Ten years in,
Stereophonics sound appropriately settled on their sixth album, 2007's
Pull the Pin. Then again,
Stereophonics were never the liveliest of
rock bands even in their youth. They beat out the likes of
Travis to be perhaps the stodgiest of all the post-
Oasis bands, aspiring to nothing more than being a solid stadium
rock band, borrowing some of the sweeping sonics of
U2 but relying more on the revivalism of
Oasis with a slight hint of the epic scale of fellow Welsh rockers
Manic Street Preachers.
Stereophonics soldiered through album after album, aided considerably on their march to popularity by the cinema star good looks of guitarist/vocalist/all-around nice guy
Kelly Jones, who was undeniably attractive in photos but not quite forceful on record. Nowhere is that soft center in sharper relief than on
Pull the Pin, which sounds bigger and slicker than anything they've ever done -- a large-scale album suited for their large popularity in the U.K. -- but
Jones seems to be carried along by the sound instead of driving it. It's not as much that he's overwhelmed as he is...settled.
Stereophonics have achieved the maturity they've aspired to all these many years, easily mimicking
Oasis on
"Bank Holiday Monday" while they wash out
Nirvana and mellow out
the Manics elsewhere, turning out music that's louder than
Coldplay (or even
Travis' 2007 album) but feels less
rock & roll, as everything here is immaculately manicured and manipulated; it's a stadium
rock album in form, but not sound. As the trio are professionals -- something they've always planned to be -- this is hardly bad but it sure sounds as if the band has gone out of their way to be inoffensive to all audiences...which is pretty remarkable given that there are songs that explicitly confront the London bombings of 7/7. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
