A guest series by The Robster
#17: Juxtaposed With U (2001, Epic, 671224 6)
All was not lost for Creation’s artists after the label’s demise. Sony Music held a large stake in Creation and subsequently offered deals to many of its former artists. Super Furry Animals signed to one of Sony’s subsidiaries Epic, with a deal that would allow them to release anything the label didn’t want elsewhere. Of course, the danger of being on a big label is the expected return of investment, and the Furries had been typically uncompromising, which is what made them unique.
When I first heard their debut single for Epic, I was crestfallen. I really didn’t like it. It sounded like the type of commercial ballad you’d hear on Radio 2, like the fucking Lighthouse Family or some similar trite pop-soul group who appealed to middle-class 30-something housewives who gave up listening to new music the day they turned 21. Yes, I was not impressed.
mp3: Juxtaposed With U
Maybe I was a bit harsh at the time, but it’s still my least favourite SFA single. The song was initially conceived as a duet. Bizarrely, first Brian Harvey of East 17, and then Bobby Brown, were approached to perform on it, but (thankfully) both turned the offer down, and Gruff sang both vocal parts using a vocoder on the verses. It was inspired (in part, at least) by the Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder track Ebony and Ivory. I don’t know anyone who admits to liking that song either.
Juxtaposed With U was released on 9th July 2001 and reached number 14 in the charts, the band’s third-highest chart placing. It came in just three formats: CD, cassette and 12” – the first SFA single to not be released on 7”. All three formats contained two b-sides that were (and still are) far, far superior to the a-side.
mp3: Tradewinds
mp3: Happiness Is A Worn Pun
If you cast your mind back to…. ooooh… June 2015 (yikes! Where did that time go???), you may remember I submitted a SFA Imaginary Compilation to this lovely place, consisting entirely of b-sides. I opened it with Tradewinds, which I remain very fond of. I described it as “a song that could (should) soundtrack your summer. A cool funky reggae sound with a hazy psychedelic bent.” I’ll leave it at that as that is exactly what it is.
I also included the brilliantly titled Happiness Is A Worn Pun on that same compilation, in which I wrote: “Bowie circa ‘Aladdin Sane’ could have written this. He’d have probably left out the Sasquatch though. Bit too strange even for Dave, I reckon. Both b-sides of Juxtaposed With U are still better than the lead track.” Again, nothing to add, your honour.
The band’s first major label album was just around the corner. I prayed that Juxtaposed With U wasn’t illustrative of the record. I needn’t have worried. Turns out it was their greatest work, an album I adore and still listen to with much fondness. It’s just a shame I had such a negative introduction to it.
This week’s bonus track is a remix of Juxtaposed by San Fransiscan producer/DJ Walt Liquor. It strips the whole thing back, concentrating on Gruff’s vocal, and giving it something of a laid-back R&B vibe. While it’s not very Furry-like, it is something of an improvement on the original.
mp3: Juxtaposed With U [Walt Liquor Mystic remix]
Don’t worry – next week’s single is brilliant!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
I love JWU! It’s interesting that it was conceived as a duet – that now makes perfect sense!
More love for Juxtaposed from over here too…tremendous record.
Swc.
I too think JWU is one of their best singles. I like the reference in lyrics to the demise of Creation: “It’s easy when you know how, to get along without Biff, Bang, Pow!”
I knew I’d be outnumbered by the Juxtaposed lovers. And that’s OK, it’s just not for me. The final straw was walking around Asda one afternoon, tolerating the excruciatingly poor music over the store PA and suddenly in the middle of it all was Juxtaposed With U, which was clearly regarded as on the same level as everything else being aired. Which kind of confirmed what I said about who I thought the song would appeal to…