REVIEWS:
Here's what you need to know: Members are Dean DeLeo (guitar), Rob DeLeo (bass, and occasional rhythm guitar), Scott Weiland (vocals and occasional rhythm guitar), and Eric Kretz (drums). They called themselves Shirley Temple's Pussy before switching to the more accessible name shown above. Often this group has been lambasted by the critics for being cheap ripoffs of other grunge bands, but other than Core, I do not see any other grunge band's influences on them. And they certainly do NOT sound like Pearl Jam. What the hell are people thinking when they made that comparison? Sheesh...... The band broke up after Tiny Music, but, Dean and Rob, after the failure of "Talk Show" went crying back to the drug-ridden (and infinitely better singer than Dave Coutts) Scott Weiland. The new album is called No. 4, but I have yet to purchase it.
--Pat D.
Post your comments about Stone Temple Pilots
COMMENTS
why are they dissed by faggot critics? why is scott arrested? anyway I love stp like I love my pumpkins! core was a hard debut! crackerman, plush, wet my bed, sin, no memory, dead and bloated, wicked garden, creep, then came purple. pretty rockin' stuff! vasoline, interstate love song, army ants, unglued, pretty penny, silvergun superman, big empty,lounge fly still remains, kitchenware and candybars. tiny music is spacy. press play, big bang baby, daisy, art school girl, ride the cliché, tripping on a hole in a paper heart,lady picture show, and so I know, adhesive, tumble in the rough, seven caged tigers, pop's love suicide. no.4 is a comeback despite the drug problems. atlanta, mc5, sex and violence, sour girl, down, glide, pruno, heaven and hot rods, no way out, I got you, finally shangra watchamacalit! days of the week, hollywood bitch, coma, bi polar bear, regeneration, wonderful, black again, hello it's late, a song for sleeping. anyway I'm gonna get thank you so don't get yo' ass in danger boy!
(Pat D.'s review)
I thought it was God's great gift to rock back when I bought it in 1993, but that was when I judged albums only by their hit singles. But now when I take a more objective listen, I can see why most people thought STP were a rip-off band when this album was released. "Dead And Bloated" is one of the stupidest Alice In Chains ripoffs I have yet to hear. Bad lyrics, dull riffs. "Sex Type Thing" is a marginally better AIC ripoff, with good riffs courtesy of Mr. Dean DeLeo, but the lyrics are again, dumb. "Plush" is the single that was overplayed for years and years, but my more 'mature' ears have picked up the lovely ambiance of the bridge, so now I love it again. And one of the odder tracks on here is "Wicked Garden". Why is it weird? Cause Tom Petty would rip off the opening riff to that song for "You Wreck Me" off of his 1994 release Wildflowers. Tom Petty, of all people! And for once STP gets ripped off, not vice-versa! Ha!
You've also probably heard the acoustic ballad "Creep" which I've always felt was a bit overrated, but its not bad. "Sin" is a track I recently started to like. But the other tracks are simply mediocre grunge. And this album seems like shit when you compare it to their next release. Even with the good tracks, it seems like this is all somebody else's music. But that feeling would end right here.
Stone Temple Pilots came into the alternative world and right off the bat were accused of ripping off such established acts in the 90s 'grunge' movement as Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden with their debut album Core. I can maybe agree with this a little bit, but I hear more of a straightforward metal sound than blatant ripoffs of these bands. Either way, the material here does show some promise as far as intensity of riff, melody and creative lyrics go, despite the lack of originality exhibited here. The main problem I have with the songs on this one, though, is that the verses and choruses repeat themselves unpredictably over and over again, so quite a few of the songs seem a lot longer than they are - the otherwise catchy and bleak "Dead And Bloated", the generic drag of "Piece Of Pie", "Sin", the acoustic hit ballad "Creep" (whose lyrics are also sort of banal) and "Where The River Flows", which is too repetitive and unaccomplished as a closer for its' 8 minute length, are the most obvious examples. Highlights include the provoking riff crunch of "Sex Type Thing", which has controversial lyrics dealing with date rape, the almost danceable and furious at the same time "Naked Sunday", the strong melodies and solid hard rock foundations of "Wicked Garden" and the smash single "Plush", the throwaway "Wet My Bed" is an entertaining and hilarious setup for the album's most infectious, balls to the wall track, "Crackerman" (great megaphone chorus). Not an essential hard rock/grunge album, but it's still a good buy because of its' highlights.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
COMMENTS
[email protected] (John Schlegel)
I've never been too much impressed with a whopping majority of '90s rock. I have usually found it to be pretentiously rebellious and too heavy-handed with the whole anti-'80s crusade; but that was, of course, the whole marketing gimmick of the "grunge" movement. Still, on a purely objective plane, I have always viewed STP as one of the better hard rock bands to come out of the dreary decade--at the very least, they're one of the better '90s bands that experienced considerable commercial success. This outfit has just always met the basic criteria for a good, solid hard rock band in my book. Their radio hits are catchy and fun to hear behind the wheel; they make relatively consistent albums; the guitar riffs are top-notch, and the drumming is strong and drives each tune; and the vocals are noticable enough but not annoying. Sure, I still make fun of the Pilots, mostly because every dumb jock at my high school loved 'em and said that STP and AC/DC were his favorite groups. But Core started off STP's winning formula well enough, featuring its four very good singles (for '90s rock), as well as some outstanding album tracks like "Dead and Bloated" (a stomping tune with great changes, which I happen to like, thank you) and "Cracker Man" (a fast-paced rocker with cool vocals, even if they did sound a bit trite at the time). The album is not entirely consistent, but it sure is a fun, engaging '90s hard rock record that didn't take itself too seriously. I agree with the 7.
