Language. Sex. Violence. Other?

The Welsh band Stereophonics is one of about eight gazillion acts that are big in Britain but haven’t quite cracked America’s golden egg. Although frontman Kelly Jones writes nice hooks, his predilection for stereotypical British moping has long been his undoing. But the band's latest outing does something consistently that their previous efforts only tried occasionally: It rocks. “Doorman” slithers and stomps like Stone Temple Pilots, with Jones hissing and snarling lurid lyrics like, “You look like a monkey staring at me/Well, suck my banana, suck it well clean.” Meanwhile, “Dakota” may be the best song these guys have ever written—a soaring U2-style rock anthem minus the slightly nauseating U2-style bombast. Some of the tunes do drone on a bit, and, quite frankly, Stereophonics have probably already missed their window to make America their bitch. But that’s OK. We’d rather just be friends, anyway.