Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots (16 tracks) +Album Reviews

Nice comeback

Matthew David Ritchey | Hollywood, CA USA | 05/25/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, honestly, this is more of a three-and-a-half star review. As a fan of STP over the years, I love that they've stayed on course..... ironically meaning that they've released another album that sounds like none of their other albums.

That being said, there are some tracks that sound like what you'd call "vintage STP." "Take A Load Off," for example, has the soaring chorus (with Scott once again employing the use of the word "Yeah" in place of something with meaning....... I'm so glad he's out of Velvet Revolver......), with a grungy verse.

As soon as you move on to "Huckleberry Crumble," it becomes more obvious that the DeLeo's have been thinking 60's and 70's rock. While some people lament the fact that some of the tracks on here sound like old Aerosmith and Bowie ("First Kiss On Mars"), I ask "why lament?" Bowie and Aerosmith haven't done music as good as their seventies stuff since.... well... the seventies, so why not get some great music in that style done by somebody else?

"Hickory Dichotomy" has a great funky groove and is definitely among the best tracks on the album. Not surprisingly, they released the best tracks for streaming about three weeks before the album was available, so it's when you move on to the other tracks, the disappointment sets in. "Dare If You Dare" has a great, very DeLeo guitar riff and verse melody ripped from what could be an unreleased "Sgt. Pepper" song, but the chorus is so insipid both in lyrics and vocal delivery, that it's almost worth skipping altogether.

"Cinnamon" is a gem, though. Does it sound like good Oasis? It does. But note the word "good." (But Scott's back to his "I can use the word 'Yeah' for a full chorus!' thing....)

"Hazy Daze" has a similar problem to "Dare If You Dare" - it's got an amazing riff, good verse and bridge, but the chorus doesn't fit the music. (Am I being nitpicky? Yes. But I've had these opinions about all of Weiland's material...... back to when he ruined some great music on Contraband with bad melodies.)

"Bagman." Straightforward rocker. Another early streaming track and concert teaser that's great as a shout-along.

"Peacoat." The first truly forgettable song on here. I liken it to the songs on "Shangri-La-Di-Da" that I can hum along to but don't know lyrics or title, as they weren't impressive enough to learn. I will never know that this song is called "Peacoat."

"Fast As I Can" is not, as I'd thought, a recording of a song of the same name done by STP's former moniker "Mighty Joe Young." It's fun, but fits in the exact place as other songs of this type.... for some reason, his is the place in the album (third or so from the end) where all rock bands drop a track that's a forgettable rocker. It's not bad, and it's got a great beat, but it's placed on the album in a way that it disappears.

"First Kiss On Mars" is a Beatles tune sung by David Bowie. And it's awesome. I haven't listened to the lyrics enough to be sure that they mean absolutely nothing in relation to the title, but this one has it all - good 60's riff, good verses and a flowing chorus (which could very easily have been "Yeah, it's over," but maybe Scott's expanding his vocabulary).

"Maver" - the usual mellow finale to the album. Glam rock neuvo-country. Decent. Forgettable.

As I said, three and a half out of five. When it's good, it's great, but there's the usual amount of dead wood.

Worth a listen, though. And if you're open to something that isn't exactly like what you remember STP to be, it's pretty solid."

A Great Blend Of Purple & No. 4

Joseph Esposito | California | 05/25/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As a starting point, I have been a STP fan since Core. To give you a reference point of my taste over their career, I thought Core was outstanding, same for Purple even though it was a much softer sound. Tiny Music was mostly just a boring album, but No. 4 was a hard return to form. Shangri-La Dee Da wasn't bad, but it never hooked me and lives in the same space as Tiny Music for my ears.

Anyone who has followed the band through the years has had many ups and downs as Weiland has struggled to stay above his addictions, but news of a new album has always been welcome. Now that's it finally hear, how does this self-titles stack up? Let's go through it song by song:

1. Between The Lines - A good mix of Purple and No. 4 to me, and great to hear that no matter his personal troubles Weiland still have a commanding voice. Easy to hear why this is the song they performed on their first time back to Letterman in a decade.

