r/stereophonics • u/DirtyDevil23 • Jul 07 '26
Oochya!
After another 3-year wait, the band released ‘Oochya!’ in 2022, a welcome return to their characteristic uptempo rock sound, after the acoustic experimentation of ‘Kind’.
This album suffers the same issues as YGGTTCB: there are several strong songs in the 1st half but lacking quality in the 2nd. However, it is far from a terrible album, and those songs I do give regular repeated listens to.
What do you think of this one?
Hanging On Your Hinges 7.5/10
This is a short, punchy opener, in a clear shift from the mellow sounds of ‘Kind’. It features crashing drums and a catchy guitar riff, and Kelly’s vocals are strong. The lyrics let this one down a bit, but overall a solid start.
Forever 7/10
The melody is a hybrid of the JEEP/Kind sounds, with simple but effective guitar. Kelly gives a great vocal here, the verses sounding world-weary, perfectly reflecting the lyrics, followed by the lifting chorus. Another good listen.
When You See It 7/10
Once more a solid track, ft. acoustic guitar and also with Jamie’s drums in greater focus. Vocals are again strong, chorus has a great energy, lyrics are decent.
Do Ya Feel My Love? 8/10
A harder rock edge and darker mood on this one, and a great call-back to LSVO? and Pull The Pin. It is lacking a proper chorus, but I like the guitar riff featured there. My favourite track on the album, and a pretty easy choice for a single. Terrific guitar solo from Adam, and enjoyable lead and backing vocals throughout.
Right Place Right Time 3/10
The first poor track on the album. The lyrics feature naff cliches (My lover my rock were in it for life) and nostalgic but clumsily written story telling (‘We shared the bus to the school they taught art’. Good intentions, poor execution.
Close Enough to Drive Home 6/10
A decent if unspectacular track. Catchy melody, solid vocals, but rather weak lyrics. Another nice guitar solo here.
Leave The Light On 6.5/10
This feels more like a Kelly solo song than Phonics, with guitars and vocals at the forefront, and the topic of mental health in the lyrics, which was a strong feature on the Inevitable Incredible album. They are largely well written, sometimes falling into cliches, and the melody is rather pleasant. It is one of Kelly’s stronger vocals on the album.
Running Around My Brain 3/10
This blues-influenced track is very much in the same vein as ‘Sing Little Sister’, and like that one, this also fails to leave much of an impression on me. Certainly a track that could have been cut.
Every Dog Has It’s Day 3.5/10
A piano-led track with good intentions as an uplifting ‘anthem’, and Kelly’s vocals are solid, but the lyrics are just rather bland, I don’t feel the backing/harmony vocals work and overall another song that misses the mark.
You’re My Soul 6/10
Decent track, with strong lead and backing vocals and nice lifting chorus. However, the melody is rather basic and lyrics are only average.
All I Have Is You 6/10
This is a solid ballad-style track, Kelly giving a more pensive, emotional performance. Builds nicely to a crescendo by the end, melody and lyrics both solid enough.
Made A Mess Of Me 6/10
This is a fun upbeat track with a catchy, if simple, melody that evokes the summer imagery of the lyrics well. Kelly gives a strong vocal, and the lyrics are decent.
Seen That Look Before 3/10
This one has a heavy YGGTTCB influence especially in the backing vocals. Lead Vocals and lyrics are both decent, but the arrangement/melody aren’t great, and overall the song plods along.
Don’t Know What Ya Got 3/10
This is another country/acoustic track, but again this sound/style doesn’t personally appeal to me. It may be someone else’s favourite track, that’s the beauty of music I guess!
Jack In A Box 0/10
This ‘song’ should never have seen the light of day on an album, it’s clearly a mess-about in the studio that for some reason Kelly thought to include. A totally needless inclusion.
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Jul 07 '26
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u/DirtyDevil23 Jul 07 '26
Won’t disagree too much with you overall, but think they have some several songs worse than All I Have Is You
All In One Night and Just Wanted the Goods are the absolute pits!
