Stereophonics / Radio Birdman Reviews

The last week has been quite intense for research so unfortunately I haven't updated my blog as regularly as I would like. However, I'm still consuming new music and searching for the right words to describe it. In the next week I will review the new MUSE album 'Black holes and revelations which I'm really enjoying at the moment, so look out for that one. In the meantime, I have included two reviews submitted to the Otago Daily Times recently and will post a blog about my experience with feral cats, skinks and an art-park shortly.

The Stereophonics: Live from Dakota


After five studio albums the Stereophonics release the obligatory live album to complement the recently released DVD. Hot on the heals of the often excellent Language, Sex, Violence, Other? this double album features 20 tracks distilled from the 2005 tour. Contrary to the title ‘Live from Dakota’, each track on the album has been selected by the band as the best performance of that song from the tour.

Once upon a time, live albums allowed bands to stretch out with rambling jams that rarely reflected the studio tracks. Sometimes they were even afforded the luxury to cover obscure favourites and engage in friendly banter with the audience. This album has little of that. Instead you get all the hits sandwiched between a few lesser-known gems; a best of package sequenced for portable music devices. This is a pity, as the sound for the most part is huge. Kelly Jones’s gravely voice never misses a beat, belting melodically over the classic tone of his Gibson guitars. The rhythm section of Richard Jones and Javier Weyler are fantastically tight amounting to quite an impressive racket for just three musicians.

Crowd appreciation comes to the fore in the mix, often providing backing vocals to support Jones during the quieter moments. Yes, the Stereophonics have an extremely solid fan base and this album encapsulates the intimate relationship that the trio on stage have with the hoards in front of them. Opening track Superman is a cracker with a cutting guitar solo that will no doubt have bedroom air guitar aficionado’s jumping off their air monitors. There is a cool segue way into Motorhead’s Ace of Spades during The bartender and the thief and encore track Dakota rounds disc two off nicely.

Live from Dakota is essentially a gift from the band to their fans to commemorate the very successful 2005 tour. It is raw (just as it should be), there are no overdubs and the mistakes are intact. Existing fans will love it and to those who haven’t discovered the Stereophonics brand of rock n roll; this would be a fine introduction.

Rating: 3 stars.

Radio Birdman: Zeno Beach

Fans of Radio Birdman must have been salivating over the prospect of a new release from a band that last released an album of original material 25 years ago. A pioneer of Aussie Punk, this release by four of the original members of Radio Birdman is straightforward rock-n-roll, Sydney bar-band style. However, if you didn’t warm to their sound the first time around, then chances are Zeno Beach will not create seismic waves in 2006. Not that Zeno Beach is full of sour notes; it’s just a tad mediocre.

Rob Younger’s vocals are an acquired taste, less punk, more new-romantic. Performance wise, the remaining band including You Am I drummer Russell Hopkinson, are probably tighter than ever. But, the opening tracks are stacked full of perfunctory riffs that seem to plod along at zimmer-frame pace. This is a pity as the tracks improve as the album progresses. For instance, ‘Locked Up’ (track 11) is an absolute stormer, a Stooges inspired discordant fuzz-fest that gives away to some frantic fretwork that fully grooves. Similarly, the next track ‘The Brotherhood of Al Wazah’ is quite hypnotic with a vocal delivery borrowed from Jordan Luck. The melodic goods are delivered by way of a stripped back bass/keyboard interlude in the bridge.

Unfortunately, the opening track, ‘We’ve come so far (to be here today’; which probably carries untold sentiment for the reunited Radio Birdman, equates to nothing more than filler. Surely the euphoria of a new release should sound more uplifting? After 25 years there must have been more than a few goods songs waiting for the re-assembled Radio Birdman treatment, the evidence presented here would suggest only five.

Rating: 2.5 stars.