To this day, I will always remember the first time I heard “Lady, You Roof Brings Me Down.” I was sitting in my room doing my homework and listening to the radio and then there it was. I thought to myself, this doesn’t sound like Stone Temple Pilots but, that’s Scott singing. I was absolutely engrossed by what I was hearing. Then the song ends and the DJ says that it’s a song from Scott’s upcoming solo album and from the film Great Expectations.
Fast forward a bit and I now have Scott’s solo album, 12 Bar Blues in my stereo and I’m playing it on repeat. There was something odd and strange about this album and at that age I wasn’t quite sure what I was hearing and where this influence was coming from. So, I did what I’ve always done and really looked into it. To me 12 Bar Blues was an album Scott made to pay homage to those that really influenced and inspired him over the years. There is a real David Bowie and Iggy Pop element to the record among many others like Lou Reed and some in the R&B world.
The album was also made while Scott was deeply into his addiction and you can hear those nuances in the instrumentation, chord progressions, melodies and lyrics. You could tell, even back when STP made Tiny Music From The Vatican Gift Shop, that Scott was looking to explore different styles and sounds to break away from the “rock” sound, and he managed to create something that really stood out in a good way. When you listen to songs like “Desperation No. 5,” “Barbarella,” “Where’s The Man,” “Cool Kiss,” and “Mockingbird Girl” you can really hear the escape Scott was plotting as well as the influence. The album as a whole is a true piece of art and deserves to be acknowledged as such. For Scott’s first foray into making a “solo album” he really set a high bar for himself and others in his genre to follow.
Scott Weiland- 12 Bar Blues:
audioeclectica 