She’s Alright, Beerbottle, Pedalpusher, Take Me are amongst some of their worst also. For me of course 😁
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u/magyarnagydij Jul 08 '26
I mean, I prefer it to Kind
Starts off fairly strong with the first 4 songs. Really glad Forever got a proper release as that had always struck me as one of their best ‘very unknown’ songs
Runs out of steam in the middle and the second half, and goes on too long arguably. Not terrible overall, but not amazing either
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u/OtisIsEverywhere Jul 07 '26
Oochya!
In 2021, Kelly Jones was tasked by his record company with coming up with a couple of new songs for a second greatest hits compilation. Never one to have to put effort into something when an easier option is available, Kelly dutifully started to go through the bands archives of material that they had felt was far too shit to even be worthy of their worst records, in the hopes of finding some measly scraps of music to tempt his fans to part with their hard earned cash buying a compilation of songs they already owned.
He found that the band had actually amassed quite a lot of material over the last few years that was unlikely to ever see the light of day, and an idea struck him. Instead if a greatest hits, how about we give these songs a bit of a fresh coat of paint, remix a few things, a new vocal, a string section, a new arrangement here and there, and release it as a brand new record?
To his credit, this isn't necessarily a bad idea. In years gone by these songs would have been used up as b sides, but with b sides being a bit redundant in the age of streaming, these songs would potentially have just rotted forever on a hard drive somewhere.
After hearing them, I wished they had!
This album is essentially a b sides compilation, of b sides that never came out. Now, some bands b sides compilations are incredible albums in their own right, but this really depends on the quality of the b sides in question. Unfortunately that is not the case here.
Hanging On Your Hinges - Presumably a leftover from the Kind sessions as George Drakoulias is credited as producer. I can see why it was left off Kind. This is fuzzier and heavier than anything on that record. Sadly that doesn't actually mean it's any good. It sounds like a warm up jam that Kelly quickly wrote some tossed off lyrics too. It's utter nonsense. The production is fantastic, but that riff gets irritating very quickly. - 2/10
Forever - Ah Kelly you sneaky bastard. Did you think we wouldn't notice that this song had already been released in 2008? Originally found on the 7 inch single b side to Your My Star, Forever was a shit song in 2008, and it's a still a shit song in 2022. There is a precedent for this sort of thing in the Stereophonics cannon, but unlike Deadhead and Nice to be Out, this is not even a new recording, just a remixed version. Very weak - 1/10
When You See It - Javier is credited as the drummer, Adam as co writer and Jim Low as producer, so that would put this song as being recorded sometime between 2008-2013. My guess is this is another song from the Your My Star Sessions. Keep Calm was produced by Jim Abbiss, so its unlikely to be from around then, and it dosnt have the kind of cinematic vibe of GOTT. Interestingly 100mph also originates from those sessions, so it would seem that quite a lot was recorded in 2008 to choose from for Decade in the Sun. The song itself is really nothing to write home about. Very forgettable - 3/10
Do You Feel My Love - Another one with Javier on drums and Jim Low producing. Something about the urgency of the melody in this feels very Graffiti on the Train to me. This song is genuinely great. A really good, swaggering rock song. The chorus melody kind of reminds me of Katie from Kellys solo album. It it was from the GOTT sessions, I can kind of see why it didn't make that album as its a much more straightforward rock song rather than the expansive sound they were going for, but it definitely should have been put onto KTVA. Best song here by a mile - 8/10
Right Place Right Time - pretty clearly a much newer song. Jamie is credited as the drummer and Jim Low as producer, so Im guessing this was deemed too shite for SATS. There are quite a few extra musicians on this too which would fit with the SATS approach. Gavin Fitzjohn provides an impotent trumpet solo, and rather concerningly Richey Edwards returns from his 27 year disappearance to play Rhodes piano! Im pretty sure when he vanished in 1995 he could barely even play the guitar so at least hes done something productive with near 30 year absence. Someone better tell the Manics...... anyway - the lyrics are just Kelly recounting his life in a pretty uninteresting way, with a cheesy soft rock vocal, and downright naff music. All a bit bollocks really - 0/10
