"Don't Let the Devil Take Another Day" Released: November/December 2019
"Hungover For You" Released: 21 February 2020
Kind is the eleventh studio album by Welsh rock band Stereophonics released on 25 October 2019 on Parlophone Records, nearly two years after their previous album, Scream Above the Sounds. Recorded over an eleven-day period between 29 June and 9 July 2019 at The Ramsbury Brewery & Distillery in Marlborough, Wiltshire, the album was produced by lead singer and guitarist Kelly Jones and George Drakoulias.[1]Kind topped the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band's first to do so since Keep the Village Alive (2015) and their seventh overall.
Background and writing
At the end of the band's last world tour frontman Kelly Jones considered quitting the band because he had no inspiration to write new music after feeling burnt out on the road. He said "Our last gig of the world tour was September 2018, in Brooklyn – I was done, had written no songs, nothing new, I thought I felt like quitting."[2] Instead of quitting, however, Jones spent some time with his family and he got some ideas for new songs. "Then by November I had a load of songs that just came through me, lyrics just filling up pages, no crossings out, complete songs formed. They became a very open and to be honest, bunch of really vulnerable songs about things I hadn’t quite worked out for myself, the songs began to inform me how I was feeling. I didn’t know, or really mind if others wanted to hear them or like them, I just needed to get them out of me."[3]
The first single, "Fly Like an Eagle", was one of the first songs to be written for the record. Jones said "I feel it covers a lot of ground on the record and the line came, ‘Wanna fly like an eagle, and dare to be reborn’ – not in a religious sense, but it’s about changing and growth, and learning not relying on the comfort zones of your life. And as people we all morph into new and different versions of ourselves. We don’t have to stay the same."[4]
'Hungover For You' was written in a hotel in Scotland before the band headlined TRNSMT festival in 2018.[citation needed]
Release and promotion
Artwork
The album artwork for Kind is a drawing of a tree by Jones’ eldest child Colby. The booklet for the album also features two paintings, I Just Wanted The Goods by Steve Goddard and Moon by Misty Jones.[5]
Formats
The record was released on five major formats, including: standard CD, deluxe CD, vinyl, cassette and digital download. The deluxe CD features a bonus disc which contains demo versions of six of the songs present on the album.[6] Kind was issued on three different vinyl editions, standard black vinyl, pink vinyl and on picture disc.
Singles
On 15 August 2019 the band debuted the song "Fly Like an Eagle" on Radio X and released the official music video for the track.[7][8] The video is an emotionally affecting coming-of-age tale, which was shot by Charlotte Regan and stars Charlie Creed-Miles.[9] On 18 September 2019 the single "Bust This Town" was released.[10] An official video was released for "Bust This Town" on 30 September 2019.[11] The video was directed by Kes Glozier and follows two lovers on the run, who build a love nest in a derelict manor house.[12] During November and December 2019 the third single "Don't Let the Devil Take Another Day" was often played on most radio stations like BBC Radio 2 and an official video was released on 26 November 2019. The video features a montage of footage filmed during the recording of the album.[13] "Hungover For You" was the fourth and final single taken from the album. It was released on 21 February 2020. A new version of the song was released featuring additional string arrangements.[14]
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60 based on 4 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15] Susan Hansen of Clash Music gave the album 8 out of 10 and said "‘Kind’ signifies some of the band’s finest work released to date."[23]
Commercial performance
Kind topped the UK Album Chart giving Stereophonics their seventh number one album, selling just under 30,000 in its first week, including just over 3,000 copies on vinyl.[24] In 2023, the album was certified Gold in the UK for 100,000 equivalent units.[25]
