The British are good. I’ve thought it over and they’ve given us a multitude of
top-notch exports. Some of these offered exports have been gleaming with
superiority. Ah, yes, the British are indeed coming and in their history of
“coming-over-and-showing-you-the-British-wayâ€, they’ve done well (except for
those moments where they’ve gone astray in that whole human equality thing). And
to get even more specific, their best exports have been the bands. Yes, the
bands, assuming that other historical moments have little or no meaning to you,
you might just agree with me.
The British are good. I’ve thought it over and they’ve given us a multitude of
top-notch exports. Some of these offered exports have been gleaming with
superiority. Ah, yes, the British are indeed coming and in their history of
“coming-over-and-showing-you-the-British-way”, they’ve done well (except for
those moments where they’ve gone astray in that whole human equality thing). And
to get even more specific, their best exports have been the bands. Yes, the
bands, assuming that other historical moments have little or no meaning to you,
you might just agree with me. A brief list is in order, yes?
Ӣ The Beatles
Ӣ Led Zeppelin
Ӣ The Who
Ӣ Radiohead
Ӣ Queen
Ӣ Blur
Clichéd? Sure. But I can take a stick and poke you in the eye repeatedly and ask you if you like those bands. And you know what, you’d probably be saying yes, regardless of the stick poking. Aside from my mouthing off of how great the British were or have been they’ve still been at it. More recently in fact, Radiohead (can you reference them to the list? I hope you noticed) released Kid A and Amnesiac in close succession. The Who are still touring and releasing material (although at this point they’re being held together with duct tape); Blur have been releasing great record after great record for a few years now, as well as some other English blokes. Among this entire English menagerie of bands that I’ve been spouting off about there are the Super Furry Animals.
The Animals have been releasing their version of a hybrid, modernesque, 70s lounge pop, meets electronic influence, meets modern power pop, since the mid 90s. And most recently they have once again taken the clay form of Britpop and pounded it into their own unique shape and form. It’s true that aspects of what’s been done on Rings Around the World has been heard by the world before, just listen to 13 by Blur. But the question was whether the Animals would be able to make their version shine ahead of everything else instead of just being another one that was part of the “in crowd”?
The very fact of the matter is that they do. The two disc album ranges from beautiful ballads to all out electronic-sonic-cacophonous dissonance. It’s fluid in structure and keeps the listener at bay, grabbing them by the throat and at the same time soothing them with genius and not letting go. The sugar coated sounds of the 70s are apparent throughout the whole album with songs like “Juxtaposed with U”, “Presidential Suite”, and “Run, Christian, Run!” being grand examples of what the Furries can do. The instrumentation is a sea of horns, guitars, percussion, and electronic resonance giving us not only happy-go-lucky pop which give us visions of smiley faces, roller-skates, and bellbottoms, but also a mixture of that 70s kick of futurism. Like those later (not so popular) Apollo missions to the moon, like number 17.
Other songs on the record are truer to the modern Britpop form, the kind we’ve become accustomed to. “Alternate Route To Vulcan Street”, “Sidewalk Serfer Girl”, and “Happiness is a Warm Pun” are songs that prominent in their Britpop sound, as opposed to the 70s pop sound that is heard throughout most of the record. “Happiness is a Warm Pun” is an up-tempo rock song featuring loud distorted guitar and big drums, not to mention some electronic mixing added to the equation, giving it a definite Britpop essence.
The record is a solid offering and is one of the, if not the, best releases of 2002. The mixture of sugar pop of yesteryear and modern Britpop are balanced perfectly on this record. The Animals give you everything on the record, slow ballads, happy tunes, and all out rock songs, leaving no stone unturned in their 2002, near perfect, offering.