Customer Reviews

Keep Calm & Carry on

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Their last 5 albums have topped the charts in their native UK, and there's nothing to suggest that this, their seventh album, is about to break that winning streak.

Kelly Jones and company have found a comfortable niche and produce catchy, edgy songs with enough flourishes/experimentation to make the next CD that much different from the last. The title of their new CD "Keep calm and carry on" is taken from a World war II propaganda poster and seems to be the guiding principle of their career.

"She's alright" is an Rocker with shades of REM. "Innocent" is a sunny Rocker with an incredibly cathcy chorus and "Oooooh" refrain. "Beerbottles" is a choppy moody Rocker, stark and haunting with sprinklings of jangly guitars, like the soundtrack to some futuristic Western movie.

Standouts abound on this disc; the Punk-ish "Trouble" ("I'm in trouble, you're in trouble, deep deep trouble's gonna burst our bubble"), the galloping "I got your number", the woozy Oasis-style ballad "Live 'n' love", the tender ballad "100mph" (remniscent of "Maybe tomorrow" or "It means nothing"), the gritty "Stuck in a rut", and closing Coldplay-style piano ballad "Show me how" (the latter two really showcasing Jones' raspy vocals).

Another winner!

I agree with the other mostly favorable reviews of "Keep Calm and Carry On". Stereophonics have been very much overlooked here in the U.S. by radio but I know there are serious fans scattered around the country. I was not familiar with the group until I saw them open for David Bowie at some venues during his Reality tour some years ago. I found they were a top band in the UK, much of Europe, Asia and Australia. They have played the Isle of Wight festival twice and other top festivals in Europe and fill sell out stadiums and arenas on their tours.
They have done some limited tours here in smaller venues but without some support by radio their music just doesn't get the airplay it deserves. Kelly Jones, lead singer and writer of all their songs is a great talent and has also done some solo/acoustic tours. They were the first group signed by Richard Branson on his V2 Records label. If you want to hear some great music give Stereophonics a try and you just might become their next fan. "A Decade In The Sun" is a compilation of their hits which is a good sampler of their music.

First, I am a die-hard Sterephonics fan. Kelly Jones could sing the phone book and I'd probably buy it (wait...he sort of did sing his personal phone book in the solo project "Only the names have changed, and yes, I bought that). After the amazing reviews for the new album, I was looking forward to my import. Well, I've listened three times through, and while it certainly has improved, it is not their best to date. That would certainly have to be "You've Got to Go There to Come Back." If you disagree with me, have your ears professionally cleaned and run the CD through your hifi several more times.

The import is beautifully packaged in an oversize booklet that makes you think you've mistakenly ordered the box set. The pictures and lyrics are so nice to see, and recalled the great vinyl albums of the last generation. More artist should do this: I would GLADLY pay for this type of release. I was thrilled to get the DVD...until I tried to play it in my DVD player and it was rejectd, probably because the DVD has Euro region codes which don't work in the States. While this may make sense for a movie it does not on an accompanying music bonus. Sigh...will have to jury rig this somehow on my computer.

"She's Alright" opens the album with a great catchy guitar and bass line. But after two times through the chorus, I'm thinking it is kinda gimicky: "She's alright she's alright she's alright" Ok, I get it. She's alright. A few less "She's alrights" would have made this tighter, but I still like the overall energy and bounce of this cut. The next song, Innocent, is classic Sterephonics anthemic rock, but softened up for the masses. It would be right at home on a Friday Night Lights episode. And that's probably my main beef with this album. Too many songs on thi album try to replicate this anthemic, crisp style. Where's the whisky addled blues riffs ala "Since I told you its over" or I Miss You Now? Instead, the closest we get is the slightly less anthemic "Live and Love" which, besides 100mph, is probably the best song on the album. "Beerbottle, Trouble, Could You be the One, I Got Your Number, and Uppercut leave me feeling the same way I do after listening to a ColdPlay album, where every song is only a slight deviation of the others. Nice and pleasant, but it doesn't rock you the way "Leaving Las Vegas 2x" does, nor does it grab your ears and make you listen the way Devil does, or make you shriek with joy and turn your invisible amp to 11 the way Help Me did.

