[Note: Bangers and Mash is a column about Brit-pop by Big Diction's arch-nemesis, and chief Welsh corespondent, Dan Cwikla. He also writes a short column in the Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery- chwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Gazette. -Ed.]

It’s the best album you’ll ever listen to! Well, maybe not. Still, Super Furry Animals’ disc MWNG (Welsh: MANE) is certainly the best Welsh language album you’ll ever listen to. Written and performed in the native tongue of the Cardiff quintet, as expected, the 2000 release throws a bit of everything at its audience. Ranging from lounging ballads to accordion heavy pop, MWNG is both completely delightful and, for most of the world, completely unintelligible.

Emerging from the burgeoning Welsh music scene of the early 1990’s which produced Manic Street Preachers and Catatonia among others, the Furries had consistently offered their fans a unique blend of electronica and pyschedelia served with a heaping dose of pop rock sensibilities. After achieving early success with Alan McGee’s legendary label Creation Records with increasingly experimental offerings, MWNG marked a sudden return to the basics, showcasing the group’s songwriting skills rather than their outward thinking.

Despite a noticeable cohesiveness, the album is in fact something of a deliberate collection. Bassist Guto Pryce said of MWNG, “We had some Welsh songs when we did Guerrilla but we thought it would be better if we put them all together instead of a token Welsh song here and there, on a b-side and maybe one or two on an album. We thought it would be nice to put them all together.”

Recommended Tracks:

“Ymaelodi Â’r Ymylon” (”Banished to the Periphery”), “Dacw Hi” (”There She Is”), “Pan Ddaw’r Wawr” (”When Dawn Breaks”)

Super Furry Animals - Ymaelodi ‘R Ymylon

[Note: Bangers and Mash is a column about Brit-pop by Big Diction's arch-nemesis, Dan Cwikla -Ed.]

The only album proper ever released by the Liverpudlian quartet, at the time, The La’s heralded a possible addition to the old guard of melodically endowed Britons upon its release in 1990. Marked by jangled guitars and the distinctive, gravelly vocals of frontman Lee Mavers, the album offered a simplified respite from the still thriving, extravagant Madchester scene.

The fact that The La’s ever saw the light of day was something of a feat in itself. Burdened by lofty expectations stemming from early praise by Morrissey and NME, a constantly shuffling lineup, and the often eccentric behavior of a drug-addled Mavers, the group spent nearly two years repeatedly re-recording the disc. Following its release, although the album sold well in England (eventually reaching #30), it received little fanfare elsewhere. By 1992, plagued by internal division and frustrated by perceived corruption in the music industry, The La’s entered a de facto separation, eventually officially calling it quits in 1995.

Despite a catalog consisting solely of this album and a handful of B-sides, the group has been cited as a significant influence on a number of British acts including Oasis, Travis, and Pete Doherty of The Libertines and Babyshambles. Stateside recognition has been far more subdued with the exception of the album’s fifth track, “There She Goes,” which became a hit single for Sixpence None The Richer in 1999. Although for a time the subject of the song was (HILARIOUSLY) rumored to be heroin rather than an actual girl, this speculation has since been denied by the group’s former guitarist.

Recommended Tracks:

“Son Of A Gun,” “I Can’t Sleep,” “I.O.U”

The La’s - Son of a Gun