To PatD's Stone Temple Pilots Core review:
I'm going to have to call you out on labeling some of the songs as "AIC ripoffs". Dirt and Core were both released on the same day, September 29, 1992. This would mean that you accuse "Sex Type Thing" and "Dead And Bloated" as being ripoffs of Facelift or Sap, which they obviously are not.
To the last guy:
In terms of vocal style you could certainly call "Dead and Bloated" a rip-off of pre-Dirt AIC. The guitars sound a little bit like Dirt, but like you said, it would have been impossible for STP to have ripped off a style of a record that had not been released to the public.
(Pat D.'s review)
I can see it now. "Awww, come on man. You gave fucking STP the same score as Metallica's Master of Puppets? You suck! Burn in reviewers' hell! You don't know what the hell you are talking about!". Well, this litle bit of 'heresy' I have written here was not done without plenty of careful consideration. I asked myself over and over, is there a weak link on this album? Does it deserve the perfect score? And the answer again and again was yes.
And no, I am not an STP freak. My band would either be Pearl Jam, Slayer, or Metallica. But of those bands only Metallica have created an album that is so consistently good. Purple has both its share of radio-hooks: "Vasoline", "Interstate Love Song", "Pretty Penny", "Big Empty" and "Unglued". But the thing that makes this album one of the best ever made are the songs that did not make the radio. "Silvergun Superman" is by far my favorite STP song, and probably the most balanced and powerful song they've ever done. Dig that emotional solo at the end under the chorus. Whew! "Meatplow" is a friggin' heavy-ass opener with a catchy riff and chorus to boot. "Lounge Fly" weird guitar line used to be on MTV news. Good song. And "Still Remains" is THE ONLY love song I can say I honestly enjoy. Beautiful cascading guitar riffs behind a heartfelt chorus. A must listen.
"Army Ants" is a kickass near-thrasher with a screaming solo and some great riffage. And "Kitchenware and Candybars" is a fun little closer with some great Weiland vocals. There is also a hidden track with a funny-as hell 50's style anthem. So basically, thats all the tracks. And there are NO weak spots. Believe me, I've tried to find them. The last thing I want to do is lose credibility as a reviewer, but this album is THAT good. I'd recommend it to anybody. Plus, do not let anybody tell you they are ripoffs as of this album. If other bands sounded like STP does on this record, modern music would be a lot more bearable.
STP's sophomore effort is a more accomplished, melodically addictive and more unique sounding release than before, although the quality of the songs isn't really any better or worse. There are still a couple tracks that aren't anything to write home about, such as the opening rocker "Meatplow", which has an uninteresting chorus, the very bland, bluesy verses to electric chorus setup of "Big Empty" (which fails to even remotely interest me - I don't see why it's such a popular song) and the driving but unspectacular "Army Ants". The lead single "Vasoline" is OK, but it seems just a tad too simplistic and gets tiring after a few listens.