2. Take A Load Off - Very Purple. The main riff is a solid backing to lyrics that seem to wander about in contemplation. I'd imagine the trademark 'Weiland dance' will accompany this in concert.

3. Huckleberry Crumble - So far, my favorite track on the album. Seems very '70s to me for some reason, but the main chorus is a freight train of listenability and makes the whole song work.

4. Hickory Dichotomy - Again, a very 70s feel. Trippy and light, very radio friendly if not particularly memorable.

5. Dare If You Dare - This seems straight out of No. 4, almost a spiritual companion to Sour Girl. A good mid-album tune. I dig the slight edge Weiland puts on his voice here.

6. Cinnamon - Man, this is a strange one for me. It's not bad, but it's not the type of song I ever expected from STP. This sounds more like Kaiser Chiefs to me. Again, not bad, just different.

7. Hazy Daze - This sounds like what I'd imagine Rage Against The Machine would have sounded like with Jimi Hendrix on guitar. Heavy and catchy, another standout track.

8. Bagman - Ah, back to Purple. I can see this is a single, and no doubt this is the type of song that will get the multiple Beatles sound comparisons. Substitute the word 'Batman', takes on a while new meaning!

9. Peacoat - The Bowie influence can be heard clearly in the vocals on this track, which is slower but still a good listen. Some cool guitar work going on in this one.

10. Fast As I Can - Just like that, the tempo picks up. This sounds like a lost track off of No. 4. A bit harder, a bit faster, a lot arena rock. Nifty guitar solo towards the end.

11. First Kiss On Mars - Back to Bowieville, and I would guess based on the title that it was no accident. Spacey and poppy.

12. Maver - This one reminds me of Tiny Music for some reason. Not bad, but forgettable.

13. Samba Nova - Again, a fusion of Purple and No. 4 as we get a trippy 60s tune to finish out the new material. Likeable, and a good way to close the album.

14. Vasoline (Live) - Being that I liked Purple, this is a nice extra track. Good performance of a well-known tune.

15. Hickory Dichotomy (Live) - Always good when a live performance of a song is so close to the recorded version that the review of the album version still applies.

16. Between The Lines (Live) - Weiland sounds a lot like Kurt Cobain in this recording, but that could just be me. A good performance of a great song."

Stone Groove

Sky | New York | 06/01/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It is so good to have these guys back together again...hope they can all keep it together. Scott Weiland, brothers Robert DeLeo & Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz have put out some classic songs with STP since 1992. These classic songs can mostly be found interspersed among their first 3 releases going all the way back to Core.

Interestingly, none of STP's previous 5 releases--especially the latter two--No. 4 and Shangri-La Dee Da--could be called an album that has great songs from start to finish. With an average of 10+ songs per disk, STP typically would have between 1 and 5 songs that really stood out and made each disk worth the purchase. On this self titled 2010 release EVERY song is good. So in that respect shouldn't I have given this a 5-star 'classic' rating?

Well, no. The difference is that while every song on this disk is good where you don't feel the need to skip over any of the songs, there really aren't big standouts (you know, like Sex Type Thing, Vasoline or Trippin on a Hole in a Paper Heart). I mean, I am tremendously enjoying this disk, but I see a future where I will soon tire of it and perhaps not be compelled to keep any of the songs in my media player's random rotation.

The first 4 songs are very STP. When you hear these songs you'll say, "Wow, that is STP and they are back!" Like on many of STP's latter career tunes, you can hear The Beatles and Led Zep influences mixed in with STP's own unique sound on this disk. There are even three songs that sound like 3 separate generations of David Bowie sat in on...you'll know 'em when you hear 'em; I think that this is STP's first disk where the Bowie influence was so loud and clear.

But again...no big standouts. Why is that? Perhaps the missing element is the camaraderie that makes all great bands...well...great. In an interview on The Howard Stern Show during May 2010, the boys admitted that the album was not really recorded as a band...or should I say that Weiland recorded his vocals in sessions outside of where the band recorded their parts. That's not very "bandlike".

