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Rating: Between one arrest and another, and during a period of poor understanding with the DeLeo brothers, who, after the disappointment of the tour stop of Tiny Music, had already formed a new group (the Talk Show), replacing their original singer in STP, the elusive Scott Weiland debuted with a first and, to date, only solo album, which did not achieve much success in terms of sales, but which critics (including Scaruffi, believe it or not) hailed as a bold step in pop avant-garde by one of the most controversial and popular singers of the grunge era.
12 bar blues is a bizarre album, intended for those who want to experience something totally different from the usual things that today's rock music offers. Artistically, Scott has crafted a masterpiece, albeit a challenging one, completely divergent from the Stone Temple Pilots. But let's get to the songs. It starts with Desperation #5, one of the best tracks, with remnants of Brian Eno and David Bowie, then moves on to the power-ballad Barbarella, a hybrid between the pop melody of the Beatles, and the intricate and deviant sounds of the Reznor school. This direction continues with About Nothing, less melodramatic than the previous one, and perhaps more static.
Where's the Man, however, is perhaps the point closest to the ballads of his original group, while Divider is a splendid soft jazz piano bar number, rearranged so as not to seem even more disorienting than it already does compared to the previous four songs. Scott, for the rest, indulges in a thousand instruments, and on the Date plays absolutely every track of bass, drums, loops, guitars, and synthesizers, which often dominate this album.
Son does not hide the tender and human side of a Weiland otherwise perpetually entangled with his dealings with drug addiction. Martyn LeNoble, Sheryl Crow, Daniel Lanois, Brad Mehldau are some of the illustrious guests featured on this experimental album, which I feel to recommend not so much to fans of the grunge movement, but especially to those nostalgic for Bowie's Scary Monsters, to those who love anything that comes close to the industrial distortions of the Nine Inch Nails, perhaps the genius of Beck, and with regards to the song Lady, your roof brings me down, definitely to the most carnival-esque Tom Waits. This is a quirky and original album, but beautiful for it: it is decidedly at odds with other singer-songwriter rock albums we are used to. 12 bar blues is paradoxically the best David Bowie album since 1980 to date.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Desperation #5 (04:02)
Desperation #5
She takes a swim then takes a dive
She takes a swing and she can hit
Muddy water
Dirty ditch
Take a swim and walk with me,
make a steal, the Christmas Tree
Hold the water, hold my hand
Takes its time and time again
Oh, there is no reason
time to go, oh there is
no reason, play the show
oh there is no reason
Desperation #5
She takes a swim
then takes a dive
She tries to hold her, hold
her hand, the down the muddy
hand again...
02 Barbarella (06:25)
You play the game
I'll masturbate and sing a lullaby
You run the race
I'll pay the miles
You sing the pink love fuzz
and dance the musty queer
I'll stay at home ?cause I'm the mouse
So high that I can't fly
More deep than space #9
Can't tell time by telling time
She's so ready I'm so heavy
It's so heavy on me
Can't hold time by holding time
Barbarella
Come and save me from my misery
Can't you see it's a disease
Shoot the bad guys
and I'll gladly sing a tune for you
Lost in space-we could be free
Let go, let God they say
I do believe but not in yours or yours
I just believe it's all the same
Don't know just who I am
Don't know about the lamb
I'm the meat of the feast
Barbarella
Come and save me from my misery
Can't you see it's a disease
Shoot the bad guys
and I'll gladly sing a tune for you
Lost in space-we could be free
Na Na Na Na Na Na
Na Na Na Na Na Na Na
Na Na Na Na Na Na
And all the tangerines
They taste like jelly beans
This must be boring by now
Grab a scale and guess the weight of all
the pain I've given with my name
I'm a selfish piece of shit
Barbarella
Come and save me from my misery
Can't you see it's a disease
Shoot the bad guys
and I'll gladly sing a tune for you
Lost in space-we could be free
Barbarella
Come and save me from my misery
Can't you see it's a disease
Shoot the bad guys
and I'll gladly sing a tune for you
We'll watch Lost in Space on my TV
06 Divider (04:23)
Killer wake in the evening
killer walk outside
When she comes divided
She nearly comes alive
She only cares when her libido's buzzing
Bees only thrive when the honey is there
She knows the way to the script write doctor
She calls him up when the itch gets bad
The itch gets bad
A model makes you famous
A dying goat's a lamb
A processed pig is white trash meat
Some people call it Spam
She only cares when her libido's buzzing
Bees only thrive when the honey is there
She knows the way to the script write doctor
She calls him up when the itch gets bad
The itch gets bad
A drinker, he's a boozer
A junkie, he ain't shit
Some of them get famous
But most of them just get it
07 Cool Kiss (04:57)
Cool Cool
Kiss Kiss
Keep your hands up off of my lips
Capsize just like a tanker
So keep away stranger stranger danger
Kill Kill
Piss Piss
Keep yourself up off of my lips
You're not killing me
You're not giving me nothing
You're not killing me
Cool Cool
Kiss Kiss
Keep your hands up off of my lips
Capsize just like a tanker
So keep away stranger stranger danger
Kill Kill
Piss Piss
Keep yourself up off of my lips
It's everything I am
It's everything I thought I was
It's everything I am
It's everything I'm not
Kill me, thrill me, kill me
Kill me, thrill me, kill me
Kill me, thrill me, kill me
Kill me, thrill me, kill me
It's everything I am
It's everything I thought I was
It's everything I am
It's everything I'm not
08 The Date (05:21)
She waits for a date
And yet she knows that he's not coming
He waits for the date
And yet he knows that he's not coming
I hope that it's not the break-up
And I hope that it's just the break
I hope that it's not the break-up
And I hope that it's just the break
(repeat)
I love you, I love you...(to fade)
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