You Gotta Go There To Come Back

Though it might seem unlikely now, there was a time when the Stereophonics were quite the toast of the critical town. The arrival of their often magnificent Word Gets Around debut seemed to offer many things, not least a band who could combine stadium anthems with an almost poetical lyrical eye, who could rock as hard as AC/DC yet realised there was more to songwriting than just rhyming honey with money. The press loved them and the punters too. Since then however, one of those relationships has blossomed while the other has soured beyond belief. Not that the Stereophonics make records for Mr Writer and his pals, as much of this fourth album certainly proves. The song titles alone would seem to invite the critics to get ready with their pot shots – ‘Madame Helga’, ‘High As The Ceiling’, ‘Rainbows And Pots Of Gold’ and, oh dear, ‘You Stole My Money Honey’. If this suggests a bunch of ham fisted, ’70s-inspired rock then you wouldn’t be far from the truth. Much of You Gotta Go There To Come Back is pretty wretched, uninspired and uninspiring in equal turns, worryingly short on the kind of songwriting suss that initially marked them out. Jones’ voice is buried suspiciously low in the mix and when he does raise his head above the parapet, lines such as “One, two three, four, five/Once I drank a fish alive” do not exactly match his evocative earlier work. Yet it’s not quite the whole story, as there are enough glimmers of hope to suggest that they could possibly still have a few surprises up their sleeves. Most come when the trio ditch the bluster and discover a previously unheard lightness of touch. ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ has a relaxed, summery vibe; ‘Climbing The Wall’ an almost Badly Drawn Boy feel. ‘Getaway’, meanwhile, sees them adopt a positively modern approach completely at odds with their erstwhile Rolling Stones fixations. It’s more than enough proof that the Stereophonics could be magnificent once more if Kelly Jones could just get round to delivering them a few more magnificent songs.