Out went the Aqua Net and Spandex in 1992 and in came Flannel and a new sound emerging from Seattle. The kids back then called it Grunge and two bands that came from the that time frame were Pearl Jam and The Stone Temple Pilots who both had huge selling albums.
This week deKe takes a back seat as Jex goes into a “Retro ThrowDown” with Special Guest, Dave (aka Probie) and together they will slug it out and see which album comes out on top that being either P.J’s Ten or STP with Core.
So it was off to Toronto back on October 8th with Tbone coming along as we were going to see Iron Maiden on the 11th.
Other than seeing Maiden live the other bit if business we had to take care of was scoring Vinyl.
‘Sonic Boom’ and ‘Kops Records’ were our two focal points of dropping serious cash in which we did.
It was a no brainer for me to buy vinyl but I was glad to see Tbone jump both feet in and grabbed what turned out to be 11 albums of his own!
Atta boy Old Man!
The day before we left (Oct 7th) Amazon dropped off an album at my house that was a gift from Tbone which was The Cult’s latest release ‘Under The Midnight Sun’ which is a fantastic record. What a way to start our trip the following day.
So here are the scores from ‘Kops’ and ‘Sonic Boom’ posted below..
Some more T.O finds except for ‘Skid Row’ which I ordered from Amazon.
As I mentioned earlier we were there to see Iron Maiden and of course a visit to the merch table is a must…
We also hooked up with Brent Jensen who brought us gifts including T shirts, books and for myself basically what is a demo version of Brent’s ‘Leftover People’ book before he sent the final copy off to get published. What a gift and its the only one is existence!
One other thing and that was the latest copy of ‘Rock Candy Magazine’ which I have been a subscriber since Day 1. Always a great read!
There ya have it folk’s…
Coming up..
November 12th- Record Fair
November 18th- Iron Maiden Triple LP vinyl set of ‘The Number of the Beast’ and the super deluxe box set of KISS ‘Creatures of the Night’ on (ugh) CD!
November 22nd- Headstones live in Tbay and kicking off there Canadian tour here of all places!
You know when I had heard of STP getting yet another lead singer and taking another run at it “Bored” came to my mind especially when I read that new singer Jeff Gutt was a contestant on those American Idol like shit shows.
Basically I thought STP might be cooked for good….
I know the previous two singers had passed away (Weiland & Chester Bennington) so my mind was thinking in terms of change it up by band name and make it interesting. Play the old stuff of course but give the STP moniker a break.
See there lies the problem as the general public would know the STP name over say a new band name like “Flipper Flanagan”**
Course when Eric Kretz/Dean and Robert DeLeo were having trouble with Weiland back in the 90’s the DeLeo’s along with Kretz formed two different bands at the time one being Talk Show the other being Army of Anyone which both tanked and were commercial failures.
So twice they tried and twice they failed so I see why they don’t want to go down that path yet again!
Fellow Blog Pal John T Snow was one of the first reviews I read of the current STP album I won’t go into detail about it. How about I link it and you can read it. Pretty cool that John has a family connection to the recording of the STP album. Go ahead don’t be shy click and read!
Another Fellow Blog Pal J is a huge fan of these guys when Weiland was fronting the band. Actually J is a huge Weiland Fan period! J through the comments I read is having a hard time digging/getting into this release as at times it sounds like the old STP sound.
I get what J is saying. I am nowhere near the huge STP fanboy that J is but I do dig their stuff. I totally get it on where J is coming from as when Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden back in 1993 I was bummed out. I invested a lot as a Maiden Fan Boy by that point since 1981 into Maiden. Huge drag but I spun the positive as Bruce and Maiden would both be putting out product. So perhaps It would be a win win.
Kinda not really. Maiden of course got Blaze Bailey put out two albums (X Factor and Virtual XI) while Bruce stuck out solo albums.
Maiden I will give them credit changed a musical course with Bailey as he was the exact opposite of Bruce. Fair enough. I bought those two Blaze records. While X Factor was not a bad album Virtual XI lost the plot for me as the songs were so-so. Bruce on the other hand-made more Maiden sounding like solo albums like Accident of Birth and The Chemical Wedding. I was onboard with what Bruce solo was doing.
Course Bruce rejoined Maiden and all is good if not better that the 80’s..
Sorry for the Maiden ramble but I just wanted you the reader to know I get it when someone in a band you dig bolts off and it’s just never the same.
