Rings Around the World is the fifth studio album and the major label debut by Super Furry Animals. Released in July 2001, it was the first album to be released on both audio CD and DVD. It includes the singles "Juxtapozed with U", "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" and "It's Not the End of the World?".

Origins and recording

Singer Gruff Rhys has stated that the band aimed to make a "laid back and sort of wiped clean" record with Rings Around the World.

Musical style

In a 2008 interview with Uncut Gruff Rhys described the album as "a very ambitious project":

We were trying to make a blockbuster album that was going to be like The Eagles, but we left off the tracks that sounded like The Eagles. We had big debates about the line-up, but it ended up being a 50 minute album; it was going to be an hour-and-a-half. I was into the excess of it, that was the whole point. We had Chris Sheldon [sic] who makes a huge sound engineering the record. We were trying to make utopian pop music that had pretensions of being progressive and exciting.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney is credited as providing "celery and carrot" on "Receptacle for the Respectable". McCartney performed a similar role over thirty years earlier, chewing celery to form the percussion track of The Beach Boys song "Vegetables" from the album Smiley Smile.

Former Velvet Underground member John Cale also makes a cameo appearance on piano on the track 'Presidential Suite', after he turned down the invitation to arrange strings on the album.

The Japanese edition of the album contains the bonus tracks "Tradewinds" and "Happiness Is a Worn Pun", while the US edition contains a bonus disc of 7 extra songs. The UK vinyl release was a gatefold sleeve, with a bonus 7" single hidden inside the front cover. The 7" contains a singled locked groove instrumental piece.

Track listing

All songs by Super Furry Animals.

1. "Alternate Route to Vulcan Street" – 4:31
2. "Sidewalk Serfer Girl" – 4:01
3. "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" – 3:29
4. "It's Not the End of the World?" – 3:25
5. "Receptacle for the Respectable" – 4:32
6. "[A] Touch Sensitive" – 3:07
7. "Shoot Doris Day" – 3:38
8. "miniature" – 0:40
9. "No Sympathy" – 6:57
10. "Juxtapozed with U" – 3:08
11. "Presidential Suite" – 5:24
12. "Run! Christian, Run!" – 7:20
13. "Fragile Happiness" – 2:35

US bonus disc

1. "Tradewinds" – 5:13
2. "The Roman Road" – 5:18
3. "Patience" – 4:04
4. "Happiness Is a Worn Pun" – 3:16
5. "Gypsy Space Muffin" – 3:29
6. "Edam Anchorman" – 3:22
7. "All the Shit U Do" – 2:31

References