Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots

So here it is, the record behind the soap opera that is Scott Weiland. For a band fronted by a figure who spends a sizeable chunk of his time incoherently rambling about in a condition which would be undignified for a man half of his age this is a remarkably sober record. It seems that the muse for this new found focus is older than the band itself. A glance at the floral decorated ‘V’ sign on the front cover highlights what becomes abundantly clear seconds after hitting the ‘play’ button: STP have discovered the ‘60s with relish. Kicking things off with vigour, opener ‘Between The Lines’ sounds like Cheap Trick masquerading as a British Invasion cover band, gloriously awash with saccharine melodies. The jangle of ‘Hickory Dichotomy’ and taught-rock of ‘Bagman’ see Weiland exercise his Bowie-fixation, whilst the grandiose of ‘Maver’ is the lament the Velvet Revolver never quite managed to pull off. It’s everything you’d expect: quirky lyrics, odd time signatures, slab-like riffs, and jangling percussion. And yet far from falling into the trap of many reunions of trying to recapture lost glories and merely grabbing self-parody, this is an album which looks firmly into the band’s future, hinting more firmly at the ethereal avant garde rock that they made towards the end of the ‘90s than the post grunge fury of earlier releases.

It’s not all great, however. The sub-standard ELO rip-off ‘Dare If You Dare’ is uninspired an on the frighteningly trite ‘Cinnamon’ the band manage to achieve something which they’ve never done before – they sound dull. But the duds are few and far between. There might not be anything demanding a place on a ‘Best Of’ here, but there record works as a whole, feeling more concise and focussed than previous outing ‘Shangri-la-dee-da’. This is no ego trip or cash ‘n’ grab, but a band pulling as one. It’s not great enough to make your year, but it’s certainly good enough to brighten up your summer.