I’m gonna find a piece of you (Performance And Cocktails - Stereophonics)

Member Name: Modena

Product:	Performance And Cocktails - Stereophonics
Date:	09/04/01 (118 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Variety, vocals, lyrics, price etc

Disadvantages: Only 55 minutes worth, a couple of weak links

The Stereophonics’ second album, released in 1999 amid high expectations from their excellent debut, “Word gets around” (see my other opinion on that) and we were not let down. 13 tracks, 5 releases, 5 excellent videos (not on the CD, but available on video/DVD) this is one of my favourite albums ever.

1 – Roll Up And Shine
It starts off pretty loud and heavy, but bland, with “Roll up and shine” this is a good song, but not the highlight of the album by a few miles.

2 – The Bartender And The Thief
Then it gets better with “the Bartender and the Thief”, this was the first release and is an excellent rock song, very nice beat to it, in fact it is used in the Playstation’s Gran Tursimo 2 to great effect. Kelly recently got in trouble for saying, something like this song is dedicated to lesbians, this song is dedicated to Anne Robinson (the welsh connection I guess)

3 – Hurry Up And Wait
It then slows down with “hurry up and wait” another release, this is a very slow and depressing song, another provocative one about life I guess, “hurry up and wait, but what’s worth waiting for?” This was written on a tour bus, maybe that’s what Kelly and the boys were waiting for…

4 – Pick A Part
Track 4 is the brilliant “pick a part (that’s new)” this is an excellent rock song with an excellent video, it’s very upbeat with a large feel-good factor and I think it is very skillful and shows how good the Stereophonics are. The chorus of…

“You can do all the things that you like to do
All around underground pick a part that's new”

…is superb.

5- Just Looking
Then “Just Looking” one of my favourite songs ever, it’s so good I think this warrants a separate review, I wish I wrote this. I must admit that this is one of
my favourite tunes ever, excellent intro, lyrics and meaning. I think this song is about the fact that women choose the man they want in their life, and men choose any woman that want them, hmmm, interesting.

I cannot describe how good this song is, it has so much verve and Kelly’s voice works awesomely. With lyrics like “do I want the dreams? The ones we’re forced to see” and “the more you fly the more you risk your life” you cannot say it isn’t provocative, in any other song the lyrics would just be ludicrous. This is songwriting and intelligent rock at it’s best.

6 – Half The Lies You Tell Ain’t True
Then half the lies you tell ain’t true, I think this bears a lot of resemblance to the previous album and in some ways it shows how they have matured.

7 – I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio
One, two one two three four…One of the anthems of summer 1999, this is a happy, flowing, radio-friendly song which deserves all the credit it gets, by the way, this is the one that goes: “you can have it all if you like, and you, can pay for it the rest of your life”. Brilliant!

8 – T-Shirt Sun Tan
Then we have a bunch of dreary and samey, but still excellent “t-shirt sun tan”, nice surreal guitar intro, then more upbeat, a nice song “it when all the phases come around, the clothes you wear, the sex and love”

9 - Is Yesterday Tomorrow Today
Nice title, nothing special here, only noteworthy thing is the middle where Kelly tells us to “Write down all the…” blah blah blah. A very slow song, oozes class though.

10 - A Minute Longer”
“Think I’d like to stay a minute longer”, another classy, dreary song, obviously slow paced, nothing special here though.

11 - She Takes Her Clothes Off
Classy intro here, about an old woman who is still
young at heart, obviously the meaning is much deeper. “The problem is she’s turning 43, she still takes her clothes off”. Slow, relaxed, and obviously excellent vocals adding another dimension to the song.

12 - Plastic California
This is one of the more memorable last tracks. “Plastic California looks like Blackpool out of date”. I don’t like the lyrics of this tune, but the tune itself is nice and relaxed, yet interesting too, it’s not outstanding, but okay.

13 - I Stopped To Fill My Car Up
Interesting to say the least, a pretty strange and provocative song where Kelly vividly describes a story where someone is found in the back of his car and then threatens to kill him, but it was all a dream, my description really does it no justice.

Inlay
Top class inlay, much better than Word Gets Around’s one. Beautiful black and white cover, instantly recognizable, the inlay has the lyrics where and when the song was written/recorded, with some thumbnail pictures. The centerfold is the other half of the front cover and the back cover is a shot of clouds at sunset, sublime!

Progression?
I think that in this album, the Stereophonics have really matured and developed a good sound. I prefer it to the debut album, but that is just my marginal opinion. I think Kelly Jones is a very talented individual.

JEEP?
As you know Just Enough Education To Perform (JEEP) was released today, I have had JEEP for two months now, and I think that that is not as good as this, JEEP lacks the fast moving rocky “Bartender…” esque song, and lacks the classic “Just Looking” or “Local Boy…” type.

DooYoo ask “Fave Album Of All Time” in many of its album opinions, this is definitely one of them, mainly because I wish I wrote most of the first 7 songs here, if you don’t have this you can pick it up cheaply for about £8
, thanks.

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