Following a long absence, Stereophonics returned in February of this year having jumped aboard The Killers' synth-fuelled bandwagon for number one single, Dakota. Superman is the next track to be lifted from the (also number one) album Language, Sex, Violence, Other? Does it also show the chart potential that the trio appear to have down to a fine art?
Well, probably, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's any good - Crazy Frog has proved that. Superman is outwardly menacing in tone with Kelly Jones aiming stabs of guitar over a fuzzy bassline, all garnished with his trademark roughed-up vocals. The tune has its moments, but is stunted by its unrelenting pace and the awful lyrics: "Superman on an aeroplane / Sitting next to Lois Lane / You got that woman but you want her gone / So you can f*** a teenage blonde." Not exactly poetry, is it?
So, it's another quite ordinary release from a band that are slowing proving themselves (with massive amounts of overblown pretension) to be just that: quite ordinary. Despite all of which, and very irritatingly, this will probably be huge.
more