Stone Temple Pilots: No. 4 : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

A singer in prison, a scene that's passed you by, a general air of disrespect: not the ideal climate in which to launch your comeback. But on their reunion album with singer Scott Weiland, Stone Temple Pilots have found freedom in the dimly lit arena of waning interest. In typical STP fashion, No. 4's songs are strong pop-rock pieces, but without the self-consciousness of previous efforts. The music goes from hard and dirge-y ("Down") to breezy and Bacharach-like pop ("Atlanta") to wistful and opiated ("Heaven and Hot Rods"). The lyrics are the stuff of heroin dreams: full of candles, spoons and saviors. Weiland's vocals are gravelly and throaty in spots, then high-pitched and ghostly gentle in "Pruno." His angry edge seems to be gone, having given way to resignation as he sings, "I know the questions but I lost the answers." Sadly, it may not matter how good STP are now. The band's next big moment is likely to come not on the heels of this record but as an episode of VH1 Behind the Music.