic'' reached number 23 in the

on release.

Legacy

In a June 2005 ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' review of the 2005 reissue, Marc Hogan felt the album was a good introduction to the band's "candy-factory chameleon act" with music styles including "synth-laced punk-pop", "slanted pop" and "'' Pipers''-era Floyd", despite its inconsistency. Rod Stanley in the 2005 book '' 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' felt that the band would go on to record better albums, but that the inventiveness of the album's blend of "Sixties pop, punk rock, and psychedelia, with an underlying Nineties dance sensibility", made it both joyful and exciting. Reviewing the album in 2016, ''

''s John Lewis wrote that its "quizzical" lyrics and influences from "1970s guilty pleasures" set Super Furry Animals apart from their contemporaries in the 1990s Britpop scene. In 1999, critic Ned Raggett ranked ''Fuzzy Logic'' at number 74 on his list of "The Top 136 or So Albums of the Nineties" for ''

Freaky Trigger ''Freaky Trigger'' is an Internet publication and e-zine that focuses on popular culture with topics varying from music to cinema. It was founded by the music critic Tom Ewing in 1999 and features Pete Baran and Mark Sinker as editors. From 2000 ...

''. ''Fuzzy Logic'' was listed at number 42 in ''Q''s 2004 list of the "50 Best British Albums Ever". In 2017, ''Pitchfork'' ranked the album at number 27 on its list of the 50 best Britpop albums. In 2013, '' NME'' ranked it at number 245 in its list of

.Rocklist.net NME: The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time : October 2013
/ref>

Track listing

*The 1996 US release replaced "Something for the Weekend" with the slower paced single version known as " Something 4 the Weekend".

Personnel

;Super Furry Animals *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

s, analogues, claps *

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

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, vocals,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

, claps *

Cian Ciaran Cian Ciarán (born 16 June 1976) is a Welsh musician best known as the keyboard player in the band Super Furry Animals. In addition to keyboards, he plays guitar and drums and sings, and is a songwriter, composer and producer. Career Cian was b ...

– keyboards, analogues, 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 n ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

, Hammond, vocals, claps, analogues *Huw Bunford – guitars, vocals, e-bow,

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

, claps ;Additional musicians *

Gorwel Owen Gorwel Owen is a Welsh producer and musician. He has worked with Datblygu, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals, Hwyl Nofio, Ffa Coffi Pawb, Gwenno, Steve Eaves, Melys, Bob Delyn a'r Ebillion, Llio Rhydderch and many others. He also co-wri ...

– piano, Hammond,

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

*Jez Francis – piano on "God! Show Me Magic" *Matthew Everett –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

*Chris Williams – violin *Helen Spargo –

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

*Catherine Tanner – cello *Martin Smith –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

tenor horn The tenor horn (British English; alto horn in American English, Althorn in Germany; occasionally referred to as E horn) is a brass instrument in the saxhorn family and is usually pitched in E. It has a bore that is mostly conical, like the flug ...

*Simon James –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, flute *Andrew Frizell – saxophone, recorder,

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...

*Lindsay Higgs –

balalaika The balalaika (russian: link=no, балала́йка, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the thir ...

& Dic Ben –

answering machine An answering machine, answerphone or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the United Kingdom, UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), ...

message on "Long Gone" ;Technical personnel *SFA – songs, production *

– production *Andy Wilkinson – engineering *Nick Brine – assistance *

Brian Cannon Brian Cannon is a British graphic designer, art director, photographer, band manager and music video director. His Microdot graphic design company created the album cover for Oasis' debut album, ''Definitely Maybe'' in 1994. Two of Cannon's reco ...

@ Microdot – design,

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in Theatre, theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

*Toby Egelnick – inside design, layout

References

External links

''Fuzzy Logic''
(

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...

) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)
''Fuzzy Logic''
(

) at Myspace (streamed copy where licensed) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuzzy Logic (Album) Super Furry Animals albums 1996 debut albums Creation Records albums Albums produced by Gorwel Owen Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios Art rock albums by Welsh artists Glam rock albums by Welsh artists Punk rock albums by Welsh artists