Stone Temple Pilots - No. 4

1.    Down
2.    Heaven & Hot Rods
3.    Pruno
4.    Church On Tuesday
5.    Sour Girl
6.    No Way Out
7.    Sex & Violence
8.    Glide
9.    I Got You
10.    MC5
11.    Atlanta

Revenge is sweet! Written off by many critics, Stone Temple Pilots fired a loud warning shot in 1999 with No. 4. The multi-award-winning album brings together the strengths of the San Diego quartet’s three previous records while also marking a return to the band’s hard rock roots. No. 4 is regarded as the hardest and edgiest album in the career of the Californian ensemble.

Despite the prevailing trends and the lack of promotion — caused in part by the one-year prison sentence handed to singer Scott Weiland shortly before the album’s release — No. 4 was certified platinum by the RIAA on August 7, 2000, and by the CRIA in August 2001. The song Down was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the Grammy Awards. The album also produced one of STP’s biggest hits: Sour Girl, which reached number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained the only song by the band ever to appear on that chart.

Under the direction of the band’s long-time producer Brendan O’Brien, No. 4 caused quite a stir. The rich, punchy guitar sound, the crack and thunder of the drums, the flowing textures of the bass and the reverberating echo of the studio room amplify the power of the music with an almost physical force. Despite its back-to-basics character, No. 4 is incredibly varied: massive riffs drive pounding tracks such as the grinding Down, the storming Heaven & Hot Rods, the stomping No Way Out and the biting Sex & Violence.

The latter comes dangerously close to garage-rock territory, while Stone Temple Pilots virtually plough their way through the album with powerful arrangements, a full-bodied sound and dark, distortion-drenched moods. Even as they embrace aggression and heaviness, Stone Temple Pilots do not overlook the importance of catchy hooks and accessible melodies. The springy, pop-leaning Church On Sunday and the dreamy rhythm of Sour Girl underline the outstanding songwriting chemistry between Weiland and guitarist Robert DeLeo.

The same applies to Glide, a spacious homage to the glam movement of the 1970s. Here, Weiland sings in his highest registers, and as an added flourish, the track closes with a folk-like outro carried by an otherworldly zither. And let us not forget the closing track Atlanta, a small epic featuring a classical string section and a buoyant melodic quality reminiscent of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic My Favorite Things.

Stone Temple Pilots then simply dial back the tempo and allow a hint of optimism to shine through on I Got You — a country-tinged track underpinned by pedal-steel guitar, six-string bass and piano. Most of the songs read like confessions and pleas. They deal with personal loss, drug abuse, destructive impulses and desperate struggles. No. 4 may not be Stone Temple Pilots’ most commercially successful work, but it remains their most uncompromising. And that status may carry more weight than any other.

MFSL now presents No. 4 for the first time in high-end reference quality. Mastered from the original tapes at MoFi’s California studio and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, the numbered 180-gram 45 RPM double LP is housed in a luxurious Stoughton Printing gatefold jacket and offers the finest sound quality the album has ever received on vinyl. This collectible reissue sets new standards in terms of spaciousness, transparency and dynamics. The vitality and credibility of the album, created at a time when many figures in rock music were increasingly turning to electronic elements or leaving the stage for good, are reinforced by Brendan O’Brien’s brilliant production.