Back to STP…
Ok…I like this record. Too be honest it took forever for lead single Meadow to grow on me. Our local only Rock Station 94 Fm as much as there playlist annoys me has played this tune lots and eventually after hearing it daily I decided that it was a pretty good rock tune.
Meadow oozes that sound of STP as does a lot of this album. I know they split the writing credits four ways on this album and perhaps that’s to keep the new boy in the loop. Fair enough but its true this has a bunch of tunes that are cut from the 1990’s STP’s Rock Cloth!
Roll Me Under is a great track. Cool shuffle of the drums along with Robert’s Bass Line makes this one easily one of my fav’s from this album. Six Eight as well is another as they are the heavier like tracks but with a catchy groove.
Course there is some chill moments like the Art of Letting Go. More acoustic sounding if anything leads me to my next point. These songs more importantly than anything is how Bassist Robert Deleo writes basically since 1992 when Core came out and sold huge!
There lies the problem for many I suppose and this is my 2 cents tossed in the STP Ring! This self titled album sounds like old STP perhaps the new guy does not have the swagger that Wieland had but fair enough perhaps give him time. An album or two more and perhaps he will find his own niche within this band.
Having said that I hope these guys can make it with the same guy for an album or two more but seriously if they don’t make this work I’m out for good as I did invest in Talkshow and Army of Anyone and where did that get me?
** Flipper Flanagan my Tbay readers will recognize this band name as they are a local folk rock group who has been playing around for decades…..
Well actually the full title to the third Stone Temple Pilots record is Tiny Music….Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop.
1996 brings indeed a new STP record and another fine batch of tunes from Weiland/Eric Kretz and the DeLeo brothers Dean and Robert.
Basically another strong album from these guys…
Let’s get into this shall we?
A real chill vibe of almost an Hotel Bar like vibe instrumental (bass/keys/guitar/drums) calling itself Press Play slams right into…
Pops Love Suicide a song in which the guitars are a buzz sawing and you gotta love Brendan OBrian’s production which keeps the sound of this record raw not too much polish. Weiland as he always does takes over vocally and this is a great opener. Sounds like the song is going off the rails but in a cool kind of way…
Tumble In The Rough features Kretz slamming his drums forward thrashing about as the lyrics has Weiland not eating/not sleeping basically a ton of trouble coming on down, Robert lifts off a great solo as the band shifts into overdrive.
I love Big Bang Baby with that sleazy like guitar riff wrapping itself around the drum and bass line and what is even better is the video of this tune. Dean DeLeo is on another planet man! Haha….
Lady Picture Show is another great track which when it slinks into the chorus reminds me of an STP/Beatles mashup. Love the vocal. Weiland is rock guy personify!
The band shifts into a lower gear with And So I Know which features a slow like groove almost a late night boozefest and everyone just wants to chill out with a nice atmospheric track. This song delivers it in spades as Kretz and his drums keep the track from going total soft! Great solo by Dean…almost jazz like!
STP ramp up on Trippin On A Hole In A Paper Heart almost sounds Weiland autobiographical love how he tackles the chorus as he’s “Not dead and Not for sale”
I love Art School. Everything about it! So cool. Lyrics/Music and how it goes right nutso on the chorus as Weiland and Dean go all Grungey even though its 96!
Adhesive is in another time zone as far as I’m concerned. Behind it lurks a little evil with those big blasts of power chords throughout and the song just gets filthy during the chorus. My Kinda Rock as STP does not play it safe!
What a great title in Ride The Cliche. Another out there trippy like track as the song breaths at times during the chorus and then STP goes all psychedelic during the verse.
Daisy you don’t see this one coming and once again STP tosses a curve ball and that’s just a short little music interlude with some more nice circa jazz like guitarist.
Things ramp up for Seven Caged Tiger as the song features some nice fretwork from Dean almost slide like guitar during the solo and such. A mid tempo tune to wrap things up at STP HQ’s!
You know digging into these albums this week was a great revisit. Both this album and 12 Gracious Melodies are excellent albums 20 plus years later.
It’s a total shame as Weiland is no longer here. STP had a run of some great albums folks and you gotta love the vibe of this band.
You had Weiland who was the frontman with the rockstar deal and the charisma. You had Dean DeLeo who played some great riffs while looking like he was on a whole other planet while his brother Robert with that slick back combed hair with the shades looks more like a CIA/DEA agent than a fantastic Bass player and writer which I should add. Wrapping up things you have Drum fella Eric Kretz who looks he just traded in his surfboard for a drum kit but plays some great patterns throughout STP albums.
