So this next one is a three part review. Part one is the band Stone Temple Pilots. I’m not going to reveal who the other two bands are until I review them but you are welcome to guess who they are. So here we go…..
Core- this is another one of those albums that’s a perfect debut album. The riffs that Dean DeLeo writes are incredible and the songs are catchy and awesome. I really like this album a lot and it’s easy to see why this is regarded as a classic. This is a perfect example of just a straight up rock album. I give this 10/10
Standouts: Crackerman, Piece of Pie, Sin
Purple- their second album to me picks up right where they left off. This I pretty sure is the album that made them popular because it’s got so many great songs. I know the couple times I saw them they played a lot of songs from this and the last album. Paul Leary from Butthole Surfers plays the ending guitar solo on the song Lounge Fly. I know that the song Big Empty appears on The Crow soundtrack. Anyway, another very solid rock album and I give this one 10/10
Standouts: Meatplow, Silvergun Superman, Unglued
Tiny Music…….Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop- before this review, I have to say I hadn’t heard very many songs off of this album. After hearing this, I’m glad I did because this is a pretty good record. This one is different than the previous two because the songs have a 60’s and 70’s Rock vibe to them and I get an almost jazzy feel to this one. Either way, if you haven’t checked this one out you definitely should even if it’s not as popular as Core or Purple. I give this one 8/10
Standouts: Trippin on a hole in a Paper Heart, Lady Picture Show, Tumble in the Rough
No. 4- this one is a departure from the previous record. This one goes back to their hard rock roots and has elements of psychedelic rock and even has a little bit of a metal edge to it. It does start off harder then kind of slows down and then picks back up slightly. The harder songs are at the start of the album and some,of the songs are kind of generic. Overall a solid effort. I give this 8/10
Standouts: Down, Pruno, No Way Out
Shangri-LA DEE DA- this album for me seems a little uneven. I mean you have songs that are hard but then you have songs that are slower and then you have songs that are a mix between faster songs and slower songs. There are even songs with a sitar on them. This is a very underrated album and while it’s not as good as say Core, is still a good album. It should be noted that this would be the last album for 9 years as the band broke up. I give this one 8.5/10
Standouts: Dumb Love, Coma, Too Cool Queenie
So before the next album would be released, StP would break up and Scott Weiland would go to Velvet Revolver and the DeLeo brothers would form Army of Anyone. Both those bands disbanded and Stone Temple Pilots reforms and in 2010 we get……….
Stone Temple Pilots (2010)- so here we hav the reunion album and this one has a 70’s vibe and definitely picks up where the last album left off. In my opinion, it’s as if they’d never split up because the chemistry between Scott and the rest of the band is so good. I will say that I had to listen to this one a couple of times to really get into it but overall a great album and it’s really sad that this had to be Scott’s last record before his death. I give this one 8.5/10
Standouts: Huckleberry Crumble, Take a Load Off, Hazy Daze
So in 2013, Scott Weiland was fried from the band and shortly after, the rest of the band recruited Chester Bennington from Linkin Park on vocals so now we have Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington. And the result is……..
High Rise- yes this is an EP but it’s part of their history so I’m going to (reluctantly) review it. So I remember hearing them when I was driving home from dropping my parents off at LAX and listening to the KROQ Weenie Roast live broadcast on the radio and thinking that this sounded like Linkin Park but they were playing Stone Temple Pilots songs. Turns out that this was the first live performance of Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington. And then the next day they released the single Out of a Time. I can remember Chester saying how much of a fan he was of this band and they wanted to release a lot of music. I guess they wanted to do an EP instead of a full length which it’s like if they wanted to release a lot of music then why not wait but whatever. Anyway, do I like this? No not really. I mean it’s not Stone Temple Pilots and thankfully we get this one EP. This to me just sounds like a different version of Linkin Park and that’s not to say that Chester Bennington is a bad vocalist he just doesn’t fit this band. Anyway there’s not many songs on this and the only really good thing this has going for it is the riff from the song Out of Time but that’s pretty much it and even that is nothing special. It’s safe to say that this one is skip able. I give this 0/10
Standouts: none
Stone Temple Pilots (2018)- this is the first record with new singer Jeff Gutt who has now replaced both Scott Weiland and Chester Bennington who had both died before this album was released. Personally I think he does a fine job replacing both singers. His voice isn’t that different than Scott’s and this album sounds like a STP record. This album sounds like it picks up,where they left off with the last full length (not the Chester EP). However, I was expecting a little more of their hard rock roots to be present. I mean it’s not a bad record but I feel like something is missing musically. I actually got to see them at the last concert I did VIP catering for and live, they are just as good as they were with Weiland. I give this one 7/10
Standouts: Meadow, Six Eight, Guilty
Pereida- their most recent release actually came out just a couple of months ago and I was pretty excited because that means that we got new music from them before this whole corona virus lock down thing. When I heard the album, I didn’t realize that they decided to go all acoustic. Not what I was expecting but maybe it’ll be good you know like Jar of Flies was. The songs are kind of bland and I found myself bored by this album. I mean I give props for trying something new however, I don’t think it was very good. The songs are just kind of whatever. I was expecting their second album with a new singer to be a regular or better rock record. I give this one 1/10
Standouts: maybe the song Sunburst
Overall, this is a band with a troubled past with having had 2 singers pass away one of which is one of the best singers music has ever seen/heard. It’s really too bad that they couldn’t work things out and keep making records. I feel lucky to have seen them with Scott and I have to say no one owned the stage quite like him. As a whole, these are great records and if you haven’t listened to them or it’s been awhile then go back and do so. RIP Scott and Chester.
Album Rankings:
- Purple
- Core
- Shangri-LA DEE DA
- No.4
- Tiny Songs……Music From The Vatican Gift Shop
- Stone Temple Pilots (2010)
- Stone Temple Pilots (2018)
- Perdida
- High Rise
Sinister Reviews 