There's really nothing to complain about with the rest of the songs, though - "Interstate Love Song" is one of the more remarkable mid 90s singles with its' chorus, intelligently written lyrics and 'highway' feel, "Still Remains" has a lot of passion in it, especially in the gorgeous chorus ('oohhhhhh, I beg for you') and uplifting riff, "Pretty Penny" is a similarly moving and emotional acoustic song (which seems to be a tribute to someone deceased), "Unglued" kicks you in the face with its' killer riff and groove and "Loungefly" is a brilliantly constructed song, with pounding chorus and verse sections before unexpectedly changing to an acoustic section which makes the song a perfectly majestic setup for an awesome Dean Deleo solo. The rest of the songs include the nice ballad "Kitchenware And Candybars", which has a majestic chorus, and the well written fan favorite "Silvergun Superman".
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(Pat D.'s review)
Okay, I admit it might be a bit unfair to compare this release with the almighty Purple, but what other reference point do I have? It's nowheres near as consistent, the high points are not as good, and it has dull spots. Compared to Core, it is just the opposite. I can say all I want against this album, but at least STP have gotten to the point where they most certainly do not sound like any other band. Come on, I mean, what other band would write such a quirky-sounding song as "Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart"? Certainly not Pearl Jam or Alice In Chains. And what band have you ever heard that sounds remotely like STP in "Big Bang Baby"? Sure, the vocal rhythm and lyrics of the chorus sound somewhat like "Jumpin Jack Flash", but the guitars and overall tonality don't sound remotely similar to anything the Stones ever put out. And other than the aforementioned chorus, the rest of the song sounds nothing like that Stones track.
Furthermore, I love the ambiance of "Lady Picture Show". Now thats a great harmonic guitar song. Maybe you could draw parallels between "Tumble In the Rough" and some other band, but I'll still enjoy that hard rocker just the same. "Art School Girl" is a pretty funky track, too. But basically the remaining tracks don't do anything for me. They range from moderately interesting to boring. Taken as a whole, though, its an OK listen, and overall its got more good tracks than bad, so I gave it a seven.
This was a very, very curious title for the band's third album, and 'curious' is exactly the word that can also describe the band's new musical direction here. Instead of the melodic 70s inspired hard rock updated for the 90s of Purple or the straightforward metal of Core, the sound of Tiny Music can be described as laid back, very raw sounding groove rock with touches of neo-psychedelia, almost like the Rolling Stones turned inside out, only without as much of the stellar songwriting of that band. The lead single "Big Bang Baby" is the defining track that is most representative of the album's sound, with an irresistible groovy melody driven by a great bassline and a silly chorus, while "Lady Picture Show" is just a really nice pop song that sticks in your head and "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart" has entertaining verses with a soaring chorus.
Unfortunately, while the singles here are good, there are more weak tracks than before, which makes it a step down from previous releases - the instrumental fillers "Press Play" and the jazz-influenced "Daisy", the aimless, meandering "Adhesive", the half-baked rockers "Tumble In The Rough" and "Ride The Cliche", and the atmospheric loungey "And So I Know", which lays there waiting for inspiration. The catchy but incoherent and a little irritating "Pop's Love Suicide" and the unsatisfied closer "Seven Caged Tigers" aren't really much better, although the aggressive, hilarious chorus of the novelty tune "Art School Girl" (which also has intentionally stupid verse lyrics), is a highlight.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
On initial listen, the first Stone Temple Pilots album in almost four years due to singer Scott Weiland's continued problems with drugs and the law sounds like an unimpressive effort in mediocrity, as if the songs were quickly thrown together in two days, but that's primarily due to the stripped down to the bone and unassuming production values and simplistic heavy riffs of numerous songs here, and only really true of the throwaway riff rockers "Pruno", the inane chorus of the otherwise musically interesting "No Way Out" and the extremely stupid "Crackerman" rewrite "MC5". Repeated listenings reveal creative nuances in the music and enough catchy melody for me to claim this as their quintessential album, boasting a good amount of the crunch of Core (lead single "Down", "Heaven And Hot Rods", "Sex And Violence"), the classic rock throwbacks of Purple, the lighthearted groove rock of Tiny Music and the bad lyric writing of Talk Show (just kidding on that last one!)
