Yr Atal Genhedlaeth

Gruff Rhys

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 15, 2005)
• Original Release Date: March 15, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rough Trade Us
• ASIN: B0007R8F58
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #209,420 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

First solo release from Super Furry Animals’ lead singer, Gruff Rhys

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars it's just ok, September 5, 2005

By	MEWZIK - See all my reviews

Mwng, it is not, all the reviewers agree, but moreover this is like a novelty compared to the perfection of the SFA catalog. I am not Welsh, but I certainly gravitated towards Mwng in terms of flowing. Not once, since May have I said "hmm, let me throw in Yr Atal Genhedlaeth." I rate all REAL SFA records 4 1/2 to 5 stars. This record is not even on the same level. Other reviewers say it is a stripped down to demo-like recording. I'll agree, but it has been down to a five star capacity...like any Syd Barrett or Nick Drake outtake.

I have been a fan of SFA since Fuzzy Logic, and Gruff's voice is one of the driving forces obviously. There is something good and something missing here. As a concept, it might be great, but this should not have been a finished product.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars it flows through you, August 14, 2005

By	Monique "Monique" (the us) - See all my reviews

the cd is great! you don't have to really listen per-say, you can just feel the beat and the melody...which is a nice change.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frowsy, rumpled: waking up, for egg pudding awaits, July 20, 2005

By	John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Egg pudding," more or less, being the title in English. I have a promo copy, so I'm unsure how the commercial packaging differs, but if you'd like to read the liner notes and background of each song, almost like a Welsh "Village Green," visit the Placid Casual (label) or SFA (band) sites. Opening up YAG after being rather dissatisfied with Gruff Rhys' band's output recently, I hoped for a more experimental, psychedelic, expansive sound that I loved in their earlier, eclectic career.

Well, this item delivers, more forcefully in the latter six songs. It's very brief, less than half-an-hour perhaps. The first track is suitably "scrambled" eggishly but takes only a few seconds. The last, on the other hand, takes its magnificent time to build up marvellously into a lysergic landscape. Rhys, with rather minimal accompaniment by his longtime pal Gorwel Owen (see also the not dissimilar Ffa Coffi anthology on Placid Casual for 1988-93 roots of these two and their pals) on three tracks and others on a few other tracks, especially that closing tune, conveys a home-studio ambiance to the album that is like many a singer-songwriter's first solo effort away from a band.

If you have heard SFA, then you know generally what to expect. But these songs, more nakedly presented, force you to pay attention to their more wistful, even delicate, rough-hewn delivery, without such busy beats and volume. Freed of so many other instruments, however, Rhys' less polished voice gains centerstage, and at times recalls the Gorkys (not their more mellifluous singer, but the ambiance of that band as it evolved its more pastoral, no longer acid-tinged, vision). A woozy album for your first rising hour--in the morning or otherwise.