Customer Reviews

Language. Sex. Violence. Other?

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

4.5 Stars

Although the listener might immediately label this band as Brit-Pop, this album is actually rather an eclectic, grab-bag of styles. It's a mix of "Mechanical Animals" era Marilyn Manson, Oasis, the Beatles, Duran Duran, and New Order.

With "Language, Sex, Violence, Other?," the band can still fit the category of "Brit pop." However, overall, the Stereophonics go for more polished sound. It's not stripped down garage-rock, like "Words Gets Around" (1997), but rather very slick and clean sounding. But that's not a bad thing. The band still sounds fast and furious, and have written a batch of really good songs. Although there are some standouts, like the opening "Superman," the infectious "Dakota" and excellent "Lolita," the entire album is quite solid. Kelly Jones has a fine voice, and an excellent guitar player. He may not be a virtuoso, but he has a knack for writing catchy, original riffs with good hooks, and solos. Richard Jones (bass) and Javier Weyler (drums) provide a stellar and exciting rhythm section.

The whole album is tight and well written. The album starts out strong with the moody, mid-tempo "Superman," which actually sounds a lot like "Great Big White World," the opening song from Manson's "Mechanical Animals." The band gets fast-and-furious with the excellent "Doofman," which reminds me a bit of Oasis's "(What the Story) Morning Glory." The albums slows down a bit, but without loosing momentum with "Brother," which is a "Mechanical Animals" Manson-like, mid-tempo rocker. The subtle piano throughout "Devil" gives the song a really cool haunting feel. The hit "Dakota" is the album's highlight. This mid-tempo poppy song is totally infectious and is somewhat reminiscent of Duran Duran, or New Order. "Dakota" slides perfectly into the spacey "Rewind." The band sounds a little more stripped down for the semi-garage sounding mid-tempo "Pedal Pusher" and the harder rocking "Girl." The dreamy "Lolita" sounds reminiscent of New Order, but with Beatles-like chorus. "Deadwood" is another solid, Oasis-like rocker. The somewhat morose "Feel" closes out the album.

This album is a synthesis of a grab-bag of styles, but everything works. It's great CD and it just gets better with repeated plays. One of the best albums of 2005.

This is the album that I've been waiting and looking for. Amazing. There really isn't a better word to describe it. This is pure rock and roll at its best. I'm a huge fan of Brit rock to begin with, and Stereophonics are a perfect modle of how great Brit rock should sound. I got turned on to these guys from the Wicker Park soundtrack where I heard their song "Maybe Tomorrow", which made me go out and buy their album You Got to Go There to Come Back. That album itself I found incredible, which made me want to hear how they had evolved as a band; henceforth, I went out and bought Language. This is a totally different sound than the aforementioned album, but one to be embraced. Kelly Jones has easily become one of my favorite lyricists and vocalists. His raspy vocals just lodge in the brain and keep the lyrics repeating in your mind. But the music is just clever in a way that other bands have seemed to want to abandon somewhat. Others may compare Stereophonics with Oasis or Coldplay or other Brit bands, but I think they've got their own sound, which is a mixture of many different types of music. But this review isn't supposed to be about the band, but the album right? Right off, from the beginning, with "Superman", this record takes off. In fact, the only songs that I don't fancy on the entire album are "Doorman", and "Girl", and they're not even that bad. I've got a fondness especially for "Devil","Rewind", and the standout of the album, "Dakota", but the whole thing rocks and just makes you happy. I can't think of many other records that do that to me.
A must have.

I read some of the reviews on this page and felt compelled to add my own. This is a great Stereophonics album and for those who apparently don't know it is the bands fifth recording. The album shakes off the experimental, laid back feel of JEEP and You've Gotta Go There To Come Back and returns to the heavier, up tempo sounds of Performance And Cocktails and the fantastic debut Word Gets Around. True enough Dakota is a stand out track but Superman and Devil are equally as strong and there is plenty of strength in depth to go with it. Anyone who isn't familiar with the band I'd definitely recommend this album but I'd also suggest the first two aswell. I'm from Caerphilly; South Wales and was fortunate to hear their early tracks before they signed with V2 and released Word Gets Around.

Hey America! This is a band you should be listening to if you never have.

Stereophonics were one of the first acts signed to Branson's V2 label, and after their debut peaked at #6, all four of their subsequent compilations eventually reached #1 on the UK Charts, producing several noteworthy singles along the way. That alone should tell you something, and on "Language", the band is at the top of their form.

Few bands are able to write good hooks without the ear-candy degrading into something with a saccharine aftertaste -- superficial cliches that are easily marketable, but on the whole empty of any real content. This band is a notable exception, having blended the edgy sound of a veteran club act with the seasoned experience of four previous studio efforts.

Keeping the British Guitar/Pop tradition very much alive, Stereophoncs deliver a set of extremely listenable, efficient, and at times very rockin' numbers on this CD. The perspectives range from punkish disdain (Doorman/Brother/Girl), to bittersweet nostalgia (Dakota/Rewind/Feel). My favorite track, "Brother" is a great example of the "less is more" recipe for success, and begs to be played at an obnoxious, loud volume.