As much as 'originality' isn't a part of this band's vocabulary (for instance, two of the ballads, "I Got You" and the closing "Atlanta", sound a lot like works from the Stones and the Doors respectively, especially the latter where Scott Weiland sounds extremely evocative of old Jim circa Waiting For The Sun, enough to make the song extremely beautiful and majestic despite the orchestration) No. 4 shows the band is still good at what they do, writing songs with fine hooks (the really pretty "Sour Girl" and "Glide", whose verse line of 'fly along with the fader, fly it, fly it on the run...' gets stuck in my head all day, despite the rest of the song being sort of a "Still Remains" rewrite - both melodies are very similar) and crunching with direct rockers.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
COMMENTS
You know, i still dont know why i havent picked up this album. Maybe its because the first single, "Down" is such an obvious attempt to join Limp Bizkit and Korn in writing pointlessly heavy songs. Or maybe because the third single "No Way Out" is simply awful in both its vocals and musical construction. But man, i dig that "Sour Girl" song. Listen to that phenomenal Rob Deleo bassline throughout the chorus, and well, the entire damn song. Despite what you anti sellout hatemongers out there will say to this, i really believe that Rob and Dean are one of the finest guitar/bass tandems in modern hard rock. And screw you all if you think otherwise! ;-)
BTW, i'd also like to point out both Bizkit and Korn's incompetance by saying that Dean and his classic Les Paul/Marshall stack setup manage to sound far heavier and broader in "Down" than those overrated seven stringers in the aforementioned groups. Take that Ibanez! Oh crap, i forgot Petrucci plays one of those. Oh well.
This one is certainly my favorite mainly because the music on here is focused and too-the-point. I agree, STP were never known for their originality, but I have always thought that they were slightly underrated when it comes to catchiness. Most of these songs stay in my head long after I've stopped listening to the disc. That, and the fact that over the course of their career, STP has grown from a Pearl Jam sound alike on their first album to a good, solid rock and roll band. The music they put out is consistently good, and the stuff on here is no exception.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
I hate to use this tired old cliche, but in this case it really applies - it's always nice what a little focus can do for a band. Especially a band where the vocalist has always had problems with drugs. On this fifth record, it seems like Scott Weiland is attempting to get his life back together, and that's a very good thing, because the lyrics here are among his most mature, and often quite insightful and beautiful, work to date, and his vocal ability hasn't slipped one bit. Musically, Shangri-La doesn't offer anything new (the same mix of really aggressive rockers and psychedelic pop influenced softer tunes is prominent here), but I can think of no other previous record in their catalog that has such a great consistency of fine melodies and overall songcraft - yes, even Purple (at least for me) had its' share of crappy, half-baked filler. The tone on this one seems to be wonderfully laid-back, too, which makes the album pleasant to listen to the whole way through.
The lead single here "Days Of The Week" may be a blatantly commercial Beatles-esque pop tune, but like so much of this band's poppier material, it deserved to be a hit. It has a wonderful hook, and the tune itself is effectively compact into 2-1/2 minutes. "Hollywood Bitch" is another smooth-sounding, but heavier edged rocker with a snappy little chorus, and "Too Cool Queenie", perhaps my favorite tune here, is lyrically a brilliant slap at Kurt Cobain's former wife Courtney Love, and it has just as great a hook as anything the band's ever written. Pretty unforgettable melody there, and the Deleo brothers' guitar/bass interplay is vintage STP. "Dumb Love" and "Coma" may seem like half baked rockers on the surface, but along with their fine, if slightly generic, aggression, they do have their hooks and quirks - I really dig the album starting crunch of the former and guitar sounds in the latter.
The softer ballads are also surprisingly moving - "Wonderful", "Black Again" and "Hello It's Late" provide a quite fine trio of songs to close off side one. The first of these has a sheer majesty present in its' chorus that might not quite be up there with similar efforts ("Loungefly", "Glide"), but it's moving nonetheless. The second actually has a really groovy chorus, if that word can be applied to one with the lyrics 'she can't eat, she can't sleep, she can't beg...'. Cool and quirky melody, though. Finally, the third features the presence of the softer side of Weiland's vocals, and while it probably drags just slightly, it does have a genuine prettiness.
As far as the last five tracks on here, most of them are neat in their own way. The interesting 'caught in traffic' tune "Regeneration" has a hard-hitting edge, with that intense chorus 'right of way, right of way, STOP SIGN' really working well. The most striking feature of the disorder tune "Bi-Polar Bear" is the really pretty guitar line that emerges out of its' epic structure, "A Song For Sleeping" is a moving ballad for Weiland's son Noah, with great acoustic guitar work and a fine refrain, and "Long Way Home" - man, that's one impressively intense slow crunching closer to end the album off with. Catchy, too. That only leaves the unmemorable "Transmissions From A Lonely Room", but it ain't bad while it's on. The same can be said for anything else on this album - the melodies and songwriting are solid straight through, and that earns the album a strong 7.5 - not any higher because they don't exactly back away from the formula with a diverse approach, but not any lower since it does seem like STP is becoming a better and more focused band with each release, and this is their most consistently satisfying listen yet.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
REVIEWS:
Post your comments about Talk Show
released by Talk Show
(reviewed by Pat D.)
