Stereophonics - 'Decade In The Sun' (Mercury) Released 10/11/08

Stereophonics are one of British music’s unsung heroes. A somewhat continually battling brigade against the most cynical and unashamedly brutal public.  To make it to the point of a greatest hits for any band from the 90s has become somewhat of a difficult feat. So it comes as even more surprise to those musical misanthropists that Stereophonics have surged back once more with an array of twenty hit singles making up this perceived ‘best of’.

A somewhat odd title to give considering it is basically a tarted up singles collection with a couple of new tracks thrown in to satisfy the most zealous of fans. Best of it might not be - it still packs one hell of a punch.

The album also comes as somewhat of a relief to those who have questioned the band’s stability over the years - especially following the fallout of the firing of original drummer Stuart Cable. It seems fitting then that this collection opens with their return to the scene at that time with 2005’s number 1 smash ‘Dakota’. Five of the band’s six studio albums reached the same heights in the UK charts and material is humbly borrowed from all.

After just a few songs it becomes evident just how diverse the album is. The tracks don’t fit perfectly comfortably alongside one another and gives an impression of battling for supremacy – not a bad problem to have. Perhaps a chronological ordering would have had the same variety effect with a fluency of a great record. There are raw strident moments with ‘Bartender and The Thief’ and new track ‘My Own Worst Enemy’. The stadium filling sounds of ‘Just Looking’ and ‘Vegas Two Times’ and melancholy grace from ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ and ‘Traffic’. The songs bounce from genre to genre and certainly satisfy all cravings.

There are a couple of problems though. The lacklustre monotony of ‘It Means Nothing’ could have been overlooked for better material form recent LP ‘Pull The Pin’. ‘Bank Holiday Monday’ would have been a fine choice, or if the band were aiming for a more personal moment then material from 2003’s ‘You Gotta Go There To Come Back’ would have been suffice - as it contains some of Kelly’s most soulful and private compositions.

‘Superman’ has been bizarrely edited with around a minute of the original track eliminated. A pointless task considering the album is twenty tracks long so one extra minute surely wouldn’t harm. New single ‘You’re My Star’ is also unfortunately not without it’s problems. It fails to resonate as purely as in it’s live form and overproduction has tainted a potentially hit single. This is nit picking to a certain degree of course but we do want a greatest hits to be great.

Speaking with Kelly Jones a week ago I got a greater understanding of the album’s importance and role to the band. He explained: “We do a show in America and they think our career started from ‘Dakota’ and some from ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ - from the ‘Crash’ movie, and they don’t realise there’s 4 albums before that. We’re proud of that back catalogue. This is a way of getting it back out there and reintroducing it for us to then kick off with new records again.”

This album would certainly suit those curious to gain an insight into the band’s history before shelling out pounds or should I say dollars for the rest of the back catalogue. So, for all its little niggling problems it is still a satisfying end to this chapter in the band’s career. It could and possibly should have come out around the time of their live album in 2006, but we will take this just as openly. Roll up and shine for the next decade in the sun.