Keep Calm & Carry on (W/Dvd) [Import]

Stereophonics | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 10, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Universal Int'l
• ASIN: B002PAQEU8
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,236 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2009 release, the stunning seventh studio album from the Welsh Alt-Rock band. The album was written and co-produced by Kelly Jones along with Mercury Award winning producer, Jim Abiss. (Arctic Monkeys/Kasabian). Five of their six previous studio albums have all gone straight to #1 in the UK and their 2008 hits collection, Decade In The Sun, sold almost a million copies in two months. 12 tracks including the lead single 'Innocent'. Universal. 2009. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carrying on in style, November 17, 2009

By 

Nse Ette (Lagos, Nigeria) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Keep Calm & Carry on (Audio CD)

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!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stereophonics are a great band! Why are they overlooked in U.S.?, December 2, 2010

By 

J. Fritzges "Jim" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keep Calm & Carry on (Audio CD)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not their best, February 28, 2010

By 

Glass Audio lover "netgear customer" (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Keep Calm & Carry on (W/Dvd) (Audio CD)

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.