Word Gets Around

Stereophonics | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 28, 1997)
• Original Release Date: October 28, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: V2 North America
• ASIN: B000005CEE
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,718 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Thousand Trees

2. Looks Like Chaplin

3. More Life in a Tramp's Vest

4. Local Boy in the Photograph

5. Traffic

6. Not Up to You

7. Check My Eyelids for Holes

8. Same Size Feet

9. Last of the Big Time Drinkers

10. Goldfish Bowl

11. Too Many Sandwiches

12. Billy Davey's Daughter

Editorial Reviews

Import pressing of their 1997 album, now out-of-print in the US. V2. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pedestrian Britpop Perfection, November 17, 2003

By 

A. Seuthe (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Word Gets Around (Audio CD)

I give this album a highly recommended 4 1/2 out of 5 (rounded up to 5) because even though you've heard this type of guitar-heavy pop band at least four times before, you've never heard it this good. The Stereophonics have perfected their genre and are sincerely amazing songwriters.

This Welsh band has been called the "Matchbox Twenty" of Britpop, which can be a good or bad thing depending on how avant garde you claim to be. Unfortunately, the innate talent of this band was overlooked by many critics, because like Matchbox Twenty of american alterative rock, the Stereophonics arrived after the britpop genre had already peaked artistically but record companies were still churning out several interchangeable bands. If you're looking for a band that knows how to construct quality pop songs that are catchy yet poignant, then they're the band for you. If you're looking for a band that sounds completely different than the pop status quo then perhaps you should look elsewhere.

The Stereophonics put together great songs, each with their own pervasive driving beat, and beefy guitar hooks. The raw vocals of Kelly Jones perfectly underscore their tragic, yet beautiful lyrics. Unlike some of their more idyllic contemporary songwriters, the Stereophonics have an uncanny sense of irony in portraying their song subjects. I doubt Matchbox Twenty or Northern Uproar could come up with the staggering metaphorical lyric from "A Thousand Trees" that describes a football coach torn down by rumors: "it takes one tree to make a thousand matches/only takes one match to burn a thousand trees." This first album catches them at their freshest and their songs capture the idealism of youth fading away as it approaches the harsh realities of the real world.

Songs such as "A Thousand Trees," "Looks Like Chaplin," the breathtaking "Traffic," and "Local Boy in the Photograph" all strive to capture the fleeting tragedies that often go unnoticed in small town life. "Last of the Big Time Drinkers" and "Goldfish Bowl" are both songs that lament and celebrate alcohol only as a self-defeating escape to a droll working class existence.

The surge of the Britpop in the mid 90s brought about many interchangeable bands, and the Stereophonics were classified among them. However, this album soars far above the Catatonia, Bows, or Feeder offerings from that same time period, when Britpop was sputtering out. Had the Stereophonics showed up in 1994 when Oasis did, Kelly Jones would be as revered as Noel Gallagher for his superior pop anthems. This is a great band, that is not to be missed. Their first two albums are necessities for connoisseurs of Britpop.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It really is this good, February 26, 2000

By 

David Evans (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Word Gets Around (Audio CD)

I know it can get dull reading a lot of fans' plugging their fave band of the moment, but this album really does deserve the praise. I haven't tired of it despite over a year of regular listening, and regard it as the best album I've heard in many years. While the Stereophonics have enough similarity in style to other BritRock stars such as the Verve and Oasis to appeal to the same fan-base, they stand out with the quality of their lyrics and the absence of attitude and cynicism in their delivery. The album's production preserves the sharp-edged sound that these guys deliver live, and shows that they have honed their songs on the road before committing them to the studio. If you liked Oasis' 'Morning Glory' but were annoyed by the gratuitous over-production of 'Be Here Now' you will really appreciate this very tight, very sharp album.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Debut, October 11, 2003

By 

Glenn Heald (USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Word Gets Around (Audio CD)

My first Stereophonics album was Performance and Cocktails, which I bought in London when it first came out. I'd never heard of them, but the record was getting great reviews so I got it to see what all the fuss was about. I loved it, and bought Just Enough Education to Perform and their newest, You Gotta go There to Come Back as soon as each was released. I read about this album, their first, but didn't bother to get it 'cause most of the reviews said it was raw and unpolished compared to their later albums. It is indeed raw and unpolished compared to the later records, but it also has a power and energy that eclipses the later recordings. I love all of their albums, but to me this is their best. The songs have a ragged, hard edge, whether full-throttle rock like A Thousand Trees and Local Boy in the Photograph, or on the softer songs like Traffic and Billie Davie's Daughter. Kelly Jones writes the best lyrics of any British songwriter of today. Yes, they're gloomy, sad and depressing, but the music is full of life and promise, and there's never a hint of the pathetic, self-absorbed "poor misunderstood me" junk of grunge or modern emo music. Jones writes songs that explore different views of bad times and about carrying on through good or bad times. This is a fantastic album, and one that Oasis probably wished they could've made. They may remind you of Faces, Black Crowes, Oasis, and even Steve Marriot, but their sound is entirely their own; fresh, modern and powerful. Kelly Jones has grown to be an even more thoughtful, mature and polished songwriter, but the energy and drive of their first album captures lightning in a bottle. It's hard to believe this is a debut album. It's that good.