Stereophonics - 'You Gotta Go There To Come Back' (V2)
2/5
By: Thomas Hannan
It's a dangerous position to be in. Stereophonics know that whatever they release, the only foreseeable outcome is that it will sell millions. And why shouldn't it? After all, regardless of your opinion of them, it's undeniable that the Stereophonics have written some truly great, at times era-defining, songs. So, they've got a right to feel comfortable. But there lies the danger.
Yet 'You Gotta Go There To Come Back' isn't so much a comfortable album as it is a complacent one. We've come to accept that they'll never be known for moving forward in musical innovation, Stereophonics do what they do and little else, but up until now, they've done a brilliant job of getting what they can from it. This, their fourth LP, doesn't stay in one place, and neither does it revisit old styles. There is a change of tactics here to an extent, an obvious pride in its back-to-basics approach, but whilst a different direction is always useful for keeping people on their toes, it has to be said, they've chosen a pretty strange one. It's a retreat back to an almost embryonic state, where the songs are safe, predictable and bafflingly self-assured.
If anything, 'Word Gets Around' (their rather fine debut) was a much more accomplished record. If 'You Gotta Go There To Come Back' was their first effort, it'd be much easier to look upon it with more lenience. But for a fourth album, when your back catalogue is so inarguably strong, it comes as something of a disappointment... Why the need to play everything so secure? For one of Britain's most popular bands of recent years, they owe themselves more than this.
It's got hang-ups about 70s Glam Rock, but without any of the glamour, or indeed, much rock to its name. Recent top-five single 'Madame Helga' and a penultimate high-energy 'High as the Ceiling' are the closest we get to the 'Phonics breaking a sweat. For the most part, it's over-glorified acoustic toe-tappers that too often suffer from that old 'over production' demon. The album screams for some outside influence, but as it is, it's very much the Kelly Jones show, every track written, sung and produced by the man himself. If he wanted to prove he could produce, then mission accomplished, but every note is recorded to such perfection that it lacks any of the lovable grit and guts that made them exciting in the first place. 'Rainbows & Pots of Gold' could have been quite a heartfelt tune if it wasn't for the lashings of strings and vocal effects pasted on top of it, and at times, with the likes of 'I Miss You Now' and 'Since I Told You It's Over' completing the huge let-down that is the closing third of this record, there's the impression that even the band know deep down they really should have done better ('Jealousy's plodding drawl even sounds somewhat bored with itself).
The most depressing thing about it isn't the music; it's the fact that this is the sound of one of our truly great bands seemingly just losing the passion for the job. It's made even more crushing by the high points of the record, the saving grace of an excellent stand-out 'Getaway' and forthcoming single 'Maybe Tomorrow' putting everything else it contains to shame. That's what's most infuriating - they can still cut it, if only they wanted to. If you really do have to go there to come back, then the Stereophonics can't come back soon enough.
Artists in this article: Stereophonics
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