SACD Stone Temple Pilots – Purple

Purple as a hybrid stereo SACD: for the Atlantic 75 Series, Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound mastered Stone Temple Pilots’ second album direct to DSD from the original master tape. All eleven tracks, from “Meatplow” and “Vasoline” to “Interstate Love Song” and “Big Empty”, play as one continuous sequence.

Heavy guitars – and far more colours behind them

On Purple, Stone Temple Pilots give their songs more room to move. Released in 1994, the second album keeps the heavy guitars that had defined Core, yet makes space for acoustic passages, unexpected chord changes and a singer who adjusts his role from track to track. “Meatplow” and “Vasoline” can suggest a solid wall of sound; by “Interstate Love Song” at the latest, the melodic flexibility behind that surface is impossible to miss. The band widens its vocabulary without widening its line-up.

Scott Weiland sings, Dean DeLeo plays guitar, Robert DeLeo bass and Eric Kretz drums, with Brendan O’Brien back as producer. Most of the album was recorded in Atlanta, while individual songs had taken shape earlier. That staggered history never makes it sound like a collection of odds and ends: recurring textures and the signature of the four musicians connect the material, while the arrangements deliberately take different paths. The movement between density and openness gives the sequence much of its momentum.

A radio hit that began on a nylon-string guitar

Robert DeLeo recalled “Interstate Love Song” starting on a nylon-string guitar in an RV, with something of a bossa nova feel. It is a useful listening clue: beneath the instantly recognisable guitar figure lies harmonic movement that does not rely on heavy rock riffs alone. Weiland lays a vocal melody over it that follows every turn. The song feels immediate, but its apparent ease comes from carefully interlocking parts.

“Big Empty” had already appeared on The Crow soundtrack; its restrained passages and forceful chorus show another way of building tension. “Pretty Penny”, meanwhile, brings the band’s acoustic side to the front. Anyone who knows Purple mainly through “Vasoline” gains a new perspective here. Loud and quiet are not separate camps on this record: the gentler moments change the impact of the heavier songs, giving the ear another point of reference.

Four musicians, countless small decisions

Dean DeLeo’s guitar brings agile figures and contrasting textures as well as weight. Robert DeLeo’s bass is a rewarding second point of orientation: notice when it reinforces a guitar movement and when it takes its own route underneath. Eric Kretz holds these parts together while Weiland moves between conversational restraint and greater emphasis. The band’s character lives in these relationships as much as in its instantly recognisable melodies.

One guest adds a focused touch: Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers plays the closing guitar solo on “Lounge Fly”. It suits a record whose curiosity shows in details rather than grand stylistic statements. “Still Remains”, “Silvergun Superman” and “Kitchenware & Candybars” widen the picture beyond the singles. Heard in sequence, weight, melody and acoustic colours keep sharpening one another – revealing how much variety the group could fit into its sound.

The Atlantic 75 hybrid stereo SACD

CAPA 029 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD from the Analogue Productions Atlantic 75 Series. According to the publisher, Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound mastered it direct to DSD from the original master tape. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the eleven tracks of the original album.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Atlantic 75 Series

Also in another edition: Purple

More SACDs by Stone Temple Pilots: Core

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.