Guerrilla by Super Furry Animals

Guerrilla is the third studio album by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals. The record was released on 14 June 1999 by Creation Records and peaked at number 10 in the UK Albums Chart. Guerrilla was conceived as a commercial 'pop' album and was produced by the band themselves, as regular producer Gorwel Owen felt exhausted after a busy schedule working for other bands. Recording took place at Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire in mid-1998 with the group experimenting with a sampler for the first time and writing a number of songs in the studio. The band tried to create a 45-minute long, immediate sounding record, and therefore chose the upbeat songs from the 25 tracks which were recorded during sessions for the album. Guerrilla was chosen as the album's title as a pun on the group's name. The album features a mix of musical styles and was described as exemplifying the 'nu-psychedelia' musical genre by British music magazine the NME. Singer Gruff Rhys has stated that his lyrics are upbeat and disposable. Critical reception was generally positive with the record appearing in the "Best album of 1999" lists issued by several magazines. It was subsequently ranked at number 311 on the NME's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The band were disappointed with the relative lack of success of the album's singles and went on "pop strike" as a result, issuing the 'lo-fi', all-Welsh language Mwng as the follow-up to Guerrilla in May 2000.