Customer Reviews

Thank You

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The music disc get 4.5 stars. The DVD section gets the full 5 stars.

Stone Temple Pilots certainly proved all their detractors wrong. Initially written off as nothing but Pearl Jam clones, Stone Temple Pilots proved to be one of the most creative and vital forces throughout the 1990s. Although they borrowed from the Seattle soundbook with their debut "Core" (1992), they found their own sound with subsequent albums. STP never stagnated or suffered a creative bust. They always put out quality albums. STP was always mixing it up with each new release. All five of their albums had their own unique sound and vibe. As previously stated, "Core" was the most grunge sounding album in the STP catalog. It was grunge music made as arena rock. "Purple" (1994) was more refined and the songs were more skillfully crafted. "Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop" (1996) eschewed the grunge style of the earlier albums, and instead opted for retro, 70s glam meets 90s modern rock. "No4" (1999) was a combination of the first three albums, and was also somewhat more rough-around-the-edges. The highly underrated "Shangri-La-Dee-Da" (2001) was a more refined, polished follow-up.

The greatest hits album "Thank You," is flawed, but great nonetheless. If you listened to modern rock radio throughout the 90s, you will undoubtedly be familiar with all these songs, as they were all radio staples, and remain so to this day. By listening to this album, you will see why STP was one of the best rock bands of the 1990s. They just wrote killer, killer catchy songs with infectious hooks. This CD is really a comprehensive overview of all their radio-hits. This compilation does an excellent job of representing the bands first three albums.

The problem with "Thank You" is its treatment of the last two STP albums "No4," and "Shangri-La-Dee-Da." As STP rolled on through the late 90s and early 00s, their music always stayed consistently good, and these are two great albums, but they are underrepresented on "Thank You." Only two songs from "No4" and one song from "Shangri-La-Dee-Da" are included.

"Thank You" serves as a greatest hits, as opposed to a best-of. The problem is that a lot of their best songs from the later day albums were not huge radio staples, and were not hits, but were great nonetheless. A CD can hold 80 minutes of music, but this CD holds only 60. About four additional songs from the last two albums should have been included (five, if they left off the acoustic version of "Plush" which was a cool rendition, but a waste of space). It would have been a great way for fans of the earlier albums to get into the later day stuff. "Heaven & Hot Rods" from "No4" should have been included, as should have "Too Cool Queenie" and "Hello, it's Late" from "Shangri La Dee Da."

A real comprehensive best-of album from Stone Temple Pilots would really need to be two CDs in length, with not only the radio hits, but also essential album cuts from all five albums. In addition, it should include the awesome cover of Led Zeppelin's "Dancing Days" and the Beatles "Revolution."

Apart from these faults, this is still a great compilation. "All in the Suit that you Wear" (recorded in 2002) is a great song, unavailable elsewhere and should please fans of the band. If you don't own any STP albums, this is a good place to start. But then I'd still check out some of the later day albums.

As for the DVD, you really could not ask for anything more. It's three hours of all live performances, (some professional, some bootlegs, all awesome), and all their music videos. And unlike the CD, their whole career is given a comprehensive overview.

The CD/DVD set of "Thank You" was a tremendous way to exit the scene for Stone Temple Pilots. Its intention was for the guys to give one last gift back to the fans on their way out the door, and it really does just that. The CD is a terriffic compilation of the band's A-side singles, and the DVD has over three hours of incredible live footage, a photo gallery, as well as most all of the original music videos for the "Thank You" compilation of songs. This really is a classy effort by the band, and a great way for the fans to remember them. This is truly a must-have for not only any STP fan, but any early 90s glam rock fan as well. A+++

Finally, an STP best-of and DVD all in the same package!!!!! OK, first of all, the best-of CD is really good, but at 15 tracks and only 58 minutes (in non-chronological order), it could have included more tracks, so here's what I would have put instead:

1. Plush
2. Sex Type Thing
3. Wicked Garden
4. Creep
5. Crackerman
6. Vasoline
7. Interstate Love Song
8. Big Empty
9. Unglued
10. Pretty Penny
11. Dancing Days (Led Zeppelin tribute album cover)
12. Big Bang Baby
13. Lady Picture Show
14. Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart
15. Down
16. Sour Girl
17. Days Of The Week
18. Hollywood B***h
19. Revolution (Beatles cover & 9/11 charity single)
20. All In The Suit That You Wear (new track)
21. Plush (acoustic version)

However, the DVD ROCKS!!!!! With 3 hours worth of music videos, live performances, bootleg footage shot by friends and family of the band and other material, the DVD makes this a 5-star set!!!!!

