It's really cool to read that VR was a gateway into the world of STP/Scott Weiland for others, just as it was for me.
It was 2004, I was 14, and watching VH1 as they were about to premiere the music video for 'Slither'-- it hit me hard, it was exactly what I had been wanting to see & hear from a Rock n' Roll band, and it was exciting to find a Rock band that I had myself discovered without anyone else. It was a rebirth for everyone involved, and I was seeing it happen.
Then came the record, which delivered on every level of promise for me. I really wanted the band to carry on strong, but it seems that it was just meant to be a project of personal statement for that moment in their careers-- everyone in that band had something to prove, and it was all said & done on Contraband.
In hindsight, I strongly believe that the band should've immediately went back in the studio soon after the first leg or two of the tour, and had recorded at least an EP (which could've added 'Come On, Come In') to capture that raw-aggression of the Contraband-era at its highest peak, along with the enthusiasm/energy they had fresh from the tour.
Libertad is a different-feeling record, and definitely sounds like more of a labored effort, and while it is still a solid record-- I personally prefer the manic fist in the skull that is Contraband.