Overall, like I said, the entire disk is really good. If you're an STP fan you generally should be pretty happy and absolutely add this to your cart.

"

These guys can't catch a break

Da Peace Dogg | Hollywood | 07/07/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's 2010. The Stone Temple Pilots have released six brilliant and diverse studio albums, and all critics seem to want to do is prattle on about how Scott Weiland once mimicked Eddie Vedder in a video from 1993. Or talk about his drug use.

So here's the real scoop on STP's latest CD: It's quite possibly the best one of their storied career (which is saying a lot) and one of the best rock and roll albums I've heard so far this year. While Nickelback and Daughtry sell records by the boatload, the more talented STP is getting drowned under by ridiculous hack reviewers who write for meaningless publications and select fans who want nothing more than a recreation of "Purple."

Give these guys a Grammy and quit comparing them to other bands whose sound is every bit as derivative of works from the past."

Juntos, pero no revueltos

Henry Flores Ramos | 06/30/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Cuando los Stone Temple Pilots debutaron con Core (1992), la prensa musical los acusó de ser copias de Pearl Jam y Alice In Chains, pero gran parte del público los consideró como una de las mejores propuestas de toda aquella explosión musical noventera que se conoció como grunge. Con los años los STP demostraron que su música no obedecía a ninguna moda o circunstancia y que su amor por el rock clásico era el derrotero de su música. Ahora, después de nueve años del Shangri-La Dee Da (2001), los tenemos de vuelta con nuevo material discográfico, el sexto en su carrera, su álbum epónimo.

Stone Temple Pilots no es solo el típico álbum del retorno. Se llama así porque este cuarteto quiere convencerse (y convencernos) de que aún sigue siendo una banda de rock a pesar de su actual modus operandi: cuatro tipos que dejaron atrás sus riñas y que saben que la convivencia no es como antaño, ahora graban en estudios separados y cuando se juntan para los conciertos se muestran los avances de las nuevas canciones en los camerinos, en formato acústico. Este "juntos pero no revueltos" es mejor que andar en problemas. Sobre todo por Scott Weiland (cantante y letrista), cuya fuerte personalidad marcada por el abuso de la heroína (ahora ya rehabilitado) fue el principal obstáculo de que la banda alcanzará la estratósfera en sus mejores momentos. ¿Y funciona o no? ¿Convencen las nuevas canciones o se escuchan forzadas y sin la magia de antes?

Para empezar, la producción estuvo a cargo de los hermanos Robert y Dean Deleo (bajista y guitarrista). Por primera vez prescinden de los servicios del productor Brendan O'Brien. El resultado: muchas canciones hard rock deudoras del rock setentero ("Bagman", "Hazy Daze"), la sicodelia ("Hickory Dichotomy"), también algo de los 60's (la pegadiza "Cinnamon" o "Maver", que sabe a The Beatles con guitarra harrisoniana incluida), y otras de melodías más reposadas y con aires country ("First Kiss on Mars"), algunas mejor arregladas que otras.

Al no haber un productor que los "obligue" a estar juntos en el proceso creativo, las canciones se han construido de acuerdo a la buena voluntad y disposición de cada miembro, quizá la única manera de hacer que fluyan y suenen natural, pero que no ha impedido que algunas de ellas se parezcan a los proyectos alternativos que han tenido antes del reencuentro; por ejemplo "Take a Load Off" y "Huckleburry Crumble" recuerdan a Velvet Revolver (banda que tuvo Weiland con algunos ex Guns N' Roses) y muchos riffs dispersos en el disco nos llevan a Army Of One y Talk Show (combos que formaron los Deleo con el baterista Kretz). Estos proyectos en su momento gozaron de saludable actividad artística y comercial pero nunca convencieron del todo. Quizá Stone Temple Pilots también sirva para el drenaje de antiguos efluentes creativos y se convierta en el álbum bisagra de una banda que ha renacido para reivindicarse de un pasado víctima del "fuego amigo". Y si también ayuda a pagar las cuentas en casa, mucho mejor.

HENRY FLORES

(www.henryflores.blogspot.com)"

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