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| Sunday, November 12, 2006 |
| Stone Temple Pilots - Purple |
 Now my sister-in-law has gone back to Spain, I can carry on from where I left off with my (occasional) look at the best alternative albums of the early 90s. Today it's STP's second and in my opinion, best album. I know that some real STP fans out there might be reading this, so I'll have to be careful with this one!! I'll begin with an admission: I am rather ambivalent about STP. I didn't have a lot of time for Core when it came out. Mainly because, at the time of it's release, there was a sudden rush of grunge imitators. Every major label signed up any band who sounded like they hail from Seattle. And unfortunately for STP, they were rather caught up in the crossfire. Many grungers considered them to be rip-off merchants, riding on the crest of the wave of the Seattle scene. Of course, this was a little unfair. They were plying their trade well before Nirvana broke through. Despite this, for me, they remained a imitators rather than innovators.
Despite this, I took the plunge and bought Purple because I had heard a lot of good things about it. It didn't disappoint. This release saw them start to develop their own sound and their own place in the alternative scene. There are some real cracking songs on this album including; Lounge Fly, Interstate Love Song, Vasoline and Big Empty. Lounge Fly really stood out for me when I first heard this album. I loved the riff to this song and I was always intrigued by the fact that they got someone else in to do the end guitar solo. I could never quite work out why. In fact, it was only while doing a bit of swotting up for this post that I discovered that the guitarist was in the Butthole Surfers.
Interstate Love Song was a bit of a major hit when it was released (it stayed at #1 for 15 weeks in the US). It has a kinda country feel to the opening of the song, before breaking into a passionate song about (according to Weiland anyway) Weiland lying to a girlfriend about staying clean while on the road (which would explain the video - see below). Although a short song, it is perhaps the stand-out song on the album.
After a couple of weaker tracks, Silver Gun Superman kicks in with it's heavy guitar riff. I love the guitar riff on this song. It's the kind of riff that you prance around imitating whenever you hear it, well I do anyway. After the song crashes to an end, you can hear the sound of someone (presumably Weiland) laughing and saying 'Oh God'. I like little touches like this on an album. It makes it feel like the album is recorded live in one hit, rather than a perfect rounded edges type effort that sounds too clinical.
Big Empty is another one of my favourite songs. It opens with a gentle guitar riff and soft drumbeat before exploding into life with a passionate chorus. I always kinda thought that it goes well with Interstate..., another song about difficulties in relationships. However, according to Weiland, the song is simply about 'f@$kin' in the back of a car'. Mmmm, somehow that cheapens it somewhat.
Following Big Empty are Unglued and Army Ants, both of which are straight out rockers. Army of Ants has always resonated with me as it plays with the same themes that many other grunge artists reflected on (the expression of your own individuality). For example, the lines:
Fall in those single file lines Like army ants Yeah, fall on into those single file lines And complete the plan.
I love those lines, mainly because I have never been one to fall into line with others (much to most people's annoyance). The album closes with Kitchenware & Candybars with it's delicate verses and passionate chorus it is a particularly good album closer, perhaps one of the finest of the genre. Of course, you get the obligatory 'hidden track' (it wouldn't be an early nineties grunge album without it!!). However, in this case it is more a throw away than most 'hidden tracks'. Sung by a Richard Peterson, it is a Johnny Mathis imitation called 'My Second Album' that is funny the first time you hear it, but after that you resolve to never listen to it again!! I kinda checked out of STP after their follow-up album (the much underrated Tiny Music...), mainly due to the ongoing drug problems of Weiland and the perpetual cycle of splitting and reforming throughout the nineties. As for his new band, Velvet Revolver, they are pretty weak compared to the heights he reached with the other members of STP. I always feel that STP had the opportunity to be a truly great rock band and, although they fell short overall, this album certainly hints at the greatness they could have achieved had Weiland not succumbed to his demons quite so regularly. Video for Interstate Love Song
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posted by korova @ 4:45 pm  |
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| 3 Comments: |
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I was never a big fan of Purple, I like some of the songs, but I always like Tiny Music and No. 4 more than Purple. But I do agree with you that STP always seemed to be on the cusp of a great band, but never really got there or reached their true potential. Their timing when they became big was unfortunate, being over shadowed by other bands. But whenever I want to hear how great STP was, I put on the song Heaven & Hot Rods from No.4. :)
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Hey wes - I do like Tiny Music.., but Purple edges it for me. I'll have to check out their other albums at some point as I have heard that they are not bad. It has just always taken me a while to get past the jumping on the bandwagon thing (even though it would appear to be untrue).
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Glad to see this album made your list.
: )
Purple was the first STP album I heard and it is still one of my favourites.
I always felt that the accusations of band wagon jumping were unfair- to be honest STP are my favourite band from that era anyway. I agree with Wes though in that they never became as huge as they could have done, mainly due to Weilands drug problems.
Another reason I find is that because the albums they released vary so much in their sound even the fans are split over which is their favourite. Some people only like one album of theirs and tend to write off the others.
Lounge Fly is a great song which blew me away when they opened with it when I saw them play in London. I think the guest guitarist was just born out of the fact they had been touring with Butthole Surfers while promoting Core.
Interstate Love Song is my favourite STP track, although most of their fans tend to prefer Plush. It demonstrates their Led Zeppelin influences and like most of the album I feel it proves they are so much more than grunge wannabes.
Still Remains is another one of my favourite songs. I love the lyrics and would have to disagree that it's a weaker track.
The 'Oh God' at the end of Silvergun Superman is one of the DeLeo brothers (I think it was Dean). His guitar string broke as he finished playing and they left his comment on the end of the song, which I agree is a nice touch, similar to Wet My Bed from Core.
Big Empty is amazing and the first song of theirs I ever heard (from The Crow soundtrack), while the melancholy Kitchenware and Candybars really is a great album closer about Weilands feelings when his girlfriend and himself had to make a difficult decision regarding an abortion.
All of their albums are worth listening to- you should certainly give them all a try. Trust me, there are some great songs you have yet to hear.
As for Velvet Revolver I was never a big Guns & Roses fan so I was one of the few people in the UK looking forward to that release because of Weilands vocals. I prefer his STP stuff but there are some songs I do really like off the album (the ones that are closer to STP than G&R, surprisinly). What I am looking forward to more is Army of Anyones new album (STP guitarists with Filters frontman) which if the track I have heard is anything to go by will be great.
Have you tried Weilands solo album or the rest of STP's side project Talkshow? Both are well worth a listen, although not necessarily for STP fans.
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I was never a big fan of Purple, I like some of the songs, but I always like Tiny Music and No. 4 more than Purple. But I do agree with you that STP always seemed to be on the cusp of a great band, but never really got there or reached their true potential. Their timing when they became big was unfortunate, being over shadowed by other bands. But whenever I want to hear how great STP was, I put on the song Heaven & Hot Rods from No.4. :)