''Keep the Village Alive'' is the ninth studio album by Welsh

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Stereophonics Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Wales. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (bass guitar, harmonica, backing vocals), Adam Zind ...

. Released on 11 September 2015, it was produced by lead singer and guitarist Kelly Jones, along with Jim Lowe. It is intended to be the second of two album volumes, with its predecessor ''

Graffiti on the Train ''Graffiti on the Train'' is the eighth studio album by Welsh rock band Stereophonics. Produced by the group's lead-singer and guitarist Kelly Jones and Jim Lowe, it was released on 4 March 2013 on their own Stylus Records. It was the first St ...

'' being the first. It is the first album to feature

Jamie Morrison Jamie Morrison (born 30 June 1983) is a British musician and producer from Scotland, best known as the drummer in Welsh band the Stereophonics. He is also known for his playing with Noisettes, Drewford Alabama and Ninjas & Wolves. Biography I ...

, who joined during the production of ''Graffiti on the Train'' in 2012. ''Keep the Village Alive'' was met with a similar positive response as ''Graffiti on the Train'' and topped the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, becoming the band's first to do so since ''

Pull the Pin ''Pull the Pin'' is the sixth studio album by Welsh rock band Stereophonics, released by V2 in the UK on 12 October 2007. A Stereophonics newsletter released the ''Pull the Pin'' album artwork to subscribers. The cover was also shown to Myspa ...

'' (2007).

Background

During the writing process for the band's previous album ''

'' (2013), Kelly Jones had written 40 song ideas, 30 of which were recorded and completed. With the intention of releasing an album trilogy, the band decided against this idea after

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

released their ''

¡Uno! ''¡Uno!'' (stylized in all caps) is the ninth studio album by American rock band Green Day, released on September 21, 2012, by Reprise Records. It is the first of three albums in the ''¡Uno!'', ''¡Dos!'', ''¡Tré!'' trilogy, a series of stud ...

¡Dos! ¡Tré!'' series, instead planning to release another album with ten songs. Tracks from these sessions were included in ''Keep the Village Alive'', though these track names are not stated. Stereophonics had finished their

Graffiti on the Train Tour The Graffiti on the Train Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band Stereophonics. The band have played at festivals as well as their own shows while on the tour. It was the band's first tour without drummer Javier Weyler, who was replaced ...

on 28 November 2013 and in late February 2014 they went into the studio to start working on the album.

Writing and recording

Speaking about " I Wanna Get Lost With You", Kelly Jones mentioned the track is about "wanting to lose yourself personally, and lose yourself with somebody, and then just literally get out there." Jones came up with the melody for "Song for the Summer" while sleeping in the studio after listening to another track for half a day. The next day he wrote the lyrics in a short time and it took 45 minutes to record. Jones approved the album for mass production on 22 June 2015.

Promotion and release

After the band decided against the album trilogy, the following album was due to be released some point between the release of ''Graffiti on the Train'' and January 2014. Kelly Jones tweeted in late September 2014 that the album had been mixed and was to be released in autumn 2015 and have new songs released in May. True to their word, it was later announced in May 2015 that a new song ("C'est la Vie") would be released a day later and the album on 11 September 2015. This harkens back to when Stereophonics' studio albums were released every two years from '' Word Gets Around'' (1997) to ''

Keep Calm and Carry On ''Keep Calm and Carry On'' was a motivational poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predi ...

'' (2009). Between the final mix and lead single release, the band played the opening night of the Teenage Cancer Trust 2015 concert – during this they debuted three new songs from this album: "C'est la Vie", "Song for the Summer" and "I Wanna Get Lost With You". On 17 July

Gigwise ''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in London, England. History Gigwise was launched in 2001 ...

announced the next single from the album would be "I Wanna Get Lost With You" and they would have an exclusive showing of the band's music video for it on 20 July; a trailer for the video was released on the day of announcement.

Singles

The lead-single from the album, "C'est la Vie", was first played on ''

The Chris Evans Breakfast Show ''The Chris Evans Breakfast Show'' (currently referred to on-air due to sponsorship reasons as ''The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky'') is the name given to two versions of a radio programme hosted by broadcaster Chris Evans in the United K ...

'' and was released the following day. A music video was released the same day on Stereophonics'

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

channel, it was directed by Kelly Jones with cinematography by John Conroy and stars

Antonia Thomas Antonia Laura Thomas (born 3 November 1986) is a British actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Alisha Daniels in the E4 comedy-drama series ''Misfits'', Evie in the Channel 4/Netflix comedy series '' Lovesick'' and Dr. Claire ...

Aneurin Barnard Aneurin Barnard (; ; born 8 May 1987) is a Welsh actor and musician. He is known for playing Davey in ''Hunky Dory'', Claude in '' The Truth About Emanuel'', Bobby Willis in '' Cilla'', Tim in ''Thirteen'', King Richard III in '' The White Quee ...

and Mathew Aubrey. The second single, "I Wanna Get Lost With You", was released on 21 July 2015 – the music video was released the day before, starring Barnard and

Sophie Kennedy Clark Sophie Kennedy Clark (born 1990) is a Scottish actress. She is the daughter of actress and singer Fiona Kennedy and the granddaughter of singer Calum Kennedy. Career Her first big break came when she starred as David Tennant's eldest daughte ...

