Purple
Tiny Music...Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop
No. 4
Shangri-La Dee Da
1992
This is the album that was their ruination before they even became famous. At least in the eyes of critics. It came out in1992, the year after grunge rock officially took off, and supposedly rode the grunge wave to popularity. Along the way, everyone and their dog accused the band of sounding like Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains or whoever else. Weiland sounded like Vedder but looked like Layne Staley. Unfair? Maybe. As has been said before, Core isn’t 100% grunge; a few classic rock throwbacks are in the mix. But unfortunately, Core didn’t age too well and is a little boring today.
I do like the radio singles and remember them fondly. The definite highlight, of course, is “Plush,” that has the coolest arena-rock epic feel. Listen to the descending riff throughout the song, and imagine the notes played in reverse order. I swear it’s the “Live and Let Die” horn riff played backwards!!! “Sex Type Thing” is the first of their repetitive, simplistic rockers, but is kind of fun in its dumbness, and “Wicked Garden” moves at a laid-back mid-tempo way. The ballad “Creep” got some radio airplay, but I never cared for it: it’s too slow and doesn’t have much progression past the ‘half the man I used to be’ chorus. Yawn. Still better than that Radiohead song of the same title.
Beyond the hit singles, Core is kind of a bore. “Dead and Bloated” works all right as an opener, but is another annoyingly repetitious crawler, only it rocks more than “Creep. ” “Piece of Pie” and “Sin” are of the same vein, and the closing “Where the River Goes” outdoes them all in length and exasperation. The final tune is definitely a Led Zeppelin aping, not quite of “When the Levee Breaks” because it is too slow and not apocalyptic enough for comparison. Just the overall sound of Zeppelin, really.
Luckily, it’s not all sludge. The frantic “Naked Sunday” evokes memories of Weiland singing the song through a megaphone on Saturday Night Live, and he’s not too far off here. That one is ok, but I do really prefer the “Sex Type Thing” soundalike “Crackerman,” mainly because of the ‘rubber band/rubber band gun in hand/gun in hand/I wanna use’ line. Reminds me of my oldest brother, he had one of those! The ‘joke’ tune “Wet My Bed” always put me in the mind of the sleazeball Steve Dallas from Bloom County. A throwaway, but sort of novelty. Oh yeah, there’s a little guitar interlude called “No Memory.” I still remember it, ironically. Hahahahaha.
Whether or not the band deserves all that negative P.R. from Core is debatable. But I still believe Core is not their best album, as the monotony really gets on my nerves. At least it has “Plush. ” If not, Core might be in the running for a measly 5. But I’ll bump the rating up one point. It would get better for STP.
1994
A step in the right direction for Weiland and his Pilots. Whereas Core was stuck in perpetual grunge/Zeppelin-updating sludge, Purple is an excellent example of the post-grunge alternative scene, it still rocks but there’s a better sense of melody and a few more touches of diversity than on Core. I believe this album was a lot more popular than Core, in that it produced bigger radio smashes. For good reason too.
Of the three radio smashes that I know of, none of them are as good as “Plush,” but a few come close. I’m going to have to give the nod to “Vasoline,” the one that has the almost idioticly simple two-chord guitar progression over and over and sucked itself into my brain the summer it came out. I still like it a lot, it’s short and to the point. I’m alone in that department, as the rest of the music world preferred “Interstate Love Song,” which merges country (the words and the minor seventh in the guitar riff), pop (the melody), and rock (that typical guitar tone) flawlessly. It’s musically superior to “Vasoline,” but I still get more kicks out of “ Vasoline” (there’s that objective vs. subjective thingy again). Single #1 “Big Empty” is pretty much “Creep Pt. II” with a slightly more brisk tempo and a superior chorus. So I guess it’s better.