Personally, I think it's hard to eclipse You've Got to Go there (though Just Enough Education certainly gives it a good run for best Sterephonics Album), but since Pull the Pin, the Phonics have moved away from their rock-blues-pop roots towards a more mainstream sound that may work better in a stadium, and makes the tweeners and teens hold their arms up and sway along, but these style of songs utimately lose something in the transition to stadium rock. I suspect this album, much like Pull the Pin and Language Sex Violence (excepting the amazing Superman and Devil), will end up towards the middle/bottom of my Phonics pile.

Which, compared to their contemporaries, is still a damn good pile.

I ordered my copy from Amazon.uk and paid a total of $18.63 US dollars - that includes shipping. It took about a 12 days to get here. A great Stereophonics album. Love it!!! I do not understand why it is a import!! I can't believe the price you have to pay on this site! They DO have a US following.

Es un buen CD. No el mejor de la banda, pero muy agradable de oir. 12 canciones con sus respectivas letras.

Every stereophonics album is different and this another one of those good albums from the stereophonics. Lot's off brilliant songs on this like innocent, 100 mph, could you be the one, live 'n' love and beerbottle are brilliant. The album is a combination of brilliant accoustic style songs and brilliant rock songs. You won't be disappointed with this album.

It is a shame Stereophonics are not well known here in the US or that they have not made a larger organized effort to promote themselves here. It will probably be a year before Keep Calm and Carry on is released in the US officially, but thank god for imports.

One of the best things about this band is they do not rest on their past and try to recreate themselves every few years. This release is no different. Their last 2 releases have been all out rockers. While both good CD's, the last thing I wanted was a 3rd repeat of that.

KC&CO is definitely a new sound. It relys a lot less on guitars and more on the drums, bass and background vocals to fill in the sound. Some of the songs have a bit of a motown sound (Innocent for example), some are a bit more electronic (Beer bottle, Wonder), and there is tons of slow tempo "soul" as well (Show Me, Could you be the one).

If you are in the US and like the Stereophonics, don't let the import prices stop you from getting this. It is well worth it and one of their best releases. I cannot wait for them to make it to the US to tour for this and I hope the setlist is widely made up of these songs. It'll probably be late 2010 before they make it here, so it'll be along wait.

If you read this far and have no idea who the Stereophonics are, I recommend you pick up a few of their CD's. My fav's are "Language, Sex, Violence, Other" and "You Gotta Go There to Come Back". "Word Gets Around" is a fan favorite in the UK. That is their debut album and the lyrics very much have a hometown story telling feel to them centered around a small mining town in Wales named Cwmaman (I hope I spelled that right!). All the releases are good, but I would avod "Pull the Pin" and "Just Enough Education to Perform" as your first exposure to the band. They are solid releases, but not as focused as the other ones.

My order came in a timely manner.
This is my favorite Stereophonics cd I think, I've been wearing it out since it arrived. It has a lot of harder tunes on it.

This is an excellent rock album sounding rather like all other Stereophonic pieces. I now have 5 their albums and except for one that is very good (as far as I can recall), the other 4 are excellent and strongly recommended. I would in particular like to emphasize the compactness and structure of the songs that always feature a nice melody and are often carried by raspy singing of Kelly Jones. His voice, playing, and melody blend into memorable songs year-in year-out. Kelly Jones is certainly a lynchpin of the UK scene and Stereophonics altogether are way better band that they get credit for, in particular in the US. I do not know how their sales and popularity range in the UK/US but judging from Amazon responses and year-end `best of' lists they're not nearly as great as they deserve to be.

My purchase was late to come to me, but I was still very appreciated. I am an American and so the delivery took a bit longer, but at the end of the day I was satisfied.