Ack. Big mistake here. After Tiny Music, STP broke up partially due to Scott's drug problems and partially because Dean and Rob were tired of putting up with his lazy attitude towards album production. Actually, before the official split, Talk show was already in existence. Dean, Rob, and Eric recruited high-school friend and former Ten Inch Men singer David Coutts to front the band. So, really only one-fourth of STP broke up, so thats why they are on the STP page. In actuality, however, Scott would prove to be much more than one-fourth of the band's success.
Both Dean and Rob are competent guitarists. Dean, in particular, knows how to write incredibly powerful guitar lines with such delightful hooks. Example: even on this poor effort, two songs in particular have such phenomenal riffs that you overlook the shortcomings. Those being "Hello Hello" (which you might have heard on radio), and "John". The former has layer-upon-layer of distorted, heavy, careening riffs. "John" is a first-rate rocker complete with catchy chorus and careening solo. And "Peeling an Orange" is a decent little acoustic jam, with a HARMONICA solo. Hmmmm....
But the rest of the songs are beyond reproach. Some of the riffs aren't bad, but the main problem of this album comes into focus when you leave the better tracks listed above. That problem being the PAINFULLY bad lyric writing. Plus, the guys cannot come up with a decent topic to sing about. Take "Everybody Loves My Car". WHY????? Or "Ring Twice". Or even the halfway decent "Peeling an Orange". Geez, who sings about cutting fruit? And Dave Coutts may have more vocal range than Scott, but he tends to whine not at all dissimilar to that no talent Oasis fuck Liam Gallagher (my personal opinion). He certainly does not have the same presence.
In truth, its too bad about this band. Dean has one of THE fattest guitar lines ever, and a knack for great riff-writing. But it just goes to show that a good riff cannot carry you if the lyrics and vocalist suck. Take heart, STP fans, for rumor has it that the band will reunite and put out a new album in the near future.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
COMMENTS
I have read a lot of tepid reviews of Talk Show...and some almost hateful reviews.
The problem is that people compare Talk Show to STP and that's a shame. Talk Show sounds like a cross between Queen & Cheap Trick. This is a glam/pop/rock album and Dave Coutts has a killer voice. Why do so many people claim that Weiland is better? Maybe he has more charisma on stage. I don't know for sure, but Dave is great in his own way. I would love to collaborate with the guy. Talk Show is not the album that STP would have made if Weiland had been around...at least I don't think so. Many people have written about how daring Weiland's solo effort sounded and how Talk Show was generic, but I, for one, highly prefer the Talk Show album. I realize I'm in the minority on this subject, but that's fine by me. I got a promo copy of Talk Show when it was first released and I made the mistake of expecting Dave Coutts to sound like Weiland. Dave sounds more like a cross between Robin Zander & Freddie Mercury: 2 singers who are awesome. I truly hope that The DeLeo brothers regroup with Dave on vocals and make another Talk Show album. The Talk Show from 1997 album may have some flaws, but overall, it's a solid effort and it showed me that Talk Show had a TON of potential. I have searched for information on Dave Coutts recently and have been unsuccessful. I hope that he regroups with the ex-STP rhythm section and guitarist because these guys could make some strong music together if they gave it another shot. You might totally disagree with me, but there's no accounting for taste. I have heard the Velvet Revolver CD and Talk Show is a better band, if you ask me. Anyway, that's my 2 cents on that subject. By the way, I thought that the 2nd 1/2 of the last STP album (SHANGRI-LA DEE DA) was fantastic, but I was not surprised when they broke up.
Have a nice night.
Rich Miller in Chicago
Just thought i'd add my peice in about talk show.. i really don't see why every1 gave it such bad press, yeah the lyrics are meaningless, but the vocal sound are more than enough to carry that. The vocalist is different from weiland, sounding more like jane's addiction.Musically the songs are rather like the upbeat shangrila-dee da pop songs (think STP's regeneration mixed with janes addiction an u got the picture).
awesome album and well worth getting, its better than most of the stuff out now, but it was released in 1997.. which is when the era of good music ended in my opinion. Definetly better than velvet revolver, who are good, but not as good as STP.
Index | Main band/artist reviews page