Minimalist melodic guitar lines, exeptional chord structure, raw energy, and honest emotion combine to make this one of the better CD's you'll listen to in a long time. Only filler tunes like the opening "Superman" and "Pedalpusher", which are listenable but fall short of the bar set by the standouts, keep me from rating this 5 stars.

A new album from Stereophonics and it's proving to be a good one. Songs like "Dakota" are upbeat and lifting, but other than that, there are lots more good songs. Superman, the 2nd hit is totally different, gentle rock at the beginning then very rocky as the song builds up. The chorus (mellow with a strong beat)is very different to the verse - kinda bluesy and he sings in a very high voice. The song adopts a more powerful almost angry atmosphere. Doorman isn't a personal favourite. Kinda noisy, but alright for listening to in the car. The lyrics - "Well suck my banana suck it with cream" is quite poor for a Stereophonics song. Brother is sung in a lazy mellow style, but the chorus is deep and sounds hurtful. Devil is quite a slow lazy-ish kind of song, but with rather bizzare lyrics - "So be my devil angel, be my shooting star." Rewind is more friendly with a 'spacey' feel to it. It sounds a bit like a U2 song. Pedalpusher reminds me of an Oasis song, also bluesy. If you like Oasis you'll love this song. Girl is a busy rocky song, with a lot of guitar action, and faced paced singing. Lolita goes back to being slow, but not in an angry way but a floaty sort of feeling. The guitar riff in the chorus is great. Deadhead quite fast with an angry-ish tone to it. The chorus alternates between major and minor chords often, which goes really well together. Feel ends the album with a sleepy fell to it, like most of the songs.

This album is quite different from the others. It has a lot less upbeat tunes, and way more soft mellow songs. Some of the song are hard-edged and angry. A good album to buy, just wish it had more fast tempo songs. But if you like slow songs and depend mainly on great guitar riffs, then buy this album.

I loved this album. Sounds like an updated version of The Replacements if they kept on making albums into 2005. The lead singer has that Paul Westerberg raspy voice alot of times. Overall, great album, and hopefully the band progresses along like Coldplay and The Killers...

I am one of the many who bought and loved this band's first lp then kind of let this band slip away. 'Local boy' was the epitome of a heartfelt, irresistable pop song but then nothing really jumped out.
I read a few interesting reviews of this new lp, so when I saw it in a second hand shop at a delicious price, I ventured forth with the moolah. I was half expecting another journo-cashola pay off hype where's the tunes type situation and a return trip to the store with tail between legs.

Nope! This is a stunning return to form. Some blistering songs, swaggering riffs, great meaty production, enough to mobilize some air guitar when the wife's not looking and a couple of beautiful songs too.

The likes of 'Doorman', 'Devil' and 'Girl' make your toe tap and the hips gyrate whilst 'Lolita' and 'Feel' are just gorgeous summer songs. Then there's the chirpy 'Dakota' with its slamming chorus to round it off.

Hope they do a US club tour because this set plus a few oldies will be one goood night out. Can't wait to hear what they do next.

I listened to this cd about 6-7 times, then I realized that this is easily one of the Phonics' best albums to date. Man, these tracks just grow on you, getting better and better eveytime you hear em. The tracks are all pretty high-octane, with Kelly Jones' awesome vocals adding the signature Phonics sound. Songs like Devil, and Superman, Dakota, and especially hard-rockin Deadhead being the best, I think. This cd very worthwhile indeed. If you like The Verve, Oasis or Radiohead, you should go for it.

I have never heard of Stereophonics until today. I bought the band's latest album after reading some decent things about it (what the heck right?). Well I was plesantly surprised, the ablum is a loud, crunchy success. Take everything you know about techno-Britpop and you basically have LANGUAGE, SEX, VIOLENCE, OTHER? Think Blur/Oasis/Radiohead (even some POP era U2), though a bit less refined. "Dakota" the album's single is a loud (this whole damn thing is loud) warpy-trippy Coldplay on steroids type number. For me, the best song though is "Pedalpusher" which should not be played while driving because it will make you speed. "Girl" and "Lolita" are two other standout tracks. The only bad thing I can say about Stereophonics is that while this is a really good album, it's nothing I don't feel like I've already heard before. Buy it for "Dakota" and "Pedalpusher." If you don't like Britpop or Radiohead skip this one.

Some of these songs start off innocently enough, ambling along with as-light-as-storm-clouds verses before exploding into snarling guitar anthem choruses. The switchblade guitars in the chorus of the retro-soaked "Dakota" would slice up unwitting Postal Service fans.

Likewise, "Superman" is the perfect opener, pitting a chiming, synth-y keyboard and bass intro against subversive rasps of distorted guitar and harmonized vocals. Mesmerizing. Elsewhere, "Lolita" sports an electro-fied keyboard riff and an instantly hummable 4-5 note guitar line in the chorus to satisfy more demanding pop fans.

It's been done before, but "Language. Sex. Violence. Other?" combines that hard to find amount of volume with a helping of songwriting and a pinch of retro styling to whip up a batch of quite listenable songs over which I could spend paragraphs quoting the Bible ("For Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light" ... about the song "Devil," come on now...) and making comparisons to devil's food cake, but I have to go down to the Department of Misguided Visionaries and renew my poetic license. Suffice it to say, this is a solid record in the current sea of mush. Try it out.