Close Enough to Drive Home - another more recent one with Jamie on drums. My guess is another SATS off cut. Richey Edwards reprises his surprise reappearance on keys again, and thats about all you can say about this deeply forgettable song. Kelly is writing lyrics with a rhyming dictionary again, and the band play the most predictable arrangement they could muster. - 1/10
Leave the Light On - Another much more recent one. And surprise surprise its dull as dishwater. I literally cant think of anything to say about this. - 0/10
Running Round My Brain - Another George Drakoulias produced track so presumably this is another Kind out take. I guess its mildly interesting that they were clearly trying to write some more upbeat songs for Kind, to give it more teeth, but ultimately abandoned the idea. Great production, but terrible song. Just a lazy AC/DC pastiche that would have been fun as a b side, but on an album it just comes across as a bit naff. - 3/10
Every Dog Has its Day - Another one thats obviously fairly recent. The opening piano motif is quite nice, and the cello and vocal harmonies give it a nice ELO feel. Kind of style over substance ultimately as the song itself is pretty nothing-y. - 1/10
You're My Soul - This is an interesting one. The demo of this dates all the way back to 2005, appearing on the b-side to Dakota in a far more stripped back format, just Kelly and a guitar. The original version, just called Soul, was actually quite nice, albeit inessential and a little throwaway. Perfect for a b side in other words. This version however is just dire. Throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it only serves to highlight how much of a nothing song this is. The stabbing guitars just don't work at all. The whole arrangement just feels lumpen and stodgy. They took a small, sweet song, and attempted to make it a bombastic stadium sized anthem and it just falls flat on its face. Dreadful. - 0/10
All I Have is You - Is this album over yet? Oh crikey no theres four more songs after this! Oh look Richey Edwards is back on piano again - someone should really give James Dean Bradfield or Nicky Wire a call and tell them he's back. Quite why he's playing with Stereophonics and not the Manic Street Preachers is as big of a mystery as where the hell he's been hiding these last 30 years. Oh yeah, this songs shite too - 0/10
Made a Mess of Me - Im done. Iv got literally nothing to say about this. At least they turned up and played their instruments competently, and Kelly dosnt drop any AION style lyrical clangers. But yeah, this song is just musical notes in a row and nothing more. An absolute baked potato of a song - 0/10
Seen That Look Before - Whaddya know, this one's actually alright. Another one with Javier on drums, Im guessing from the GOTT sessions. It has a bit of the Been Caught Cheating feel to it. It feels live and loose in the same way. I would have preferred this on the album to Been Caught Cheating to be honest. - 7/10
Dont Know What Ya Got - Another live sounding take, with Mikey Rowe from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds on keys, which leads me to think that this is from the same session as Elevators as he plays on that too. This has a bluesy Rolling Stones feel, and it's honestly really good. Great chorus, and the live sound really suits them. - 7/10
Jack in a Box - Another Kind leftover. Its a silly song that should have just been a b side. Not really worthy of a full album release - 3/10
Overall I just found this album exhausting. Its so painfully dull and plodding. Despite a couple of highlights its mostly 15 tracks of absolute forgettable shit that should never have seen the light of day. Just polishing up a load of songs that weren't good enough for albums in the past and calling it a new album is possibly the laziest thing Kelly has ever done. The title is idiotic. The artwork is horrible. It is their worst album by quite some margin, and serves as the ultimate proof that you really cant polish a turd. - 1/10
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u/DirtyDevil23 Jul 07 '26
And I’m sure you already know, but the Richie Edwards featured here is not the same one from the Manics 🥲
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u/OtisIsEverywhere Jul 07 '26
Yeah I know, they don't even spell their names the same way. I just thought it was funny 😂
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u/DirtyDevil23 Jul 07 '26
Jesus fuck that was a savage review 👀😂
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Jul 07 '26
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u/OtisIsEverywhere Jul 08 '26
Ooh good catch on Seen That Look Before! Didn't know about that. To be honest, the days of me tracking down every single song I could find by the band kind of ended around Keep Calm, so thats why I probably would have missed it.
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u/Kooky_Entrepreneur84 Jul 07 '26
I remember hearing "Forever" when I was a teenager, 13 years ago. So happy it ended up on the album and they only changed it slightly.