Rings Around the World (2002)

The latest crop of British import albums now landing on American shelves includes a few more acts indebted to Radiohead, but refreshingly, there are some standout originals. Take Rings Around the World (Beggars/XL), the fifth record from Welsh oddballs Super Furry Animals. Overlong (80 minutes, counting a second CD containing seven B sides) and overly cluttered with instruments (horns, strings, winds, reeds, a harp) and gimmicky sound effects, ''Rings'' has, not surprisingly, also been overhyped by a Radiohead-weary press hungry for new sounds. But only a little overhyped. At its best (the Beatles-y ''It's Not the End of the World?'' and the unabashedly nasty ''No Sympathy''), the album recalls a lost Brian Wilson-style psychedelic marvel, complete with blankets of harmony, multilayered orchestration, and labyrinthine structures. (In one lovely Smile-like touch, Furry friend Paul McCartney appears playing the ''celery + carrot,'' whatever that means.)

Unfortunately, that extraordinary core is at times marred by forced eccentricity: gratuitous techno interludes; a heavy metal gorgon voice booming through ''Receptacle for the Respectable''; and the awful lite-rock homage ''Juxtapozed With U,'' which sounds like an update of the ''Love Boat'' theme (can we please not have a Paul Williams revival? Pretty please?). If they'd cut the fat and ended with ''Run! Christian, Run!'' -- a rattling look at religious fanaticism that sounds like Pink Floyd if Gram Parsons had joined instead of David Gilmour -- it might have been a big, momentous album that lived up to the buzz. As it is, ''Rings'' is just big, but it does contain enough twists and turns that digging through it is a thrilling exploration rather than a chore.

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