(P.S. - check out the video for "Sour Girl"...it has Sarah Michelle Gellar - from TV's 'BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER', for those who don't know - on it!!!!! Mmm, BUFFY!!!!!)

Stone Temple Pilots has long been one of my favorite bands. Vocalist Scott Weiland, guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, and drummer Eric Kretz all combined their musical abilities which resulted in 5 full-length albums. Despite the fact that when they released their first CD "Core" they were written off as just another grunge band, a Pearl Jam/Nirvana wannabe, they proved their merit and have written some of my favorite songs. Despite being a fan of STP, my preferences differ from a lot of STP fans. I love 4 of their albums, I like 1 album, and I hate none. My favorite album is "No. 4" an album that usually ranks near the bottom of a STP fans list. My least favorite is "Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop." There is so much talent in this band. Vocalist/Lyricist Scott Weiland has such great range and a lot of his lyrics rank right up there with Jim Morrison, one of his heroes. Not all of his lyrics are great, but the great ones are some of the best. Lines like "I wanna drink from your naked fountain" and "You're the wonder in everything that's wonderful" still make me laugh and wish that I were that talented. The DeLeo Brothers (now in Army of Anyone, a band with a lot of potential if they last) were and are great at writing and playing music. They have a knack for writing catchy harmonies and hooks, some of them the most recognizable in rock. As for drummer Eric Kretz, the guy is nothing special compared to the likes of Neil Peart or John Bonham or David Grohl but he works great in this band. Now here's the bands Greatest Hits, entitled "Thank You." Rating a "Greatest Hits" CD is hard to do. Even the most casual fan of a band complains about the hits, because most Greatest Hits CD feature songs you've grown sick of and rarely feature the fan favorites. This CD is great as a compilation. Are there songs that should've been put on here? Yes...Some of my favorite STP songs are the most underrated ones. I would've liked to see songs like I Got You, Wonderful, Pretty Penny, and Dead & Bloated on here but you can't judge a CD by what you want but what it has. This has great songs on it, my favorites being "Big Bang Baby" and "Wicked Garden." All the songs are good, but the thing that really makes "Thank You" special is the DVD. STP never put out a DVD, so this is the only chance you're going to have to get Live Performances, Music Videos, and Bootleg Concert Footage. The DVD is superb and gives you a taste of how great Stone Temple Pilots were. This should be the deciding factor of buying the CD. Before I list the songs and what I think of them, I also want to note the cover of the CD. What appears to be just a hand holding a flower over a field of flowers (which makes a great cover by itself) opens up to be one of my favorite covers of all time:

1. Vasoline-5/5-I love this song. It's just a great, catchy tune. The lyrics aren't spectacular, but it's still great.
2. Down-4/5-This is a popular song and I like it, but it's overrated.
3. Wicked Garden-5/5-Some of their best lyrics, just great (sort of) quotable lines. It's one of their best.
4. Big Empty-5/5-Starts off slow, leading to a memorable chorus. The music to the song is superb and Weiland's whisper-singing is perfect.
5. Plush-5/5-This song is catchy and has some unique lyrics ("And I feel so much depends on the weather/so is it raining in your bedroom?)
6. Big Bang Baby-5/5-One of my favorite STP songs. It's annoying and catchy and I absolutely love it.
7. Creep-5/5-This song is much slower than the songs that come before it, but it's one of my favorite STP songs. It's got spectacular lyrics, that clearly came from Scott Weiland's heart which is made even more obvious by how he sings it.
8. Lady Picture Show-4/5-This song is off the bands worst album "Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop." It's a good song, but not great. The chorus is the best and the lyrics are interesting, even though they don't make a whole lot of sense.
9. Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart-5/5-Also off "Tiny Music" this song is great. I know some people find it annoying, but it's catchy and got stuck in my head. If a song gets stuck in my head and I don't care, I consider it a good song. This one, however, is great.
10. Interstate Love Song-5/5-One of the most recognizable guitar hooks in rock music. This song is on the radio all the time but has never got old for me.
11. All in the Suit That You Wear-5/5-This song is previously unreleased. If they recorded it for this CD alone, it's a nice addition. If it was just dropped from an album, that's too bad...It would've made a great track.
12. Sex Type Thing-5/5-Perspectives differ about what this song is about. I don't really care. It's very catchy and certain samples of the lyrics are so great.
13. Days of the Week-5/5-I've heard this song a lot, so I've warn it out. I don't like it as much as I used too, but the first 100 times I heard it I loved it. It's poppy, but it's still got the STP mark on it.
14. Sour Girl-5/5-I can relate to these lyrics, which might make me like it more than I would. But I think this is a great song through-and-through, expertly crafted in every way.
15. Plush (Accoustic)-5/5-A wonderful accoustic version of the song.
GRADE: A

