STONE TEMPLE PILOTS - THANK YOU
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Greatest hits albums are usually a bit of an hit or miss affair, as you normally own most of the songs anyway and the tracklist is never your favourite set of songs.

So I was obviously a bit worried when I realised one of my favourite bands was going to release one, that was until they announced that it would also include a dvd video with 3 hours of music videos and live performances.

Stone Temple Pilots have been around since the early 90's, and were unfairly called grunge copycats, which caused quite a few people to miss out on what was a great band.

With lead singer Scott Weiland they had a man that could actually sing as well as scream and shout, Scott has also been a vocal coach for many of todays acts.
But unfortunately he also has a talent for getting himself into quite a bit of trouble and has spent quite a bit of time in drug rehab etc.
This shortened the bands lifetime by quite a big chunk.

The rest of the band include Robert and Dean Deleo and Erik Kretz, these three members form a very solid backbone for Scott's fantastic vocal prowess.

Unfortunately the band split up during the last year, and all we have left of them is a great collection of albums, and this massive greatest hits package.

The CD
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Personally I found the Cd to be quite disappointing, as I have already heard all but one of the songs and I personally didn't think they were the best songs that the band has recorded.
But as a starting point for anyone that is new to the band I would recommend this collection, but would also suggest searching out the bands other albums, as there is lots more great material around.

The album is 15 tracks long and comes in at a nice 58 minutes, so fairly good value for money there.
The songs span from all five albums that the band has released although their last album only gets one showing on this which is a major shame.

Im not gonna talk about every song on the collection as that would just bore you all to tears and i don't want to get your keyboards wet, so Ill just pick a few of them...

VASOLINE
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This song from the bands second album, PURPLE, shows the band on top form, and could easily be called one of their best songs.

Opening with a killer little riff, which digs into your brain and stays there for the entire song.
The rest of the music is very well played, with an interesting selection of sounds such as bongos etc in the background, all mixing up into a great little rock track.

Vocally this is a great place to hear Scott's fantastic voice, and although he got slated for copying others, its quite obviously his own unique style on show here.

PLUSH
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The first of two versions of the classic song contained on this collection, the other being an amazing Acoustic performance.

This was the bands breakthrough hit, which was released in 1992 from the debut album, CORE.
This is also the song that has pretty much ruined the bands career from that point on.

The song has a similar style to Pearl Jam, and this caused everyone to state that they were merely copying the massively successful band, but even if they were this is just a great tune, and shows a lot of talent on offer.

Musically this has all the right ingredients for a grunge type track, with its slow but instantly memorable riff, some great drumming and the growling but soulful vocals by Scott.

The song also contains a brilliant chorus, which will get you singing along arms aloft.

BIG BANG BABY
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A brilliant song which was unfortunately released whilst Scott was in Rehab, so the band never really got a good chance to promote this and its parent album, Tiny music.

The song is more colourful than earlier albums, giving a more poppy workover to their sound, and it worked amazingly well on this one.

Sounding a little like American rockers Redd Kross, this showed that the band was stepping away from its grunge roots a little, and showing a more tuneful yet still rocking side.

Musically this is a uptempo song which boasts one of the coolest riffs I've heard, which doesn't just dig into your brain, instead this takes over your whole body, and you will find your not in control of your actions, Fantastic.

The song has a very 60's feeling to it, with its minimalist sounding music, to the harmonious chorus.

Scott's vocals veer from soulful to screaming on this and show an amazing but wasted talent.

CREEP
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This is an acoustic number, from the bands debut album, core.

The music is simple and effective, with a slowly strummed acoustic guitar and some lightly played drums forming the backing track for Scott to place his vocals over.

So its mainly about the vocals here, and luckily for our ears they are absolutely brilliant, giving the song a life of its own.

TRIPPIN ON A HOLE IN A PAPER HEART
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Pure pop punk at its best, this song instantly draws you in, chews you up then spits you out about three minutes later.

This is a truly great rocking moment that will surely keep all fans of the genre happy, musically this is just a quick blast with fuzzed up thrashy guitars and driving drum beats.

Over the top of this wall of noise we have Scott providing another interesting vocal performance, with some clever changes in his tone and style of voice.

ALL IN THE SUIT THAT YOU WEAR
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This is a new song for this collection and shows that the band could quite easily gone on to make more great music.

With a loud crunching guitar riff making up the main part of the music, this is another instant tune that should be played at ear blasting volumes.

Vocally this is one of Scott's best performances, showing his best qualities, such as power and the use of tones.

DAYS OF THE WEEK
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I absolutely hate this song, but thought id better mention it!
This is the only song on this collection that represents the bands last album, Shangri la di da,
And it is the bands worst song.

The album it came from contained some absolutely amazing material which could of filled this greatest hits collection alone, and yet they pick one of the worst songs of the last ten years, typical!

Musically its a pop rock throwaway track, sounding like something the Foo Fighters would have recorded after a night on the town, whilst forgetting how to play their instruments.

The vocals are poor at best, and its just so sickly sweet and trite that it could almost be by boyzone or busted!

But I suppose every band can get away with one bad song in 15 years!

PLUSH (ACOUSTIC VERSION)
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This is the acoustic version of the track i wrote about earlier, and this shows that the song has so much more feeling to it than anyone ever gave credit for.

This was recorded live for MTV's Headbangers ball, with just Scott And Dean.
The song shows just how good Scott's vocals are, showing more feeling and emotion in this one little tune than most bands get in an entire album.

Musically its a very watered down version of the original with just an acoustic guitar as backing, but this works amazingly well, and gives the song a completely new life.

Other tracks include ...
Interstate love song, Wicked Garden, Big Empty and a few more.

THE DVD
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Also contained in the Case is a nice shiny Dvd, for those of us with a Dvd player or Playstation 2.

This dvd features so much material its worth the price alone, With a selection of the bands videos and some live performances recorded by the band, there are also a set of live bootleg recordings done by fans.

The collection contains 14 music videos, which are basically the same as the songs on the main cd, but its nice to put a video to the song!

There is also a video for the fantastic tune "Hello, its late" which was from the bands last album.

The dvd also features a selection of 16 official live performances, such as the doors influenced Atlanta, which really should have been on the main cd, this song shows how easily Scott could have been the new lead singer with the Doors!

The song is a slow tune with Scott crooning away over the top of it, well worth a quick viewing!

The live performances really show what we are missing now that this great band has split up.

The Dvd also contains a selection of 12 bootleg performances, which might not be as good quality as the official live shows but these show the band from the fans point of view and show an interesting change from shy new band to enigmatic performers over the years.

The Dvd also contains a photo gallery of the band, and some weblinks that can be used through your PC.

OVERALL
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This collection costs the same as a new cd and at that price it is well worth popping into your local record shop for.
The main Cd may be a bit dissapointing, but for the price you also get a dvd that would sell for 20 pounds if sold on its own.

The complete package is a nice place for new fans to hear some of the bands tunes, but i would strongly recommend trying the other albums as well, as there are so many great tunes missing from this selection.

Thanks for reading.

Kyle