A few weeks back I commented somewhere that I had 2 half-finished STP reviews sitting around for a while. John and James both told me to get em done! So I did and here’s numero uno!
Stone Temple Pilots right off the bat when they dropped the debut Core album in 1992 were a real good band. I dug that debut as Wicked Garden is just that. A wicked track as were a bunch of others.
So with a ton of sales from the Core album you knew the hype was going to be huge for the followup which is Purple which hit the streets back in June of 1994 and with lead off single Vaseoline speeding up the charts it was a quick purchase. Plus add the fact that it was announced that STP would be opening for the Stones on there Voodoo Lounge Tour in Toronto it was a win win for both myself and Tbone as we had tickets to this show! (it must also be mentioned that Mr Books was present at this show as well!)
What a great marketing move whose ever idea it was not to print the album tracks on the back cover. All that was printed was 12 Gracious Melodies. Ha! Those funny Seattle Dude’s!
Scott Weiland(RIP)/Robert and Dean DeLeo/Eric Kretz put out a great record that is still great today…
From the opening track Meat Plow(great title) The Pilots lay down a solid groove almost Sabbath like with the gears a grunging. Meat Plow just has a real cool groove to it. Hey man Weiland has a bullet watch out! STP can play no doubt and ask Tbone as this album is lodged in his all time Top 20!
Vasolinewas everywhere in the summer of 94! Such a cool wicked groove between the drums/guitar/bass and Weiland lays down the law with a great vocal! Still remember when they played this track opening for the Stones back in 94 with Weiland slipping all over the stage doing his Vasoline stage move! Such a great talent….
Lounge Fly features some huge sounding drums. Cool off beat like stomp featuring some slick like slide guitar from Dean DeLeo. Weiland to no ones surprise drops down an awesome lead vocal!
Ok! I will go on record saying that Interstate Love Song has to be one of my favourite tunes from the 90’s. It has all the great ingredients of a Classic Track. Great groove/Great vocal/Great music and best of all one of the best choruses you will find anywhere with a real slippery like bass line from Robert who cuts through the mustard with Kretz and his drums! Must mention the real smooth like opening before the faders are pushed up and the song lifts off! PURE BRILLIANCE meaning PURE GOLD (in my book of Rock)
Still Remains keeps the momentum pushing forward with a real cool like Keith Moon smash a roo with the cymbals.
Pretty Penny shows us that these cats can shift musical gears and go all acoustic with some real crazed like rhythm changes during the chorus when Weiland tells us all how Pretty Penny is gone! STP can kick ass even acoustically…..
Back on board with some more Sabbath like music with Silvergun Superman(great title!) but they also chill out melodically during the chorus and they go right back into the Sabbath Doom cave with the verse that features some real like melodic like playing from Dean! Tony Iommi would be proud of this one….
Big Empty has a smoke-filled bar like atmosphere during the verses in other words a real easy like vibe with Weiland and Dean playing chill with some slide like acoustically noodling before the chorus ramps up and gives you a swift boot up the arse!
Unglued is so good as well as it stomps right out of the gate and slams your head against the wall. Loud pissed off rage and Weiland has this rage coming over him.. Case in point..
moderation is masturbation
what is what, and what makes you feel good
all these things I think about,
I think about
always come unglued
Dig the groove of Army Ants as it to goes right off the rails as Weiland starts singing. STP does not play it safe with tempo changes and man thats this tune. These tracks work well with a band like STP as they had a singer who could handle it and make it work vocally!
Kitchen Ware and Candy Bars closes the album with Weiland sings about “Sell me down by the river” as this mid tempo rock features a real nasty distorted solo from Dean that end’s this album.
My Second Album starts a few seconds after Kitchenware and sounds like a 70’s tune with piano and Weiland’s voice and it sounds like I dunno an AM tune from decades ago. Those Silly Temple Pilots mucking around and good on them not taking themselves seriously!
What can you say about this album? A total classic and I would have to say along with Soundgardens brilliant Superunknown (1994) I would have to say are the two best albums that came out of Seattle.
Alright, alright. I know a lot of people love Pearl Jam. I like PJ as well but these two albums are so good and hey it’s just this schmucks opinion as well.
You can see why Tbone has placed this in his all time Top 20 as all the tracks are excellent. No make that all 47 minutes 3 seconds of 12 Gracious Melodies are Classic!
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