Stereophonics

“KEEP THE VILLAGE ALIVE”

Ignition Records

Like Travis, it seemed Stereophonics couldn’t write a bad song in the early 2000s. For one of those bands, that tradition has continued up to present day with the release of “Keep the Village Alive,” the second in a now-mooted trilogy that will apparently end here. Too bad, too, because there’s an impressive yield of ace tracks from the hand of the always-reliable Kelly Jones.

Thing is, you usually know what you’re going to get with this Welsh lot and yet they never make the same record twice. There’s something familiar about the opening “C’est La Vie” and the string-laden ballad “My Hero” (an endlessly memorable number tailor-made for the live setting — try not waving your mobile phone in time with this one) and yet they sound as fresh as anything the Phonics have done in the entirety of their career. They sound of the time when we first came to know the lads and yet up-to-date or even from a moment or two in the future. Witness “White Lies,” with its ebullient bass figures, soaring guitars and fist-waving builds. It’s the kind of thing you would have heard on the radio sometime around 1999 and yet you never quite feel that it’s old hat. Instead, it’s like coming home to a friend you haven’t seen in some time.

And, yeah, you’ll be thrown back to the golden age of Stone Roses by “Sing Little Sister,” a track that nods — perhaps unintentionally — to that less prolific outfit. You’ll also be reminded of Faces and others with the gorgeous “Sunny” and the folk-tinged “Into The World.” But these cats have established themselves strongly — you can’t mistake these tunes for having come anywhere else but from the mouth of the Stereophonics.

— Jedd Beaudoin,

PopMatters.com