I had to order this record separately, it wasn't just
sitting on the shelf. I Ordered it from a local record store. About two weeks
ago I walked in and found the second Stone Temple Pilots album and picked it up
because, who knows when I will see it again, but I realized that I really
wanted to hear Core. I like to support local stores when I can since this medium
is in decline. Sometimes I go online but only when I really have to.
Core was one of the first CD’s I owned. And though I don’t
refer to Stone Temple Pilots as my favorite grunge band they are the reason I
stuck with the music style as long as I did. There were three or four bands
that started the grunge era, STP was one of them. Of course I still like them
all.
My memory of this album though, doesn't really come from the
CD but the dub to cassette that I shortly made that Christmas morning after
receiving it from Santa. Because, though I was now moving into the digital age
I couldn't afford to fully convert to digital music. I still had a Walkman and
a paper route that required steady music to keep me sane through the process of
chucking papers onto porches. In fact the reason I know this album so well, and
so fully is because I immediately converted it to analog. Do to the conversion
I couldn't skip ahead to songs, listen to the same song over and over again,
and I had to flip it over to listen to the B side so I wouldn't have to rewind.
Of course with this album the B side is the side that has
all the popular songs, at least the early ones. Plush comes to the end of the
Album and so does Creep. And yes, I know Wicked Garden was released as a video
on MTV. This well mastered 180 gram vinyl record however has to break the album
into 3 sides. Creep and Plush actually appear on two separate records. So it is
good this is a good solid album, because otherwise spamming my favorite songs
would be impossible.
Of course I can’t help but comment about how “Shiny” the album
cover is, and how wonderful the art on the unused portion of the record is. They
used the blank space on the back of non-existent side four to recreate the
cover art in negative space. That is what I love about vinyl re-releases, the
art work in the extra space. Due to the size of the record, there is so much
more to look at. But then, that is part of the reason I am willing to go the
extra mile and buy vinyl.
This album is full of great music, especially for those of
us who were going through “Things” as teenagers and young adults. It is apparent
now that the band itself was going through “Things.” We know that Weiland was
in and out of drug treatment centers, and could not get along with the rest of
the group. We also know that Velvet Revolver (the band Weiland went to after
STP) did not want him to return. I would always hear that he was difficult to
deal with. Of course, that is just gossip I have never met him, but I will
always be thankful for the albums they did together… And though water cleanses, washes dirty away,
and makes new STP may never come together again.
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