So, um, I originally posted this in the Movies section because the spoilers in the Spiderman 2 thread momentarily blinded me.
Eric Kretz, the group’s drummer, sent the owner of the largest Stone Temple Pilots fansite on the internet, five previously unreleased songs from the No. 4 and Shangri-La Dee Da sessions.
You can find them at www.belowempty.com and I must say they are among the best songs this band have ever released. Why they weren’t released until now is beyond me, but they are absolutely amazing. They rank up there with Atlanta off of No. 4 as being excellently acoustic/soft songs that rock harder than most things Metallica or Linkin Park have ever released.
I whole-heartedly suggest taking a listen. They are simply splendid.
(this post dedicated to Dave Long, who is almost assuredly rushing in a mad dash to download them right now)
Heh… I wouldn’t go so far as to say better than Metallica or Linkin Park’s ENTIRE CATALOG, but they’re good. :)
I think I’ve had enough of soft rock STP though. As good as these are, had they put these on either album, it would’ve been overkill for a hard rock band to include more slow tempo stuff. That’s probably why I like “You Can’t Drive Me Away” and “Heed the Water Whisper” the most of the five. The last one could easily have been done heavier and all electric for another strong rocker.
This is really awesome of Eric Kretz to put them out there though. Makes you wonder why they didn’t hold onto them for some kind of “Lost Sessions” disc or something.
It’s a shame the band is through but it does seem like the parting has produced some good new material. Velvet Revolver is great and it shows that Weiland was a big part of the STP success. The rumors of the DeLeo brothers wanting to work with Chris Robinson of Black Crowes bode well for something cool there too.
Thanks for linking to this! I’m not one to check fan sites that often for rock bands.
Dave, a fan EQ’d the songs out rather nicely, so if you’re interested in hearing a bit more of the underlying aggression to the songs, then I suggest you redownload the new versions.
I do wholeheartedly agree that releasing these might have been overkill, but a part of me feels that they could have replaced half the material on Shangri-La Dee Da with these songs and made it a five-star album instead of the three-star affair it was.
Also, I’m so excited about the DeLeos working with a new band. They’re absolutely two of the nicest musicians I’ve ever met, real down to Earth fellas. Made me happy to meet them as many times as I did, and I cannot wait until they move on and continue to release work.
I’m glad Weiland and Kretz continue to find work. I wish Eric were more desired, but drummers are so often put aside as being the least important member of a band. Stone Temple Pilots really had an amazing line-up of talented musicians, all of them. It’s very sad that internal struggle caused them all to part ways.
Then again, they did give us a decade worth of music, and emerged as being the best band of the alternative/grunge craze when, in fact, they had a lot more vested in classic rock than they did either of those genres.