Unlike on Core, there isn’t any big dropoff after the singles on Purple. The opening “Meatplow” and “Silvergun Superman” are both in the slow-rock style of Core, but the former would have definitely been a high point on Core, while “Silvergun” is also decent. “Lounge Fly” is distinguished by that backwards guitar intro (M-M-M-M-M-MTV News!) and a creepy vocal melody. “Unglued” is another great simple rocker a la “Vasoline, ” and a hit single too I believe. Elsewhere, the pretty acoustic “Pretty Penny” foreshadows their next album and the ballad “Still Remains” has a great soaring feel that would later be revisited twice by the band.
OK, the last two songs don’t really appeal to me too much: the break-neck rocker “Army Ants” and the closing ballad “Kitchenware and Candy Bars. ” Not sure why...is it an end of the album thing? At least “Kitchenware” doesn’t drag on as long as “Where the River Goes. ” However, don’t miss out on that bonus track “12 Gracious Melodies, ” a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek lounge thing. Is that even Scott singing on there???? What a hoot! But yeah, Purple is definitely an improvement, even if the group would once again change directions on the next album. Some bands just keep itching to change, you know?
1996
You never know with the Stone Temple Pilots, let me tell you. After they broadened their palette on Purple, they completely switched gears. There’s little to no grunge- type crunch on Tiny Music, it sounds more ’60s-inspired (as in psychedelic) and Scott Weiland trades in his Vedder growl for a high-pitched rasp. Crazy crazy!!! And like Core, the album kind of lags beyond the hit singles. But for different reasons.
Let me tell you, those Stone Temple Pilots never fail in delivering two or three awesome radio singles!! “Big Bang Baby” almost sounds like an electric “Picture Book” in the riff, “Jumpin Jack Flash” in the chorus (thank you Pat D. from Music Junkies), but also has a falsetto-ridden ‘nothing’s for freeeeeee’ bridge. One of their catchiest pop-rockers to date. “Lady Picture Show” is to “Interstate Love Song” as “Big Bang Baby” is to “Vasoline.” “Lady Picture Show” has a great pop melody for sure, but sounds a little too similar to “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window.” During my Beatles phase in 1997, my brother and I inserted phrases from “Bathroom Window” into “Lady Picture Show, ” and it all worked well! Even in the chorus! “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart” is just a whole lot of incomprehensible fun.
But ohhhhh dear, the rest of Tiny Music barely holds up. “Pop’s Love Suicide” is a quirky little pop tune that introduced us to Scott’s new voice, and “Tumble in the Rough” sounds like anything off Core, only a touch more psychedelic so to fit in. But “And so I Know” shows them going all lounge on us, but doesn’t work. Sorry guys, ‘campfire girls make me feel all right’ ain’t a good hook. I also have no use for the instrumental interludes “Press Play” (still better than that horrid album Press to Play!!! Am I right??) or the “People Are Strange” soundalike “Daisy.”
That’s it for highlights, the last half of the album is crap. It all starts with “Art School Girl,” one shitty novelty song if I ever heard one. From the dumb verses to the ‘five or four times!!!! ’ chorus, it’s one unlikable track. And from there...I still have nothing to say about “Adhesive” or “Ride the Cliche,” but “Seven Caged Tigers” is a pretty good ending rocker, sounding a little more desperate than the two previous tunes. Tiny Music shows STP moving farther away from their Core sound, maybe in response to criticism, but their ’60s/classic rock sound herein isn’t always successful.
1999
If Behind the Music were to air an episode about the Stone Temple Pilots (if they haven;t already, I don't know), this album would belong in the dreaded ‘but then... ’ section. During this time, Scott’s problems with the law and drug use was really overshadowing his life. No. 4 shows a return to ROCK after the softer-sounding Tiny Music, but also sounds unfocused due to all of Scott’s problems and perhaps some tension within the band. Despite the return to rock, such numbers do not constitute the highlights, for the most part.
The first single “Down” is a good exception to the above rule, as it has a crunchy sound but doesn’t sound too dumb. Plus, the speedy “Sex and Violence” is pretty exhiliarating. However, the dumbness factor is definitely high in “Heaven and Hot Rods,” as the you-can-get-it-if-you-had-it-but-you-don’t-get it-and-you-want-to-get-what-you-want lyrics harken back to the constant repetition of ‘think’ and ‘feel’ on Core. “Pruno” just sounds plain unfocused in my ears and “MC5” is another ‘want it-get it’ mess that hopefully doesn’t represent the group of the same name. Meanwhile, “No Way Out” is definitely the nadir of the STP catalogue as they dive headfirst into Limp Bizkit shit territory down to the ‘keep it away now motherfucker now’ chorus. Yeeeuch.
