Review Summary: Though it may be STP's top album in sales, it's definitely not an excellent one. It succeeds and yet it fails.
Okay, so we all know the loveable Stone Temple Pilots. And we all surely know that I'm probably one of the biggest STP fanboys on Sputnik. Though I do like STP, I don't think of Core as one of STP's best. Sure, maybe it had more copies sold than their other four albums, but is it REALLY that good? Not in my opinion.
First off, the band was harshly criticized for sounding too much like the Seattle scene(Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc.). Those critics had a point with such songs as Dead & Bloated, Sin, Where the River Goes, and Crackerman. Dead & Bloated is just a disasterous song, because of its repetitiveness and length. It's just the same riffs, same lyrics, and the same drums over and over for 5 minutes. Crackerman is just the same way, except I can stand listening to this song more, because it's not as lengthy as Dead & Bloated. But Crackerman has more nonsenical lyrics than it does the same lyrics again and again. Where the River Goes is the exact copy of Dead & Bloated. Same lyrics, riffs, and drums, except for the guitar solo and bridge. Sin is, again, like Dead & Bloated, but I can stand this song. It has different lyrics each time, but it's just a tad too long for my liking, and it gets rather dull. It would be a much better song if it were 4 minutes long.
However, it does contain great masterpieces worth listening to in this album, such as Sex Type Thing, Wicked Garden, Plush, and Creep. I know that it's sort of obvious that I would pick those four songs as the best of the album, but it's quite true in this case. Sex Type Thing was the song that STP broke through the mainstream with, and I just absoulutely adore this song. It was featured on some Gran Turismo game, and when I heard this song, I was instantly hooked. Wicked Garden had the same effect as Sex Type Thing. Nothing much to say except I do like the ending of the song. Creep is an excellent acoustic song, STP did one hell of a job on it. One of my all time STP favorites. Now for Plush. Ah yes, the wonderful Plush. The song that got STP a VMA, AMA, and a Grammy. A very well produced song. I like the part where the band stops playing where you go "It's over", but then they start playing again. Excellent song.
Nothing more to say than that. Core is a good album, but it's no Purple in my book. That's all I have to say about this album. The songs I would download are the very same four I just absoulutely love about this album: Sex Type Thing, Wicked Garden, Creep, and Plush. My final rating for this album is a 3.5 rather than a 3 because the effect of my four favorites from this album.