. The third single, "Song for the Summer", was released on 27 November 2015 but the music video was uploaded to the band's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel a month before and stars only them. "White Lies" was released as the fourth single on 19 February 2016, the music video was uploaded to YouTube a day before, directed by Jones and features the band performing live at one of their December 2015 shows.

Critical response

''Keep the Village Alive'' has received generally favourable reviews. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63 based on 10 reviews. Jedd Beaudoin of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' gave a four-star review of the album and called it an "impressive yield of ace tracks" while complimenting they sound "as fresh as anything the Phonics have done in the entirety of their career." In his review for ''

Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

'', Dan Lucas praised several of the tracks, stating they "make this the best Stereophonics album since

You Gotta Go There to Come Back ''You Gotta Go There to Come Back'' is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Stereophonics. Produced by Kelly Jones and released on V2 in 2003, this LP became their third consecutive album to top the UK chart, selling 101,946 copies ...

" while calling the album as a whole a variety of "straightforward piano, ..rhythms ..electric and acoustic guitars." In a mixed response for ''

Clash Music ''Clash'' is a music and fashion magazine and website based in the United Kingdom. It is published four times a year by Music Republic Ltd, whose predecessor Clash Music Ltd went into liquidation. The magazine won the Best New Magazine award in ...

'', Luke Winstanley summarised the album as "enjoyable and solid, if unadventurous rock record anchored, as always, by that tremendous voice." Senior Editor for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Stephen Thomas Erlewine declared the opening track "comes crashing out of the gates" but summarised "the power trio still trades on the hybrids of Coldplay and U2". In a much less enthusiastic review, Andy Gill from ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' regarded Kelly Jones' writing "bereft of inspiration ..with insipid lyric clichés".

Track listing

;Notes *"You're My Star" was originally released in 2008 on '' Decade in the Sun: Best of Stereophonics''.

Personnel

;Stereophonics * Kelly Jones -

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Richard Jones -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Adam Zindani Adam Zindani (born 5 March 1972) is an English rhythm guitarist for the Welsh-based rock group Stereophonics, and the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the Birmingham-based band Casino. His debut solo single, "What About Love", is due to ...

- guitar,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Additional * Sam Yapp – drums (tracks 1, 8) * Javier Weyler – drums (bonus tracks 1–4) * Mikey Rowe – Wurly (track 5) * Jim Lowe – additional

Hammond Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in South ...

(track 1), programming * Neil Cowley – additional piano (track 2) * Tony Kirkham – additional piano, Hammond (tracks 7, 10, bonus track 6) * Rosie Danvers –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(bonus track 5) * Helen Hathorn –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(bonus track 5) * Emma Owens –

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

(bonus track 5) *

David Arnold David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as ''Stargate'' (1994), '' Independence Day'' (1996), ''Godzilla'' (1998) and the television series '' Little Britain'' ...

with Kelly Jones – orchestral arrangements (tracks 5–9) * Nicholas Dodd –

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

tion ;Technical *

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

– Kelly Jones, Jim Lowe *

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

– Lowe * Mixing – Craig Silvey * Studio Assistant at ICP Studios – Paul Edouard-Laurendeau * Mastering – Greg Calbi ;Orchestra * Leader – John Bradbury * Violin section (tracks 5–8) – Eos Chater, Dorina Markoff, John Bradbury, Johnathan Strange, Oli Langford, Christina Emanuel, Tom Pigott-Smith, Jackie Hartley, Peter Hanson, Ralph De Souza, Johnathan Rees, David Woodcock, Debbie Widdup, Natalia Bonner * Viola section (tracks 5–8) –Reiad Chibah, Julia Knight, Sue Dench, Nick Barr * Cello section (tracks 5–8) – Nick Cooper, Chris Worsey, Adrian Bradbury, Frank Schaefer * Tuba (tracks 6, 8) – Pete Smith *

Bass trombone The bass trombone (german: Bassposaune, it, trombone basso) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to ...

(tracks 6, 8) – Roger Argente *

Tenor trombone A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is widel ...

(tracks 6, 8) – Andy Wood *

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

s (tracks 6, 8) – Phillip Eastop, Mike Murray, Corinne Bailey, Martin Owen * B♭ Trumpet (tracks 6, 8) – Daniel Newell, Jason Evans, Andy Cowley, Amos Miller * Violin (track 9) – Eos Chater * Cello (track 9) – Gay-Yee Westerhoff * Viola (track 9) – Nick Barr

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

;Notes ;Footnotes

External links

''Keep the Village Alive''
at Stereophonics.com {{Authority control 2015 albums Stereophonics albums