Isn't it just the cheapest thrill when a CD you adore makes a critic's top 10 list? In the wash of year-end "Best of 2002" lists, I caught a list from the Washington Post listing "Rings Around the World" by Super Furry Animals at #10. As one of the few modern-rock CDs I purchased in 2002, I felt a rise in my musical acumen.
Super Furry Animals is a Welsh group and, as such, are given to vocal ambiguity. "Rings around the World" is (appropriately) all over the map musically, vocally, and thematically. The plodding melody of the opening track "Alternate Route to Vulcan Street" flow into the sharp guitars on "Sidewalk Serfer Girl." The title track "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" is a real treat, with a killer hook and tasty lyrics (exposing some political undertones):
"You expose the film in me
We're drawing rings around the world
Sooner or later we will melt together and
Draw rings around the world
With all those meteoric stones
And all those sheep they never cloned"
Quickly shifting gears, SFA moves from the quick-tempo techno-beat to the ballad like "It's Not the End of the World." And back again to "Receptacle for the Respectable" (with Paul McCartney on…I kid you not…carrot and celery.) Later on, my favorite track "Juxtaposed with U" brings on a swinging string section mixed with echo-vocals in harmonic convergence.
I have to admit, "Rings Around the World" was a disc I picked up sight unseen based on the recommendation of a friend and I don't regret it. Neither will you.
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