Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots

One of the decade's best. No, I'm actually serious. Stop laughing

I'm willing to bet this is STP's overall best album. Here they expand their sound ("Pretty Penny" is mostly acoustic; "Lounge Fly" is, in order, 1/3 Guns n' Roses, 1/3 Crosby, Stills & Nash, and another third Guns n' Roses; "Interstate Love Song" is southern rock) sharpen their songwriting, and come up with something pretty damn good. Okay, so not "Silvergun Superman" or "Meat Plow", flat reworkings of the Core sound. Neither have much personality. I don't really like the slash-and-burn punk song "Unglued" either. It just sounds out of place. But man, "Interstate Love Song" makes up for all of that. The riffs, the vocals, the chorus and the opening are all absolutely perfect. Actually, the entire song is absolutely perfect. I don't think Soundgarden ever made a song as good as that. Or The White Stripes, while I'm at it. "Big Empty" does, too. It goes from slide-driven delta blues to hard-rock in the verses and choruses. You not only get a dynamic shift (which everyone was doing back then), but a stylistic shift, too! And "Army Ants" is a psychedelic hard southern rocker. They even go for a winding, four-minute epic (with hidden track attached, of course) on "Candybars and Kitchenware". A lot of bands would screw this up, but STP gets it perfectly! It's not as good as "Where the River Goes" from the last album, but I don't care, because it's a good song. The lounge-jazz hidden track, an ironic crooned "thank-you-for-listening", is pretty funny, too. I'd hesitate to call anything by the Pilots brilliant, but I enjoy this.

If you should die before me/ Ask if you could bring a friend

We don't hear anything from the STP anymore. It's our loss. Overshadowed by the bitterly cerebral Kurt Cobain and Pearl Jam Eddie Vedder's bombastic, sonorous voice--and being emotionally more akin to Radiohead--the STP spent several albums trying to claw their way out of the flannelled scene of the times, all the while being accused of mimicking other bands.

With Purple, they got it right. The DeLeo brothers' incredible songwriting paired with Weiland's lyrics to form an accreted image of a self-punishing naif flailing--but not quite drowning--in the wicked world. Life's aches and pains permeated all these tunes, the best of which--Interstate Love Song, Big Empty, Lounge Fly, Vaseline, the ridiculously named and shockingly good "Meatplow" --plead for understanding in the face of complete relational impasse.

Too, Weiland's voice was an unsung hero, as it were: a flexible, reedy tenor bouncing between raw and warm vibratto--far prettier than he was ever given credit for. The DeLeos filled their songwriting with quirky, Byzantine chord progressions and hooks pounded out of guitars in a violent sludge that never, ever overwhelmed the searching tunes. And Eric Krentz' drumming drove these songs over a cliff into free-fall. These men have done other work since (most notably 4's "Sour Girl, the best thing of their career) but Purple was the STP perfect storm--not one word or note rang false, and most of it was ravishing. Years later, it still is.

Another masterpiece from Scott Weiland and Co.

Another perfect record, just like "Core" was. It is full of hits: "Meatplow", "Vasoline", "Interstate Love Song", and "Big Empty". But again, every song is great and there is a good variety of song types. Some that rock hard, some that are mellow, but they all have great hooks.

After this album, STP sort of mellowed out a bit and started incorporating more of a pop influence in their records. While I still enjoyed every moment, many fans were undoubtedly disappointed with the musical direction. I recommend the first two albums (this one and "Core") before you buy the rest. Just expect the last three albums to be different. They don't rock as hard.

a great follow up

this is a great follow up to core. stand outs are meatplow, big empty, vasoline and my favorite; interstate love song. all of these are still in heavy rotation on the radio. after song #11 ends DONT TURN OFF THE RADIO JUST YET! keep it playing and another song starts playing, gracious melodies. its more comical than serious. the guy has a real cheesy sounding voice. actually sounds like he is some sort of vegas lounge singer. if you like this band get this, core and thank you (a greatest hits compilation) and thats about all you should need. also check out velvet revolver if you like scott weiland him and slash put something together after STP broke up.

Enough time has offically passed. The dust is settled. And this is a classic album.

It's good to see decent "modern" rock albums like this one are still getting some play. Nobody cares about Haddaway or The Real McCoy anymore, but all the decent rock albums from the era are still being discovered again and again.

This is one of the essentials. Get it.