INTRO
RINGS AROUND THE WORLD (Epic, 2001)
Emerging at the height of Britpop on Alan McGee’s fabled Creation Records with their delightfully quirky 1996 debut single HometownUnicorn, Super Furry Animals immediately marked themselves down as a breed apart from what was going on around them. Prodigiously talented and with a fierce intelligence and sense of humour to match, it was obvious to anyone paying attention that these Welsh wonders were in for the long haul. And unlike labelmates Oasis, who found themselves increasingly circling down the plug hole of creativity, Super Furry Animals moved ever forward with each subsequent release.
Their fifth album, and first for new paymasters Epic in the wake of Creation’s ignominious collapse, Rings Around TheWorld remains their most progressive and commercially successful album to date. Embracing the new eclecticism that developed in the wake of the post-rave world, Super Furry Animals here wove together a variety of threads that included rock, prog, pop, punk, techno, electronica, drum’n’bass and even death metal to create a cohesive statement that examines the human condition. Critiquing telecommunications, religious fundamentalism and pollution, the album themes feel uncomfortably prescient.
But Super Furry Animals have always recognised that heavy topics don’t need to be heavy-handed. Coming on with a lysergic haze, this is an album characterised by a mood of levity and occasional absurdity that counter balances its lyrical concerns. Witness RespectableFor TheRespectable, which turns from a light-hearted bounce to a distorted growl, while Paul McCartney – yes, really – reprises his contribution to Brian Wilson’s Smileby crunching on a carrot and celery. Maintaining their to
