Like any band in '90s Britpop,
Super Furry Animals were obligated to release a steady stream of singles buttressed with non-LP songs, which meant that there were nearly two albums' worth of songs that weren't on either
Fuzzy Logic or
Radiator, especially if the first two EPs on Ankst and two non-LP singles were counted as well. Following in the footsteps of
Suede,
Gene, and
Oasis, among others,
SFA released
Outspaced, their own compilation of B-sides, in the fall of 1998, a year after
Radiator hit the stores. Instead of taking the completist route, which is essentially what
Suede did with Sci-Fi Lullabies,
SFA constructed
Outspaced as an actual album, leaving many very good songs behind on the singles. This is bound to frustrate fans who haven't bothered to collect every single, but the approach results in a better, tighter album -- one that doesn't quite rank with their official albums, but nevertheless amply proves that
SFA take more risks and reap greater rewards than most of their contemporaries. Even on the earliest material -- and a fair portion of their Ankst EPs are here --
SFA were gleefully recontextualizing, pulling techno, indie, and classic rock into unpredictable forms. Unlike some bands, they didn't save their riskiest material for B-sides -- unless you count singing in Welsh as a risk, since each single contained a Welsh-language song, about half of which are here. What's really impressive is that the English songs sound as magical, baffling, and unusual as their Welsh counterparts, which only emphasizes the uniqueness of
SFA's vision. These sort of revelations are best appreciated by the dedicated, but that's why
Outspaced remains an essential addition to any hardcore fan's collection. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine