Stone Temple Pilots have existed since Nirvana was king. They withstood the fall of the grunge movement from which they were born. As the crash and burn of a genre went down, they came out unscathed. Today, in a time when pop rules, STP is just as strong, with an allegiance of fans young and old. With the release of Shangri-La Dee Da, they find themselves following up an incredibly successful album, No. 4, which gave us the huge hits “Soar Girl” and “Down”.
Shangri-La Dee Da comes out firing as “Dumb Love” burns all it touches. It’s the same heat and energy that they released on Core, whereas “Days Of The Week” gives us those glorious melodies that the world embraced on No 4. Scott Weiland is at his finest. His voice sounds as strong as ever holding up his dashing hooks.
“Hollywood Bitch” really rips through the verses. The chorus is catchy, but I can’t really get into the words. They’re a bit too shallow and easy. There’s too much talent here to let this slide.
On the slow side comes “Wonderful”. You knew there had to be a ballad, right? It’s sweet, but it doesn’t hold up against tracks of the past like “Creep”. A nice peaceable track is “A Song For Sleeping”, which is as mellow as it sounds.
STP bring “Too Cool Queenie” out of an era, reminiscient of Bowie’s heyday, It’s the sort of track that won’t quite thrill you the first time. Just give it time. It’ll snatch you up soon enough.
It was only about nine years ago when everyone said that STP were nothing but Pearl Jam clones. Who has had the last laugh? STP should finally get the props they deserve. Take a trip to Shangri-La Dee Da.
+ rae gun
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