''Performance and Cocktails'' is the second 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 Wale ...
band
Stereophonics
Stereophonics are a Welsh pop and rock music, Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (Stereophonics), Richard Jones (n ...
. It was released by V2 on 8 March 1999. The name of the album comes from lyrics in the album's first song, "Roll Up and Shine", just like the previous album's name, '' Word Gets Around'' came from lyrics in that album's final song.
The album was a surprise commercial success for Stereophonics but it received mixed reviews.
Recording
The songs were variously recorded at
Real World Studios
Real World Studios is a residential recording studio complex founded by Peter Gabriel and situated in the old Box Mill building in the village of Box, Wiltshire, England, near to the city of Bath. It is closely associated with the Real World R ...
in
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
, Parkgate in
Sussex
Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
Monmouth
Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...
.
Album cover
The cover photograph was taken by
Scarlet Page
Scarlet Lilith Eleida Page (born 24 March 1971) is an English photographer. She is the daughter of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and Charlotte Martin, a French model.
Childhood
Born in London, she grew up in England, and stayed at both Plum ...
in autumn 1998 at a football pitch under the Westway in London, and was inspired by an earlier
Annie Leibovitz
Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American Portrait photography, portrait photographer best known for her portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid ...
photograph of a couple kissing outside a prison. The British journalist Tony Barrell did extensive research in 2007 to find the female model in the foreground. In the ''
Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' on 11 November 2007, he identified the model as 23-year-old Lucy Joplin. In an interview with Barrell, Joplin explained that the "faraway look" in her eyes was the result of an evening consuming
absinthe
Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavored Liquor, spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of ''Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. His ...
and
opium
Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...
, and that she was paid £75 in cash for the shoot.
Reception
Critical response
''Performance and Cocktails'' received generally mixed reviews. At
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, Jason Damas criticised the album for not being as consistent as '' Word Gets Around''; he did however praise "T Shirt Sun Tan", "She Takes Her Clothes Off" and "
Pick a Part That's New
"Pick a Part That's New" is a song by Welsh rock music, rock band Stereophonics. It was first released as a single on 27 February 1999 in Japan, serving as the band's debut single there. In the United Kingdom, it was issued on 3 May 1999 as the ...
", calling them the highlights of the album.
Brent DiCrescenzo from ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials.
The term is also applie ...
'' had a generally negative review of the album, comparing Stereophonics to
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Similarly, Barry Walters of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' also compared the band to Oasis, stating, " heysound like Oasis trying to be
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
."
Commercial performance
''Performance and Cocktails'' gave Stereophonics three straight top five singles in the British charts with " The Bartender and the Thief" reaching number three, and both " Just Looking" and "Pick a Part That's New" reaching number four. The album itself was a success, topping the UK Albums Chart selling 119,954 copies in its first week and going on to become the fifth best selling album in the UK in 1999. Such was the album's persistence, that it re-entered the UK charts over four years after its initial release, reaching number twenty-five in January 2004.
Legacy
With sales of over 2.5 million, ''Performance and Cocktails'' is the Stereophonics' second best-selling album (after '' Just Enough Education to Perform'', which has sold over 3.5 million). The record has been certified 5× Platinum in the UK and Platinum in Europe. It has spent a total of 101 weeks in the UK top 100 charts.
The album is seen as one of the best British rock albums of the 1990s. At the ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...
'' awards in 1999, ''Performance and Cocktails'' won the "Best Album" award and Stereophonics further won "Best British Band" the same year. On their "Albums of the Year" list, the record was placed at number five. Listeners at
Absolute Radio
Absolute Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via digital audio broadcasting.
The station focuses on alternative ...
voted for their album of the decade and ''Performance and Cocktails'' ranked at number 27. On the radio's shortlist it was included as one of the albums that helped define the sound of the 90s along with '' Word Gets Around'' At the
Mercury Music Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...
awards, the album was nominated for the 1999 prize but was only listed as a "Shortlisted nominee." "Pick a Part That's New" was used in a BT advert for their unlimited broadband deal.
Track listing
Re-release
On 24 August 2010, Stereophonics announced on their website that ''Performance and Cocktails'', along with ''Word Gets Around'', were to be re-released. To accompany the re-releases, Stereophonics performed all the songs on both the albums at the
Hammersmith Apollo
The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...
on 17 and 18 October 2010. They were released on 18 October 2010 and were made into two forms:
Deluxe: The original album on one disc and a bonus CD featuring 12 b-sides and rare tracks.
Super-deluxe: The album on one disc (as listed above) and two bonus CDs (one with 15 b-sides and the other includes 10 rare tracks), artcards and a replica of Kelly Jones' notebook.
Rhodes piano
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...
, piano,
mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
* Astrid – backing vocals on "I Stopped to Fill My Car Up"
Technical
* Bird & Bush – producer,
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
, mixing on "She Takes Her Clothes Off"
* Al Clay – mixing
* Ian Cooper – mastering