Track Listing

1. A Thousand Trees
2. Looks Like Chaplin
3. More Life in a Tramps 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 Daveys Daughter

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #487 in Music
• Released on: 2006-07-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 42 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
After the release of Word Gets Around, the Stereophonics blistering debut album, word did, indeed, get around, and rightly so. Firm adherents to the philosophy of "write what you know", Kelly Jones escaped the rural Welsh village of his upbringing and unleashed his remarkable songwriting talent on a world outside the valleys. The album title encapsulates its content perfectly--canny small-town observations rooted in real-life experience and drama. The setting is so insular that the rumours, gossip and stories have nothing to do but buzz round from lip to lip, reverberating off the surrounding mountains. Whereas contemporaries such as Super Furry Animals or Oasis may have exuded a more escapist vibe in their early songs, Jones immerses himself in the everyday events of small-town life and admirably demonstrates an unconditional love for the place he grew up.

Possessing an ability to say so much with so few words, his songs are as emotive as they are mosh-inducing, nowhere more aptly demonstrated than in "Local Boy in the Photograph"'s "He'll always be / Twenty-three / Yet the train runs on and on / Past the place they found his clothing," delivered with the kind of rusty-hacksaw vocal that belongs to Satan himself. Balancing this seriousness is a fine line in subtle humour, as displayed on the customer-service frustrations of "More Life in a Tramp's Vest".

However, the closing salvo of "Billy Davey's Daughter" (a song based on a story that, after its release, turned out to be nothing more than a rumour, thus perfectly capturing the very essence of the album) is a wonderful acoustic outro to a solid rock record. The Stereophonics have never bettered this, and it's their cross to bear that they probably never will. --Ben Johncock

CD Description
The Welsh trio's debut album containing the singles 'Local Boy In The Photograph' and 'More Life In A Tramp's Vest'. This album is made up of short, sharp melodic anthems with theband sticking to a more poppier sound for the most part, though deviating to the occasional ballad (e.g 'A Thousand Trees'). This radio friendly debut led to the band gaining a BRIT for best new band.

Customer Reviews

Back to Front
To really appreciate the Stereophonics, you need to listen to their later albums, fall in love with them and then come back to their roots. It's not that the later albums are bad, just that this album is very, very good, and the band change where they're coming from over time.

If you listen to this first, you'll expect them to always be highly-energetic and insightful rock. But they change, Kelly Jones maturing and writing more about immediate personal experiences (such as the last, very sad tracks of "You Gotta Go There To Come Back", full of regrets). Here, he's writing from a younger perspective, but in tracks like "Billy Daveys Daughter", you can see the sheer poetic and empathic talent of the man.

If you *DO* come to this album from the later ones, stick with it: it will grow on you. If you go forward, don't expect them to write the same material; they don't. That's why the Stereophonics are one of the greatest bands of our time. Take them for what they are: very, very good.

Yet To Be Bettered - A Classic
Redemption at last. Every new Stereophonics album has enhanced their popularity and sales, while the actual content has sharply declined in quality. Tired third album Just Enough Education To Perform (2001) led to them being hailed as one of Britain's biggest bands, with the UK top 5 success of singles 'Mr Writer', 'Have A Nice Day' and the sensitive cover of Rod Stewart's 'Handbags and Gladrags'. Apart from the quality of a few tracks, Just Enough Education... was an exceptionally poor output from a band who proved their worth on this dazzling rockfest. Second album Performance and Cocktails (1999) was initially held as their best, most accessible collection to date - but recent opinion has shifted considerably. Although accomplished in its own right and an admirable sister album to the debut, Performance and Cocktails is firmly overshadowed by the enduring appeal of Word Gets Around, which holds all the unpretentious components that make The Stereophonics one of Britain's best bands of the last decade.

Just Enough Education... did what so many British bands have been tempted to do: to deliberately 'Americanize' their style to tap into the lucrative market across the lake. So it was successful for Bowie - what then? Name-checking San Francisco and being the latest to ponder Kennedy's assassination does not good music make, as the 'Phonics have found to their dismay. Word Gets Around's success bred on regional nostalgia for their small town Welsh home, with profound yet hardly world-changing local incidents the themes. One can't help but feel the grief of Billy Davey as 'Phonics lead singer Kelly Jones chronicles his daughter's tragic death (in 'Billy Daveys Daughter'): it is hardly on the same worldwide level as Kennedy's death, and so much the better. Similarly, standout track Local Boy In The Photograph relates the second-hand memories of a boy's suicide on the railroad with the utmost poignancy: 'He'll always be 23/Yet the train runs on and on/Past the place they found his clothing'.

Death is a main theme - it surfaces again in 'Same Size Feet' and 'Looks Like Chaplin' - but the pumping rock pace never permits morbidity. Instead, nostalgic yearning and perhaps a lament for the disappearing small town life - a decidedly unusual premise for a rock band - are the implied main concerns. 'Last of the Big Time Drinkers' ('I don't need to eat or sleep a wink at the weekend/just rot my guts and I can't wait for my next drink') is deeply ironic and satirical in its approach, yet is emblematic of further remorse for the increasing imposition of modernity, as pondered in a bewildered fashion in the slow tempo 'Traffic'. 'We all face the same way/Still it takes all day...Is anyone going anywhere?/Everybody's gotta be somewhere.' And just to confirm it all, the album is dedicated 'to the people of Cwmaman: "keep the village alive".

Musically, The Stereophonics are nothing new, as gritty rock songs with reference points such as the Rolling Stones, Jam, Nirvana and early Who have been tried with varying degrees of success by countless bands. However, it is not just the unusual song writing themes that set them apart. Irresistible hooks are rampant with dynamism unmatched, but it is the gravel-in-the-throat vocals of Kelly Jones that make their compositions so arresting. With a delivery matched in modern times only by Anthony Keidis (of Red Hot Chili Peppers' fame), Jones' grate (think Rod Stewart with brawn and vigour) quite simply makes many of the tracks his own - 'More Life In A Tramps Vest' and 'Check My Eyelids For Holes' are fine examples.

This album is here not through accident or personal favouritism (although you can undoubtedly see my fondness for this record). Its legend has grown - and will continue to grow - as it gains more exposure. Word Gets Around comes highly recommended.

The Welsh are coming!
These Cwmwman boys prove that Wales isn't all choir boys and Tom Jones! Vocalist and Lead Guitarist, Kelly Jones penned the lyrics for this album whilst he worked on a fruit and veg store in his home town, overhearing conversations and observing people from all walks of life passing by. The grittiness of the lyrics combined with Kelly's gruff vocals are truly amazing - but it's not all indie/rock. The album is a fine mix of up-tempo and slow-tempo songs, 'Tramps Vest' will have you jumping up and down but if you want something more mellow 'Traffic' has to be one of the best Rock Ballads of all time. It's one of those albums where it is hard to pick a favourite song because they are all so damn good - so add this album to your collection, you definately won't regret it.