You see these people write long diatribes about why you shouldn't buy "Thank You", I am gonna give you reasons why you should. First and foremost the DVD is excellent. As long as you understand what bootleg footage is then you won't be dissappointed with it. The videos are great to have, the live footage is awesome, and the thrown in bootleg footage is icing on the cake for the hardcore fan. This DVD contains over three hours of material. For one, it is not uncommon for a DVD that contains that many videos and that much concert footage to cost around 20 or 25 dollars by itself. Therefore it makes the CD the bonus. The highlight of the DVD is the more poplular live acoustic performance of Plush. Some of these conspiracy theory reviews are almost comical. As a person who collects live DVDs, I think it is well worth it.

I bought "Thank You" for the bonus dvd. I own all the cds and my best of STP's would be alot different to the 'Thank You' cd.
Although Plush unplugged is a great song to put on the cd and I like the new song 'All in the suit that you wear'.
The highlight of the bonus dvd is the live version of 'Big Empty'. I also like the inclusion of live versions of 'Tumble in the Rough' and 'Silvergun Superman' two of my favourite STP songs. THe DVD also includes all of STP's music videos.
Some of the bootleg footage is a bit distorted sounding. The highlight on the bootlegs is 'Where the river goes'.
Other bonuses include pretty penny being played in someones lounge and Plush unplugged version.
If you buy thank you then the dvd is a must.

Has it really been over a decade since the debut album of Stone Temple Pilots? I remember when these guys got roasted by critics for jumping on the grunge bandwagon and for allegedly ripping off Pearl Jam. But I always believed that STP got a bad rap and was truly a good band that never got the respect they deserved. Over the years, the Pilots were able to fight back their haters by releasing a string of five solid studio albums, all of which have gotten either gold or platinum. "Thank You" is a compilation of singles from those CDs, and it's a great snapshot of the very best of STP. I, for one, am thrilled that this CD contains the acoustic version of "Plush," which I always thought was far superior to the original. Other standouts are "Vasoline," the sing-a-long groove of "Lady Picture Show," the catchy "Days of the Week" and "Sour Girl." It's an hour's worth of power glam rock with Scott Weiland singing with all the charisma of a funky cross between Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Jim Morrison. "Thank You" is also available as a limited edition release with a bonus DVD featuring a very generous 3 hours worth of music videos, live performances, and other goodies. Fans can get the CD without the DVD if they choose, but they would only be cheating themselves. In my opinion, it's worth forking out the extra cash for the DVD, which, by the way, presents the music in a solid 5.1 surround sound. With Weiland having just started his latest project Velvet Revolver, it's not certain when (or if) Stone Temple Pilots will regroup. In any case, "Thank You" is a worthy compilation from one of the most energetic rock bands of the 1990s.

Stone Temple Pilots were nimble rock craftsmen. They tasted the peaks of success, and they also tasted the valleys of trouble. Selling nearly 30 millions albums worldwide, Stone Temple Pilots certainly dented a niche for themselves in the rock world. They were tagged by critics and dismissed as "Seattle wanna-be's". But they survived and won over massive followings, and while there are still people out there who don't like them, they don't matter (just like the people who don't like Cannibal Corpse, so what?) because the fans matter most to the band. THANK YOU is a retrospective that, while not perfect, contains some really good songs and a bonus dvd with over 3 hours of music videos, live footage, bootleg footage, and much more. It makes the tracklisting on the disc portion forgivable.

On the plus side of this collection, you get the big hits here like the majestic roar of "Plush"; the acoustic crawl of "Creep"; the terrific drive song "Interstate Love Song"; and even the powerful and mighty "Big Empty". Most of the great songs are included on here, but then there's the cons of the collection. Missing from the selections: the riff monster "Dead & Bloated"; the thrashing "Unglued"; the full-throttle stomp of "Heaven & Hot Rods"; and the terrific cover of Led Zeppelin's "Dancing Days". Even a song like "Tumble In The Rough" should be on here, but so should "Pretty Penny". Anyways, you get the picture. This does not encompass all their best songs, but it certainly contains a number of their big hits.

