Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years

(Rough Trade)
As per comedian Steven Wright’s line about making his own water, ‘two parts H, one part O’, there is a tried and tested winning formula for Super Furries records, and this, their ninth studio album, is no exception. A handful of the prerequisite preposterous album titles (‘Moped Eyes’ and ‘The Very Best of Neil Diamond’ to name but two) combine with melodies of such sheer beauty that they’d make a glass eye cry. Throw in the odd sprawling glam rock epic, the Buggles-style ‘Inaugural Trams’ – which could have come straight off Gruff Rhys’ side project Neon Neon – and the job’s a good ‘un.