Stereophonics

Word Gets Around in 1997 established a writing style attentive to people and their surroundings. Local Boy in the Photograph and A Thousand Trees are useful introductions to that early world. The guitar arrangements have momentum, yet the voice keeps a story at the centre. The songs feel observed before they feel enlarged.

Performance and Cocktails followed in 1999 with a broader set of memorable hooks. The Bartender and the Thief brings a quicker, more abrasive energy, while Just Looking lets the melody work over a steadier pulse. The difference between them shows how the band can change its pace while retaining an unmistakable centre of gravity.

Just Enough Education to Perform in 2001 gives the quieter side more room, including Have a Nice Day and Handbags and Gladrags. The latter is an interpretation rather than an original band composition, and its place in the catalogue shows how much identity Jones’s delivery can bring to existing material. Later, Dakota in 2005 gives the sound a renewed rhythmic drive and a chorus that opens out with unusual ease. The familiar singles make a good route into the albums, but the slower songs reveal another part of the appeal. Hear how the band settles beneath the vocal, or how a slight hesitation changes the meaning of a phrase. The large arrangements work because the individual voice and the concrete emotional detail remain within reach.