Track Listing

1. Vegas Two Times
2. Lying in the Sun
3. Mr. Writer
4. Step on My Old Size Nines
5. Have a Nice Day
6. Nice to Be Out
7. Watch Them Fly Sundays
8. Everyday I Think of Money
9. Maybe
10. Caravan Holiday
11. Rooftop

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #141891 in Music
• Released on: 2001-04-17
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Three albums in, and Stereophonics have written their first truly mature work, Just Enough Education to Perform. While the Welsh trio's first two albums were blighted by the occasional spot of facile pub-rock tub-thumping, which served only to dilute Kelly Jones's emotive laments into ear candy, Just Enough Education to Perform evokes the ragged croak of early Rod Stewart or the world-weary country lament of Neil Young without feeling the need to unnecessarily embellish its content. It's not all good: the album's first single, "Mr. Writer"--a stab at dismissive music journalists--is, ironically, petulant and unwieldy, spoiled by Jones's clunky lyric: "You've just enough, in my own view, education to perform/ I'd like to shoot you all." Far more successful are the simple semi-acoustic readings of "Nice to Be Out", "Step on My Old Size Nines," and "Lying in the Sun," which prove that, stripped down, Jones can match most singer-songwriters of an alt-country persuasion without breaking into a sweat. By this time in their career, Oasis began losing themselves in bland bombast and a fog of hollow guitar solos; to their credit, on Just Enough Education to Perform, Stereophonics do not let fame cloud the clarity of the record's meaning. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

Classic American Rock from Britain
In February, 2002, a small group of us traveled to Ireland. Although Stereophonics hadn't been getting airplay in the U.S., I had heard a lot of them on a British Internet station, and liked what I heard. Once we arrived in Dublin, I soon realized how huge they were in the U.K. and Ireland. Several songs off their new album, 'Just Enough Education to Perform,' were being played alot on the radio over there.

As the end of our trip approached, I started scouring music stores, looking for the version of the CD with the bonus track (the terrific Rod Stewart ballad, 'Handbags and Gladrags'), since I doubted that I could get this version back in the states. Finally, I found a copy and brought it home to Boston with me.

What I can't understand is why this band hasn't been more of a success in the U.S. Even though the band is British, Stereophonics has a truly American sound. The opening track, 'Vegas Two Times,' is a crunching number that brings to mind The Black Crowes, while the beautiful 'Step on My Old Size Nines' is something you might hear while driving past the wheat fields on a warm summer night in the Midwest. One note: Don't miss the hidden track after 'Rooftop.' It is a soaring piece of guitar rock that is actually one of the best songs on the entire CD. The hook at the end of the song is truly memorable, and is a great way to end a great album.

Sure, there are a few forgettable tunes here, most of which are toward the end of the album. 'Everyday I Think of Money' and 'Maybe' are clearly not of the same quality as the first seven songs on the CD. Overall, though, this is an album that should alert American radio stations that rock is not dead; indeed, it is alive and well. You just have to fly across the pond to hear it.

-Marc Hurwitz

The next album may well decide their fate
On the Stereophonics debut album, Word Gets Around, they achieved a winning combination of powerful, tuneful, hook-laden rock and striking lyrics that gave a glimpse into the lives of real, working class people in the UK. This wasn't grand politics, but stories drawn from real life. The problem with this winning approach is that, if successful, the artist inevitably removes himself from the very envirnoment from which his inspiration was drawn. He is then left to sing about his new environment and we are given a pile of songs about being on the road, being a rock star, and occassionally a glimpse back to the old ground, but now as it is seen from afar. The most striking example of this decline of muse can be found in one Bruce Springsteen. The Stereophonics appear to be headed down the same road. The imagery and lyrical impact are nearly absent from this, their third album. The music still sounds pretty darn good, though, and that can't be completely discounted. The album opens with a crunchy hard rocker, but then settles into a mellower, mid-tempo groove that is really quite winning. This could be the turning point for Stereophonics. Musically, they are still sounding pretty good. Lyrically, they are lost in the hotels and airports of their new life. The next album may well decide their fate.

Different but as Solid as their other Albums
J.E.E.P. is a softer, mellower album from the Sterophonics. Kelly Jones's voice is just as powerful--raspy in that earnest way of his--and the lyrics are, for the most part, just as compelling (except for the lyrics of "Mr. Writer" where Kelly says he wants to shoot all his critics--that was a bit much). I usually skip the first and last songs of the album and play the rest of it through. Particularly good are "Lying in the Sun", "Step on My Old Size Nines", "Nice to Be Out", "Everyday I think of Money" and "Caravan Holiday". Of course, that's almost the whole album right there!

Some people have been disappointed with this album because it doesn't have as much "energy and rawness" to it as their previous two. While that's true, these critics must think that any change is a bad one. I disagree. This is a slower more thoughtful album, and it shines because of it.