The DVD portion is an STP fans dream. You get all the videos, tons of concert footage, and bootleg performances that are mostly decent in quality. It's worth the price of this set alone. You should set aside three hours and more to sift through the excellent DVD that's been included here.

THANK YOU isn't the best "greatest hits" to grace music stores, but it certainly is a solid collection. While leaving off some really good songs that would have easily fit in (the disc is only 58 minutes long), the companion DVD is phenomenal. THANK YOU is a fond and memorable farewell to fans who, for more than 10 years, were intrigued, enchanted by, and rocked their heads off to these four rock stars from southern California.

Alright, first things first. Let's get the schmoozing out of the way right off the bat. Stone Temple Pilots are one of the few great rock bands of our time (Please excuse the cheap "Remaining children of the nineties together" pop).

Don't get me wrong, there have been a lot of good bands out there in the last ten years, but not all of them have got the staying power and artistic insight that has made STP one of the best-selling rock bands ever, and this greatest hits CD/DVD collection serves as proof to anybody of just how good they really are.

I really like the idea of adding a DVD as a little something extra to accompny a band's greatest hits CD, serving as a dangling carrot to hardcore fans. This really helped me, a long-time STP fan who has all the records, to make up my mind about buying this collection of: Thirteen old hits, one new song, and one acoustic version of an old song. (If you're not in the mood for math, that's two songs that I didn't already have prior to the purchase of this item.) Clearly, it would have been a real waste for me to spend a pretty penny (ha ha) on an album of which I already (legally) owned 13/15 of the songs, but thanks to the band and the guys at Atlantic, my mind was made up by the fact that I could get an additional 3 hours worth of pretty cool sh*t, including: Music videos, live performances, and rare footage, for practically the same price as the regular disc. It's a really good buy for any STP fan, considering what you get compared to other greatest hits packages (Counting Crows, Nirvana, U2, R.E.M. etc.) where you get one, maybe two new songs and/or remixes (U2: 1990 - 2000).

STP are a really good live act, and Scott Weiland is a real charismatic performer, who connects with his audience and always delivers the goods on stage. This comes through quite clearly in the live performance segments of the DVD (especially the bootleg "Creep" footage). The music videos are also pretty col to whatch and provide an interesting look at the evolution of the band itself.

Apart from the DVD, the CD is obviously quite cool. Seeing as it's got a lot of really cool songs on. I mean I grew up with these songs playing in the background at a lot of important occasions in my life. Songs lke "Creep", "Big Empty", and "Lady Picture Show", even though I've listened to them a million times by now, still strike a chord with me everytime I hear them. And the new song "All In The Suit That You Wear" also blows some of the stuff, that's being sold to us as "rock" Out of the f***ing water.

The only dissappointment in this little time capsule is that with the CD clocking in at a rather short 58-odd minutes, the abscence of great songs like "Heaven and Hotrods", "No Way Out", "Crackerman" (which is on the DVD), Hollywood b***h... you get the picture. Even though I would have loved to have these songs get the acclaim they deserve, and get a spot on this album, I'm sure there is some kind of "bigger picture", "method in the madness" type thing to these omissions, and that it's something I'll just have to deal with.

Bottom line: Stone Temple Pilots are a GREAT band, and if you're a fan like I am, do yourself a favour, and buy the CD/DVD-edition of "Thank You" A.S.A.P.

"Thank You" offers Stone Temple Pilots fans a long over-due DVD, which has live concert footage of some non-single gems--songs such as "Atlanta," "Silvergun Superman," "Where the River Goes," "Sex & Violence," "Army Ants," "Tumble In the Rough" (a personal favorite of mine), and "Pretty Penny." Several songs are taken from the Rolling Rock Town Fair, including "Long Way Home," which was omitted from the original broadcast :) I'm a little disappointed that "I Got You" wasn't included on the disk, as I heard that it would be, but hey, how could I complain?

The most exciting music video of the DVD is the one for "Hello, It's Late." It's one of my favorite songs they've ever done and probably my favorite from Shangri-La Dee Da, so it was a nice surprise to see it on there. Scott Weiland is incredibly Morrison-esque in the video. It more than closely resembles The Doors video for "Crystal Ship." Take a look, and you'll be stunned by Weiland's mimicking.

Anyways, isn't much more to say. Great product.