Yep, I think I will invest in the slower tunes on 4. Their acoustic “Sour Girl” may be my favorite Stone Temple Pilot song of all time, as everything works here: the descending intro, the melodic verses, and the yearnful ‘what would you do? ’ bridge. What a perfect pop song. Just disregard that hideous video. “Church on Tuesday” mixes the crunch with pure pop with unsatisfying results, but “Glide” is one damn good rewrite of “Still Remains. ” It arguably soars higher than “Remains,” but I still prefer the first one.
Closing things off, the Pilots turn in a really good attempt at a Rolling Stones country ballad in “I Got You. ” It even directly quotes “Dead Flowers, ” for crying out loud. “Atlanta” is an obvious Doors homage, as Weiland channels the ghost of Jim Morrison. Replace the orchestration with an organ backdrop, and you got something that sounds like a slower “Wintertime Love.” Much better song than “Wintertime” too. While the band let me down with their hard rock material here, there are enough little tricks to make No. 4 slightly better than Core and Tiny Music.
2001
Even though the album title is one of the dumbest ever, the album itself is a perfectly good swansong for Stone Temple Pilots. Actually, I’m not too sure if the guys knew it would be their last album. It came during a period where Weiland was off the drugs and being a good boy and all, so there is much more focus on Shangri-La. Maybe with that focus came a softer sound, as there are more quiet songs here than before.
You don’t get that aforementioned vibe right off the bat, as the album starts off as almost a career retrospective of the Pilots. Song #1 is “Dumb Love, ” a typical STP rocker that sounds straight outta Core. It’s followed by “Days of the Week, ” another one of STP’s impeccable pop-rock tunes that could have been on Purple. Despite being nigh over 3 minutes and the cliched days-of-week theme, I like it. “Coma” sounds eerily close to a nu-metal tune a la “No Way Out” from No. 4, but manages to be OK. Next up, “Hollywood Bitch” has a snappy vibe and handclaps/vocals straight out of Tiny Music. They should have switched “Coma” and “Hollywood Bitch” to keep that chronological tone!!! Now I hate Weiland and the boys. Errrrrrgh :-)
From then on, the album settles into a relaxed tone. On some level, “Wonderful” appears to be another “Still Remains” rewrite, but it is a little more subtle but really powerful at the same time. One of STP’s very best ballads. “Hello It’s Late” is another good ballad, even if slightly influenced by that Todd Rundgren nugget “Hello It’s Me.” Conversely, “Bi-Polar Bear” tries to portray a bi-polar feeling, but both parts are kind of boring. And “Song For Sleeping” is another one of those songs written about one’s offspring, that don’t work unless Lennon writes them. And when I listened to it, I knew it wouldn’t hold much weight the next time Scottie would get arrested, which did happen. So much for a new life.
On the heavier side, both “Regeneration” and “Transmissions From a Lonely Room” are perfectly good STP rockers. Gotta love that ‘right of way, right of way, GREEN LIGHT, gotta move on’ lyrics on the former. Makes me think of drivers ed, I was taking it the summer this album came out. The sludgy “Long Way Home” closes things out on a disappointing note, almost harkening back to “Where the River Goes. ” Not a good sign. Finally, “Black Again” gently rocks, and “Too Cool Queenie” is another cool Tiny Music throwback, bashing on everyone’s favorite target Courtney Love.
This is one of those cases where an album (Shangri-La) is more consistent and focused than another (No. 4), but they both get the same grade. After all, there isn’t anything in the order of “Sour Girl” on Shangri-La. But at least there isn’t a “No Way Out” to bring things down. A solid 7 for Shangri-La, and the end of the road for STP.
