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On this day, 27 July 1997, Welsh alternative rockers Super Furry Animals and Northern post-punk greats The Fall played Cardiff’s Cooper’s Field.
Super Furry Animals were just about to release Radiator, the band’s second studio album. It was released in August 1997 by Creation Records, and later the same year in the United States under Flydaddy Records. It peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart.
Singer Gruff Rhys has described Radiator as "more interesting" than the band's debut Fuzzy Logic with the group taking advantage of producer Gorwel Owen's "Atari computers, and banks of old vintage synths" to create an album which was "musically ... much more adventurous".
In 2000 Q magazine placed Radiator at number 73 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Stylus Magazine named Radiator in a list of ten essential albums released by Creation Records in a 2003 article about the label.
In a 2017 list of the 50 Best Britpop Albums, Pitchfork placed Radiator at number 39.[17] In 2013, NME ranked it at number 92 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Manc greats The Fall were about to release Levitate, their 19th Album on Artful Records. Levitate became the last album to feature two long-time Fall members, drummer Karl Burns and bass player Steve Hanley (whose playing was once described by Smith as the defining element of the group's music).
Levitate was recorded amidst a difficult period for the group, described by personnel turmoil and financial troubles due to a VAT bill incurred in the 1980s and early 1990s for nearly £200,000.
Simon Wolstencroft left after a disagreement about the recording of 'Everybody But Myself'; also having received financial advice about the group's VAT bill, he resigned from being a co-director of The Fall business.
