Performance and Cocktails - Stereophonics (1999)

Performance and Cocktails is the second album by Cardiff outfit Stereophonics. Released in 1999, it came two years after their successful debut album Word Gets Around. Word Gets Around kickstarted Stereophonics’ rapid rise to fame with the group winning a BRIT Award for Best New Artist in 1998. The album also had five accompanying singles, with ‘Local Boy in the Photograph’ being released twice (in 1997 and 1998) reaching 14 in the UK singles charts. The band in 1999 consisted of vocalist and guitarist Kelly Jones, bassist Richard Jones (no relation) and drummer Stuart Cable. The group would remain a three-piece until 2007’s Pull the Pin where they added rhythm guitarist Adam Zindani who has since remained in the band. Performance and Cocktails initially received mixed reviews with many critics raving about specific singles rather than the album. Despite this, the album was a commercial success selling nearly 120,000 copies in its first week and has since been certified 5x platinum in the UK. Stereophonics went on to headline Reading and Leeds Festival in 2000 and Glastonbury in 2002 after the release of their best-selling album Just Enough Education to Perform in 2001.

Performance and Cocktails opens with ‘Roll Up and Shine’, a perfect example of the post-Britpop sound that Stereophonics explore and pioneer on this record. The song also contains the lyric “performance and cocktails” and thus where they got the album name. Stereophonics' post-Britpop sound is apparent throughout this album, on some tracks more than others. This characteristic can be perceived as both a positive and a negative. One of the major criticisms of this record was its overt similarity to Oasis. This comparison is hard to deny. Nevertheless, this similarity can also be inspiration rather than a ripping-off of Oasis. Tracks like ‘Pick a Part That’s New’, ‘Is Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today?’ and ‘A Minute Longer’ all express this Britpop influence in slightly different ways. ‘Is Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today?’ is a more soulful, heartfelt track but still features the huge distorted guitar in the chorus and bridge as well as Kelly Jones’s soaring vocals. The similarities to Oasis lie in the big guitar sound and the grainy vocals by Jones. Saying this, Jones can pull back on the vocals, such as in the chorus of ‘Is Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today?’ where the tone is a lot quieter. The blend of the delicate guitar picking gives a much softer timbre than anything Oasis ever made.

Performance and Cocktails is the perfect example of Stereophonics’ ability to mix delicate guitar and vocal performances with big chorus’. ‘Just Looking’, ‘Hurry Up and Wait’ and ‘Plastic California’ does this perfectly. ‘Just Looking’ starts with an intricate guitar lick, introduces some vocals, then the drums and bass, all building towards this crescendo that is, the chorus. ‘Plastic California’ is Stereophonics’ version of ‘Slide Away’, a track late in the album but still epitomises everything that the group is about. The instruments are pleasantly overpowering and prove to everyone that this group have quality oozing out of every song and not just the singles.

The stand-out tracks for me are ‘Bartender and the Thief’, ‘I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio’ and ‘Just Looking’. Special mention also goes to ‘Hurry Up and Wait’ and ‘Pick a Part That’s New’ since the former is also one of my favourite Stereophonics tracks, and the latter is a relatively consistent live track. ‘Bartender and the Thief’ was the first single released off Performance and Cocktails and, along with ‘Vegas Two Time’ (off Just Enough Education to Perform), are the reason I listen to Stereophonics. The song features some excellent guitar playing by Jones right from the off and has a faster tempo than the rest of the songs off Performance and Cocktails. The layered nature of this track makes it so enjoyable, and the fact that all that noise is coming from three people makes it even more astounding. ‘I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio’ is the track I kept going back to on this record. A song that is a staple in live sets along with ‘Bartender and the Thief’ but for different reasons. It is more tuneful and much like ‘Hurry Up and Wait’, focuses more on the textures in the song rather than the big Britpop sound. ‘Just Looking’ I enjoy for the reasons above but also because it is a Stereophonics classic – can you say you are a fan if you do not like that track? Performance and Cocktails is an essential British rock record and bridges the gap between Britpop and 2000s indie rock. Stereophonics are often overlooked, in my humble opinion, for having a few lacklustre records in recent times. However, people need to remember the greats from a great British band, this album being one of them.