Just Enough Education To Perform - Stereophonics > Reviews > New sound for Stereophonics

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Average
Value for Money

Advantages:	Interactive CD .  Complete that stereophonics collection .  you know you want to !
Disadvantages:	Not the Stereophonics of old  -  a bit TOO soft?

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Listening through to all three of their albums - 'word gets around', 'performance and cocktails' and their latest offering 'J.E.E.P' - you can definately see kelly jones steer the band on to become a slightly softer rock band, without taking away all the defining qualities that make the Stereophonics such a good listen.
'word gets around' has more of their metally, hard rock style of music, whereas in 'Performance and Cocktails' you can start to hear a more possesive melody than in the rhythm driven first album.

In J.E.E.P this has been taken even further, and the result is Stereophonics most laid back album to date. This may not sit well with some fans who feel that the cynical view on life taken by the band, and writen into their songs was one of the best features of Stereophonics, and to tell the truth, there really arent many biting comments expressed in the lyrics in this album.

One of the big plus's of this album is the introduction of backing vocals, which helps hold the songs together. In the hit 'Mr Writer' the vocals play a big part in the chorus, and in some songs like 'Have a nice day' the chorus is unnaturally catchy due to the backing vocals supplied.
Another good thing about this CD is that i bought the Interactive version (same price as the normal cd version) which has several videos with the band either performing two songs (acoustic) off the album or explaining the reasons why the songs were written. It also has a program on it which is basically a musical tuition thing, which i havent tried, but ive heard is pretty good.

When i first bought it i listened to it through a couple of times and 3 songs jumped out at me. 'Mr Writer', 'Have a nice day', and 'Rooftop'. This may well be because 'Mr writer' and 'Rooftop' have some of the better lyrics in the album - especially the former which is basically aimed at the media, and how you cant trust them to tell the truth like it is! I basically just like 'Have a nice day' because it is so catchy...

Personally i dont like 'Caravan holiday' and 'Step on my old size nines!!' because the later is just a little too...quaint? clichéd? whatever, it just didnt do anything for me. 'Caravan holiday' simply because its so monotonous and unlike the stereophonics i like listening to.

Im not sure whether i should recommend this or not. There are some great tracks, but unfortunately the album isnt consistantly good. There is a glimpse of the stereophonics of yesteryear but, in my opinion, not enough.

Basically, big fans of Stereophonics will have already bought this. People who have heard 'Mr Writer' will have probably wondered if they should buy it. well...maybe! if you have money to burn then get this - it IS good, just not outstanding. If you want to get just one album, then turn elsewhere - maybe a previous album?

Oh and one final note - Stereophonics havent turned permanantly soft. Ive heard them collabarating with Black Crow in a song called 'twice as hard', and its brilliant. heres hoping is in the next album....