Pleased to meet you, Nice to know me 4 Out of 5 Stars
For a band often slogged off in their early days as grunge posers, Stone Temple Pilots built themselves a might strong body of work. "Thank You" tracks songs from their 5 top ten albums and adds both the new "All In The Suit That You Wear" and an unplugged version of "Plush" to make a very good single disc set. The only things that were missing for me, a casual listener, was their version of Zep's "Dancing Days" and the radio favorite "Pretty Penny."
Otherwise, "Thank You" focuses on STP's two secret weapons, guitarist Dean DeLeo and vocalist and perpetual rock causality/vocalist Scott Weiland. While Weiland went through personas as often as he went through rehab, DeLeo added a consistently heavy crunch to their songs, often offset by wonderful, melodic playing. His power of "Sex Type Thing" and the heaviest rocker here, "Down," pile drive their way into your head (and in the case of "Sex Type Thing," drove them to stardom). Then there's the Beatlesque chiming of "Lady Picture Show" and the bluesy "Sour Girl." DeLeo is one of the 90's unsung guitar heroes.
That is likely because he's overshadowed by Scott Weiland and all his accompanying drama. But Scott is a strikingly versatile vocalist, capable of the grungely howl that put them on the map to the soulful croon he employs on "Creep" and the acoustic version of "Plush." He is also one of the 90's more oddball frontmen, as anyone who ever saw his Bowie/Glam phase around the time of "No 4" could tell you.
Mix all these together and "Thank You" cooks like a great singles comp should. Despite not being on chronological order (and maybe even to its benefit), these fifteen songs hold together as a great listen. You can slip this in the player and keep cruising without hitting skip once. "Interstate Love Song" (from "Purple," my favorite STP CD) alone makes this a great in-the-car discs, so if all you need from STP is the radio stuff, "Thank You" fills the tank.
No comments:
Post a Comment