Secondo alcuni, "Purple" (1994) è l'album del riscatto degli Stone Temple Pilots, la prova che li assolve dalle accuse di essere dei plagiari dei più celebri gruppi grunge, critiche dovute al loro avvento in medias res con un'opera prima - "Core"- astutamente derivativa e molto remunerata. Un'altra opinione diffusa è che "Purple" sia più melodico e fruibile del precedente. Concordo solamente con la seconda tesi.
E' vero che il gruppo rinuncia alle cupe sonorità parametal degli Alice In Chains tanto omaggiate nell'esordio, ma è altrettanto vero che così facendo lasciano il campo libero alla sfera d'influenza di un altro gruppo a cui sono stati spesso paragonati, i Pearl Jam. E per i Pilots ispirarsi non significa prendere degli spunti e rielaborarli creativamente, significa piuttosto imitare, emulare, talvolta anche copiare.
"Interstate Love Song" è parecchio simile alla vecchia hit "Plush", la quale sembrava a sua volta uno scarto di "Ten", il che è tutto dire. In "Big Empty" gli strascichi country-blues delle strofe non mascherano le assonanze con i Pearl Jam ed altrettanto evidente è il debito nella semiacustica Kitchenware & Candy Bars. Come se non bastasse sembra che Scott Weiland provi gusto a scimmiottare la voce epica e solenne di Eddie Vedder: un peccato, perché quando si impegna a cantare con il proprio timbro si difende piuttosto bene, come accade nella romantica ballatona elettrica "Still Remains" e nella languida ballatina acustica "Pretty Penny", non a caso due delle canzoni più riuscite del lotto. Altrove i ragazzi tentano, come da lezione Soundgarden, di erigere vigorosi riff a metà tra Led Zeppelin e Black Sabbath, ma dacché mancano loro la brillantezza e l'autenticità dei maestri, ne risulta un hard rock abbastanza canonico, senza infamia né lode ("Meatplow", "Silvergun Superman"). Il brano migliore, quello che conferisce alla band un briciolo di importanza storica e non solo una smodata fortuna commerciale, è "Army Ants", un impetuoso funk ammantato di hard a cavallo tra Red Hot Chili Peppers e Jane's Addiction: col senno di poi, benché sia anch'esso un collage di caratteri noti, ha il merito di anticipare quello che sarà il sound degli stessi peperoncini in "One Hot Minute", album del 1995 che non a caso ospita l'ex Jane Tossica Dave Navarro alla chitarra. Qualche anno più tardi, persino i Rage Against The Machine ne scopiazzeranno l'introduzione nelle strofe della loro "Born Of A Broken Man".
Il disco ha anche una sorta di sottotitolo effigiato sul retro della copertina, "12 Gracious Melodies", il quale la dice lunga sul suo contenuto e sulla sostanza dei suoi autori: assemblano dunque melodie graziose, accattivanti e conformi ai gusti di massa e sembrano esserne addirittura consapevoli. Ad ogni modo la personalità latita, l'originalità è lontana anni luce.
E' risaputo che le innovazioni e le rivoluzioni non sono all'ordine del giorno, ma per essere degli artisti validi bisogna perlomeno sapersi distinguere, farsi riconoscere. Gli Stone Temple Pilots non possiedono queste caratteristiche (parlo al presente perché in seguito ad una recentissima reunion sono ancora in vita) e "Purple" non fa eccezione alla regola secondo cui i loro dischi suonano più o meno come delle compilations di artisti vari grunge. Tre stelle è un voto un po' generoso.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Meat Plow (03:38)
Fine place for a day full of breakdowns
Takes more than a meltdown to show us how
Throw a tak on the road stop the meatplow
Got a bullet but it aint mine
They got these pictures of everything
To break us down, yea to break me down
They make us hate and we make it bleed
But I got a lover and yeah
She shows me how,
To understand it, yea to understand
I got a brother and well
He shows me how,
To make amends, yeah to make amends
with it
Take a break from the mousetrap we call home
Takes more than a message to make me smile
I can feel when she kisses me sleeping
But not when the news is on
02 Vasoline (02:55)
One time a thing occured to me
What's real and what's for sale?
Blew a kiss and tried to take it home
It isn't you, isn't me
Search for things
That you cant see
Going blind, out of reach
Somewhere in the vasoline
Two times and it has rendered me
Punch drunk and without bail
Think I'd be safer all alone
Flies in the vasoline we are
Sometimes it blows my mind
Keep getting stuck
Here all the time
It isn't you, isn't me
Search for things
That you cant see
Going blind, out of reach
Somewhere in the vasoline
You'll see the look
And you'll see the lies
You'll eat the lies
And you will
Flies in the vasoline we are
Sometimes it blows my mind
Keep getting stuck
Here all the time
It isn't you, isn't me
Search for things
That you cant see
Going blind, out of reach
Somewhere in the vasoline
05 Still Remains (03:33)
Our bed we live, our bed we sleep
Making love and I become you
Flesh is warm with naked feet
Stabbing thorns and you become me.
