Where did Kelly Jones go, and from where did he return? His youth, perhaps? It has certainly mellowed him out somewhat.
On the new Stereophonics album, You Gotta Go There to Come Back (David Gresham) — very much Jones’s album, as he wrote and produced all of it — there is a retro feel that sits well with a sound that is rougher than one might have expected. This retro job is helped along by Jones’s gravelly voice and credits like “Percussion: Whoever was in the room”. Even the sleeve notes and lyrics are reproductions of Jones’s scribbled, crossed-out originals.
Despite this rough edge, it’s a confident work. Opener Help Me (She’s Out of Her Mind) is bluesy retro rock, like the White Stripes on dope, with Jones singing “You wanna show her that you love her but there’s sex on ya mind”. Then comes the easy-going and instantly likable single Maybe Tomorrow and the stadium-rocking, Stones-like Madame Helga.
From there the mood is more laid-back, often with sparkling underlying piano melodies, like on Getaway‘s exploration of childhood innocence (more nostalgia for Jones’s youth?) and Climbing the Wall with its philosophical-sounding questions.
Jealousy, written while waiting for a plane to take off, cranks along, heavy with guitars, like Leonard Cohen on a bad hair day, contrasting with the gentle, trippy I’m Alright (You Gotta Go There to Come Back) and the blues-pop-rock of Nothing Precious at All.
It’s not an easy album to listen to — there is not much that is upbeat, really. But if it’s textured rock moods one is after, delivered with feeling — “music is for the soul, it’s not about celebrity and fame”, as Jones notes — this is the way to go.
Moloko: Statues (David Gresham)
It’s a pleasure to have British dance duo Moloko back in action on their fourth studio album, which is as uplifting as its sleeve art is bright and cheerful, with Dublin-born Roisin Murphy’s melodious voice (sometimes reminiscent of Dido) craftily binding it all together. Opening track Familiar Feeling‘s crescendo into a vibrant, insistent beat with easy-going lyrics sets the tone for the rest of Statues: electro-playfulness, swinging into trip-pop, lounge and bluesy ambience at times, even jazzy brass on 100%. Forever More, one of the more upbeat tracks, pumps up the beat and should lend itself well to creative remixing. The album closes with Over & Over, a 10-minute epic that starts with a dramatic string section and then bounces along somewhat repetitively with no real reason for its length but to wind down the album in a chilled-out manner. Enjoyable, if slight at times. — RW
Various: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (Virgin)
The movie is memorable for its stars’ terrible and hilarious rendition of Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain; that song is here, along with Al Green, Sixpence None the Richer’s Kiss Me and the Gin Blossoms hit Follow You Down. An average but fun soundtrack to an average but fun romantic comedy. — RW