Purple/Core [Import]

Stone Temple Pilots | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 2, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• ASIN: B001CDLAOY
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #508,403 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Import-only two CD release features a pair of hit albums housed together in one package: Purple (1994) and Core (1992). Warner. 2008.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars STP proves themselves a heavyweight band with this release (Purple), December 14, 2011

By 

Mike London "MAC" (Oxford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Purple/Core (Audio CD)

On PURPLE, we see Weiland and Co. grabbing not for hardhitting riffs so much as credibility with the critics. They had been roasted with their debut CORE because of the heavy sludge attack of that record. Stone Temple Pilots were accused of being rather dull copy-cat `artists', learning from Pearl Jam and Nirvana their entire bag of tricks and then replicating it with rather boring results. CORE's main problem, of course, is it gets very bogged down in the full assault of that heavy grunge sound, and Stone Temple Pilots don't rely on much else to carry the record through.

The critics this time were fairly right. With the exception of the four singles (Wicked Garden, Sex Type Thing, Creep, and Plush), which stand as some of the very best songs of the early 1990s and as important as anything Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the other grungies were doing at the time. These tracks were tempered with melodicism, heavy-hitting music, and a great acoustic sound which rivals even Alice in Chains (who I believe has the best acoustic sound of any of the grunge heavy weights).

PURPLE is miles ahead of their debut. While they still retain the trademark sludge of grunge, they temper it greatly and vary things up enough to make their sound much more interesting, and in the process give the other grunge bands a run for their money.

Of course, recrafting your sound does not make the new record any better than the old one unless you have songs to go along with it (Sixteen Stone vs. Razorblade Suitcase). This is where PURPLE shines. As far as I'm concerned this record plays like a greatest hits record, or a compilation of essential early 1990s tracks. Without exception, every song on here is as good as the singles I cited from CORE. Stone Temple Pilots turned in a set that almost every song sounds like it has the potential to be a radio hit, and while critics and fans may cringe thinking that means they've sold out, Stone Temple Pilots sound their best when they're doing rock that could get on the radio*.

PURPLE sounds much more commercially minded than CORE, but in this case that's not a weakness or artistic compromise. Instead, PURPLE sounds much more like a band that has at long last come into their signature sound, and they're damn good at what they do. Just like The Who's MEATY, BEATY, BIG, & BOUNCY, everyone of these tracks shows an excellent band producing high quality singles which ranks as the best music from that time. The thing that sets PURPLE apart artistically, with its commercial sound, is it sounds genuine and a natural evolution of the band, and never once feels manufactured at all (if you want manufactured grunge-by-numbers rock get SIXTEEN STONE by Bush). PURPLE sounds both legitimate artistically and exhilarting musically, making it one of the most exciting records of the early 1990s.

Buy Purple now, as it stands as one of the essential records from the 1990s. Stone Temple Pilot never topped it, but resting on the strength of this and their other singles they will be sure to be remembered.

Mike London

*Well, not all the songs sound like a hit grunge single. The last track, 12 Gracious Melodies, is a hilarious novelty track. I wish they had put "Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart" on here. It so fits the sound on Purple, enough so that I almost think it's an outtake from this record.. That and "Dancing Days" too. I knew that song from STP and didn't know it was a Zeppelin track until much later, so I always think of the STP version of it. Shocked me when I learned it was Zeppelin because I was so used to STP singing it, and to tell the truth I think STP does a better job.