Keep Calm And Carry On

Stereophonics team up with Jim Abbiss for 2009’s Keep Calm and Carry On, hoping the producer of Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, and the Music can freshen them up a little bit. Abbiss does strip away the gloss of Pull the Pin, guiding Stereophonics toward something a little more straightforward, where their Oasis obsessions are upgraded to a declawed Monkeys, the U2 swapped for Coldplay. The relatively stripped-down setting winds up letting the rockers of the album’s first half latch in, particularly the rather propulsive “Trouble,” the nimble “She’s Alright,” and rolling “I Got Your Number,” and does keep the succession of anthems and ballads on the second half from seeming too languid., Rovi – Stephen Thomas Erlewine