STONE TEMPLE PILOTS — Purple (review)

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS — Purple album cover Album · 1994 · Heavy Alternative Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Unitron
Some albums evoke a specific season. The likes of Loreena McKennitt or Immortal nail the winter's cold, The Chemical Brothers' Surrender and The Crystal Method's Tweekend reflect two sides of a sunny summer, and lots of grunge as well as alt rock bands like R.E.M. and The Tragically Hip bring to mind my favorite season of autumn. For a while though, I didn't know what was the sound of spring, but after a nice night of listening, I'd say Stone Temple Pilots' Purple will be my go-to spring album.

I don't quite know how to explain it, but there's something about Purple that just makes me think of a nice brisk spring day and a time of fresh life. The blend of meaty grunge, bright alt rock, and bittersweet psych rock all come together to create a sound that is simultaneously relaxing, heavy, pretty, and with a slight tinge of melancholy for those rainy days.

Some of my favorite songs include Vasoline, Pretty Penny, Silvergun Superman, Unglued, and closer Kitchenware & Candybars. These all give a good example of the varied moods and styles, with some combining multiple sides of the band. Pretty Penny and Unglued stick to one sound, and perfect them. The former is a beautiful semi-acoustic piece and the latter being a complete contrast by hard-hitting grunge with insanely catchy guitar screeches. On the other hand Silvergun Superman contrasts crushing riffs with serene alt/psych rock segments, and the melancholic Kitchenware & Candybars is a perfect wandering finale with what sounds like a string section and building up to a heavy finish.

The pure grunge of the band's debut Core is great too, but Purple really showed STP craft a unique sound for themselves and created a wonderful album for seasonal spring listening.
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UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I like this album too. It´s a great hard rock release.

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