Stereophonics
Performance And Cocktails

THE REVIEW

On March 8, 1999, the Welsh band Stereophonics released their second album, titled "Performance and Cocktails," a name extracted from the lyrics of the opener "Roll Up and Shine" ("Roll out the shock parade/Free falling from a stage/Performance and cocktails/Roll up and shine").

The album was preceded by two singles that hinted at the great success to come: the first, "The Bartender and the Thief," is a fun and frenetic rock‘n roll number that reached number three on the UK singles chart. The second, "Just Looking," is a fantastic electric ballad featuring Jones's stunning voice; the track climbed up to number four.

The ground was fertile, then, for the release of the second album, under the V2 label, quickly topping the UK chart and achieving platinum status after just three weeks: to this day, it is universally recognized as the best work by the Welsh band, and it led them to perform in front of fifty thousand people at the Morfa Stadium in Swansea (the best concert of that year in Great Britain).

But let's talk about the album: recorded in three different studios (Real World Studios in Bath, Parkgate in Sussex, and Rockfield in Monmouth) and entirely written by all the band members, it is a raw and very direct work, different from the debut due to the decision to switch to Fender guitars, aiming to alter the sound deemed not entirely satisfactory in "Word Gets Around." Besides the first two, three more singles were extracted from the work; the cheerful and sunny "Pick A Part That's New," the acoustic and lively "I Wouldn't Believe Your Radio," and the melancholic "Hurry Up and Wait," monstrously beautiful in its "progressive" melody.

The rest of the album is at times embarrassingly beautiful; in the more driven tracks, like the aggressive "Roll Up and Shine" and the short but intense "Half The Lies You Tell Ain't True," the blend of roaring guitars and the bluesy, "smoky" voice of the leader works tremendously well. In the slow numbers, Jones's extraordinary interpretive ability is well highlighted, but above all, an incredible inspiration emerges in all the songs, leading the 'Phonics to create incredibly catchy and impactful melodies, as in the rhythmic and beautiful "T-Shirt Sun Tan." Also notably successful is the ballad "Is Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today?," as well as "Plastic California," which starts slowly and then slowly explodes in the fantastic finale. Complementing all this are some semi-acoustic numbers (including a languid "She Takes Her Clothes Off") that don't detract at all, quite the contrary.

Ultimately, we are witnessing the peak creative moment of the 'Phonics, as well as one of the best albums produced by post-britpop Britain.