Super Furry Animals: Phantom Power

I SLIPPED OFF Rings Around The World like an ant off frictionless glass, its expensive and slick production screaming "maturity!" and "longevity!" at me until I couldn't hold on anymore and had to let go. Nonplussed by Fuzzy Logic, in love with Radiator and Guerilla, keen on Outspaced and (sinfully, I know) never really arsed to listen to Mwng much (not because it's in Welsh but because it's got no techno). Where's the frivolous glam pop stomp on Rings Around The World? All these mature meanderings about politics, these too-accomplished descents into electronic wibble, these ballads and suites — they're no fun, are they? And previously that's what SFA have been about. The title track managed it, just about, and 'It's Not the End of the World' was sweetly melancholic enough, but — fuck, no, "enough" is never enough.