You know what do to, two of the best non-Britpop bands to emerge in the mid 90's. From far flung corners of The British Isles, probably the best Scottish and Welsh bands of all time respectively. Still going today and putting out work that divides opinion when compared to their 90's work. Two of the best single bands of the past 15 years or so.

never really listened to B&S but i think Gruff Rhys is a genius songwriter

Tough call but went with B&S because I gravitate to their catalog a bit more often.

I went with B&S on this one. I love SFA and think they have rewritten the book on psych rock...but the little popists from glasgow do it for me every time.

fuck...even my avatar seems to be doing a B&S dance.

hmm... this was a difficult decision. i sided with super furry animals because they're better live (though not by much) and have less clunkers in their history.

almost impossible to judge for me. went with b&S for some personal reasons, but i would never want to choose in real life

As much as I love B & S, I love them DESPITE their feyness. Whereas I love SFA because they're awesome, without the feyness.

So SFA wins in a poll that pained me.

Belle & Sebastian tower over anything Welsh.

edit: I forgot to vote - I just voted...I think that's the first time I've ever voted on the SOMB

I wouldn't mind towering over a few things Welsh. Duffy. Eve Myles. Charlotte Church. Eh? Eh?

She was cute, yeah.

Upon further review I think mclusky were Welsh - Belle & Sebastian don't tower over mclusky. Alan was a cowboy killer!

McLusky was Welsh. Definitely.

B&S wins, but this is a tough one. Usually these polls are eye rollers. SFA has 3-4 awesome albums, and B&S has about the same, but I think that if for no other reason than If You're Feeling Sinister, they pull this one off.

i chose belle & sebastian, obviously.

Obviously.

I enjoy B&S, but I didn't have to think twice about voting SFA. And not to be an ass, but I think Gorky's Zygotic Mynci is (EDIT: were) better than either.

good thread, but totally hijacked by the EOY results...

This isn't really fair 'cause I've not listened to SFA nearly as much as Belle & Sebastian, but I voted for Belle anyway. They're one of my favorite artists, really.

Not even close (though I do love B & S).

SFA OK!

Arguably the two best bands since 1996.

Super Furry Animals in a landslide.

they were my favorite band after the Boo Radleys broke up. that run from Radiator to Rings Around the World is the best from the late 90's to early 2000's, with Phantom Power having some beautiful moments as well (won't even get into their brilliant B-sides). Belle & Sebastian last two albums are very underrated though...

I went with both are terribly overrated

I really enjoy B&S but still find their preciousness a little too much at times.

SFA just embody so many things I love...this great sense of exuberant exploration if you will. They're just on another level for me. So an easy choice.

not sure how to judge this one. Id go with SFA because of the originality but I do enjoy B&S when Im bleeding.

B&S for sure, although I love SFA. B&S were way ahead out of the box, SFA were better from around 99-02, but then B&S have been better since and have quietly enjoyed peaks from this decade that match with most anyone else's.

I would take Gorkys over SFA too, as someone else mentioned.

The board where they compare Super Furry Animals to Belle and Sebastian is really doomed.

I hear this is a good board http://elitemusic.com/forum

SFA because every album of theirs is great, if not classic.

Phantom Power through Hey Venus! need a little more respect. Those are some great albums. I think a lot of people are forgetting how many awesome tracks are on Love Kraft... or maybe they never noticed in the first place. I've started noticing a lot of depth to the tracks on Phantom Power in particular. The song "Out of Control" went from being a decent rock track to something else entirely when I noticed the chant "fast and cheap" being repeated during the second chorus; the backing "ahhhhs" that go in and out of nowhere on "Venus and Serena; that perfect chorus on "Liberty Belle"; "The Piccolo Snare's" outro actually begins a lot sooner than I first noticed, with a sort of jazzy take on the keys coming in about three minutes into the song. How about that awesome drum outro on "Valet Parking"?

And damn, "Battersea Odyssey" is something else entirely. I want more stuff like that.

sfa by far, you b&s folks are out of your twee-ney minds, they were good but sfa were and still are great, their side projects are better than b&s

SFA are the greatest band of the '90s and 2000s... I've never loved a band so much for so many years. Gruff Rhys has a weird gift and apparently the other guys do too because they've been putting out some incredible stuff as well. I'd buy a solo album by any of them.

I wonder how a song as brilliant as this



and the whole world doesn't fall in love with the lyrics, message and absolutely incredible melody.

These are true statements. Though the peaks on other albums may be higher, Phantom Power is their most consistently great record.

Yep. I'd say the same thing about poor Love Kraft, too. I really don't know how anyone could hate on "Frequency" or "Zoom!" or "Atomik Lust" or anything else, really. Even "Lazer Beam" has its merits.

That is true, but that's not really the issue at hand.

i suppose it's not, but conventionally if band A's side projects are better than band B's main body of work, then you'd think that band A would be better than band B too.

mind, there's nothing conventional about sfa, another reason they come out on top

I also think the fact that Gruff and Bunf consistently come up with some of the best, catchiest guitar riffs ever puts them way ahead.

I don't think it applies. Prime example = New Order's side projects (barring Electronic, which was good). New Order is one of the best bands ever. But you can really only judge them on the strength of the material they create together.