Anyone who heard Kelly's interview on Steve Lamacq's Evening Session must have been worried that the trials and tribulations of being a successful musician is pushing this prematurely middle-aged Welsh songstrel perilously close to the edge. A nation of fans sat shocked as he recollected the tale of the alternate-tuning. His mate, casually inquesting: "Hey, Kelly, ever written anything in G ?" Kelly smiled: "Nah, we don't do tunings." Seemed innocent enough until Kelly revealed that later that evening he tried the alternate tuning of open-G. He did it "for a laugh". NOOOOOO , DON'T DO IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "In just a matter of hours", said Kelly, "I'd knocked out 'Step on my old size nines' "
In the same way that Bobby Gillespie was arrested in Paris back in 1995 for breaking into a chemists for the abundance of drugs one can imagine wildcard Kelly forcing an entry into the nearest music-shop to Chepstow and demanding a capo, not for his guitar, but for his "weight-problem". If you're one of the people who dismissed the Stereophonics as bland and are yet to hear this, believe me, your expectations are to be crushed under the 'Phonics noise-tank. This noise-tank is better-known as 'Vegas Two Times' and is the opening track here. It may feature a riff that veers dangerously close to a washed-down amalgamation of poor Led Zeppelin and 'Fucking in the Bushes' by Oasis, needlessly incorporate a gospel-choir and make the band's Tom Jones influence painfully clear but savour this moment friends 'cos from here on in we have an album that hurts.
The aforementioned 'Step on my old size nines' sounds like an appalling Bob Dylan tribute band fronted by a constipated Tom Waits. 'Mr Writer' is John Lennon at his very, very worst. 'Everyday I think of Money' is a more maudlin version of Bowie's 'Rock and Roll Suicide' performed with a hangover. 'Caravan Holiday' tries to be intrinisically and inexplicably intelligent in the way that Ray Davies was with the Kinks but ends up being blatantly and inexplicably stupid in the way that, well, Kelly Jones is with the Stereophonics. Throughout the album, one senses that Kelly is attempting to rediscover his childhood hero Van Morrisson or that his vinyl copy of Neil Young's 'Harvest' has been playing at the wrong speed all his life.
Contrary to their advertising campaign this actually IS the Stereophonics going country. This IS their acoustic album. And bloody horrible it is too. Once they were pretentious rock music sadly lacking the necessary overpretentious rock posturing. Now they're a less tuneful Richard Ashcroft with a throat infection. To all of you going to make rock history at their massive gig in Chepstow: you'd better hope the drugs DO work.
Stereophonics - J.E.E.P
the fact that kelly can write 'step on my old size nines' in so few minutes is a tribute to his song writing skills, not a witty attack on the quality of the stereophonics, i personally think that this album fits perfectly in a natural progression from the first simple album, the second more developed and this one evn further along the same path.
it is by no means brilliant but it is not the atrocious bollocks that you describe.
jeep lacks focus & purpose, abnd thats about it
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Re: Stereophonics - J.E.E.P
perhaps in the sense that he can write something in 5 minutes that sounds as if it has taken 5 years. The album is utterly apalling, the Stereophonics have gradually become worse, even more worrying when its put into perspective and you consider that Word Gets Around was fairly banal too.
'step on my old size nines' is an absolutely hideous horrible stomach-churner of a song that displays his voice at its very worst.
his voice at its best is when he's bawling over straightfoward rock stuff which they did reasonably for two albums.
when i saw them live at the tail-end of 1999 i thought that the songs would suit a live environment but that they ruined them simply by putting no effort whatsoever into any performance of any kind. Now they'd probably get heckled in a country&western club.
Re: Stereophonics - J.E.E.P
i still can't work out why you even bothered reviewing it since you blatantly *hate* the stereophonics (at least your review certainly makes you come across that way). if you can't give a fair review (ie, without deciding that an album's shite before you've even listened to it) then don't bother doing it at all.
and no, i don't mean let someone who loves them review it. just someone who's not so obviously opinionated.
Re: Stereophonics - J.E.E.P
Stereophonics - J.E.E.P
Re: Stereophonics - J.E.E.P
actually, reminds me of a funny story: not really that funny but anyway,
asian dub foundation played a free gig with the bluetones and a few others of Newcastle Quayside, it was open air, no tickets. just show up.
and there were ticket touts at the top of the road selling false-tickets for 60 quid. genius :P