Oh, I'd beg for you,
Oh, you know I'll beg for you
Pick a song and sing a yellow nectarine
Take a bath I'll drink the water that you leave
If you should die before me ask if you can bring a friend
Pick a flower, hold your breath
And drift away ......
She holds my hand, we share a laugh,
Sipping orange blossom breezes
Love is still but sweat remains
A cherished gift unselfish feeling ...
Oh, I'd beg for you,
Oh, you know I'll beg for you.
Pick a song and sing a yellow nectarine
Take a bath I'll drink the water that you leave
If you should die before me ask if you can bring a friend
Pick a flower, hold your breath
And drift away ......
She tells me things, I listen well
Drink the wine and save the water --
Skin is smooth, I steal a glance
Dragon flies are flying over ...
Oh, I'd beg for you
Oh, you know I'll beg for you
Pick a song and sing a yellow nectarine
Take a bath I'll drink the water that you leave
If you should die before me ask if you can bring a friend
Pick a flower, hold your breath
And drift away ......
06 Pretty Penny (03:42)
Have you seen your mother girl?
Has she gone away?
gone away and found the pearl
but the price she paid
gone
when you wake in the morning
gone
when you find that there's no one sleeping
gone
pretty penny was her name
she was loved and we all will miss her
how far will you go i say,
just to bait a mouse?
shorter lived and longer gone,
can you figure out?
have you seen your sister girl?
she's all but blown away
blown away and lost the pearl
and the price she paid
gone
when you wake in the morning
gone
when you find that there's no one sleeping
gone
pretty penny was her name
she was loved and we all will miss her
07 Silvergun Superman (05:16)
find you in the dark
read you like a cheap surprise
without shame
sell me out, and frame your name
i can hear when the pig whispers sweetly
jealousy is the way that you kill me
keep a dime for a truth you might tell
(Chorus) you towed the line, and i know it was mine
couldn't hide, write a wave, ride a lie
let me know, can i friend ask you why?
rolling back the days
with my friend i love to play
the "little one"
superman with silver gun
i can hear when the pig whispers sweetly
jealousy is the way that you kill me
keep a dime for a truth you might tell
CHORUS
wait for me, take a dive, take a piece of my life (leave me numb)
wait for me, tell a lie, try to take my wife (leave me numb)
wait for me, take a dive, take a piece of my life (leave me numb)
close to me, and i'll leave you numb...
CHORUS X2...
08 Big Empty (04:54)
drivin' faster in my car
falling farther from just what we are
smoke a cigarette and lie some more
these conversations kill
falling faster in my car
time to take her home
her dizzy head is conscience laden
time to take a ride
it leaves today no conversation
time to take her home
her dizzy head is conscience laden
time to wait too long
to wait too long
to wait too long
to much walkin', shoes worn thin
too much trippin' and my soul's worn thin
time to catch a ride
it leaves today, her name is what it means
to much walkin', shoe's worn thin
Chorus
Conversations kill
Conversations kill
Conversations kill
Chorus
Conversations kill
Conversations kill
Conversations kill
09 Unglued (02:34)
Moderation is masterbation
What is what, and what makes you feel good
All these things I think about
I think about -
Always come unglued
Yea - I got this thing
It's comin over me, I got this thing
Its comin over me, I got this feelin
Coming over me - yea
This confusion is my illusion
Nowhere to look, but know where
To find ya.
All these things Im sick about,
Im sick about -
Always come unglued
10 Army Ants (03:46)
You dont look but you kick me
You cant feel but you hit me
You can't live with the way I pray
Why do we all have to look this way
I gotta heart, I got blood, feel pain
Time, time is not on my side
Cause the way I am
Gotta gotta now gotta find the reason why
A woman aint a man
You dont look but you kick me
You cant feel but you hit me
You cant deal with the way I pray
Why do you all have to think this way
I gotta heart, I got blood, feel pain
Fall in those single file lines
Like Army Ants
Yeah, fall on into those single file lines
And complete the plan
11 Kitchenware & Candybars (04:32)
somebody told me, I know where to go
somebody showed me, I was last to know
sell me down the river
sell me down the river
sell me down the river
sell me down the river
unfriendly feelings, down on wounded knees
unfriendly reasons, some blind mothers need
sell me down the river
sell me down the river
sell me down the river
sell me down the river
what I wanted, is what I wanted
what we wanted, is what she wanted
you read the words and it sells you life
they sell their words, but it's all a lie
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di Tegucigalpa
Purple fu il disco della consacrazione per la band di Scott Weiland e dei fratelli di De Leo.
In soldoni, "Purple" è un disco il cui ascolto risulta ancora godibilissimo anche a oltre 10 anni dalla sua pubblicazione.
