0173. Super Furry Animals
Rings Around The World
I imagine this happening in the studio:
One of the guys come in with the foundations of a song. The others chime in as well as they can (and boy, can they!). Suddenly one of them shouts "Wait a minute! I got an idea - what if we sort of eased into some drum'n'bass-sounding thing here?" The others agree. Another track, another voice "I like what you did there, d'you think you could do it in a country-style, but still over the electronica?" And on it goes.
It's an album full of good ideas, from the Beach Boys meets Weezer of the title track to the heavy hip hop instrumental of (A) Touch Sensitive it's a collision of great stuff. It's also an album with some "maybe not as good as they're interesting" ideas, like having Paul McCartney chewing vegetables to the beat of Receptacle For The Respectable.
Definitely worth a mention is also No Sympathy which, apart from being a ballad wishing someone's death (showing off Gruff Rhys' quirky sense of lyricism), boasts a total musical change from balladesque to semi-chaotic techno.
I can't rally decide if Rings Around The World is a great album by an interesting band or an interesting album by a great band, but I guess you get my point.
