Shangri-La-Dee-Da

Scott Weiland was starting to look like rock’s answer to Robert Downey Jnr., following a succession of drug arrests that saw him imprisoned for the bands last album, No.4. For Shangri-La-Dee-Da, the singer is back and has apparently cleaned up his act – at least his voice and lyrics sound reassuringly robust.

Stone Temple Pilots are a band I detested around the time of the laborious and often very dull Purple, but grew fond of with 1996’s Tiny Music, with it’s bitter, but recklessly poppy songs like ‘Big Bang Baby,’ a tune recalled here on a lot of tracks.

That’s a thing though, they haven’t really changed a lot since, and a lot of the album sounds like a throwback to their Seattle hey day. Apparently the turntable at Chez STP, had Pet Sounds and In Utero on constant rotation during the recording of Shangri-La.

Whether it’s a case of old songs finally seeing daylight, or that they haven’t gotten over Kurt’s death, there are still songs about Courtney, (possibly ‘Hollywood Bitch’ and definitely ‘Too Cool Queenie’ – “This boy, he played in a rock ‘n’ roll band/and he wasn’t half-bad/At saving the world/She said he could do no right/So he took his life.” )

Still, it’s an album of ranging moods, and some signs of mellowing amongst the bitterness. In the tender role reversal of ‘Black Again’ Scott casts himself as the carer and protector of someone under a cloud of depression; while the gentle ballads, ‘Wonderful’ and ‘A Song for Sleeping’ are odes to his beloved wife and kid. Overall though, it’s standard STP. I suppose there’s no law requiring any change in style by a band’s fifth album, and if a good mixture of grunge and pop sensibilities floats your boat then you’ll be happy enough with this.

Fiona Reid 8