The only song I still listen to from that album is ‘First Kiss On Mars’ and occasionally ‘Take A Load Off’, they were also the only 2 that stood out to me the very first time I listened to that record. They definitely regressed with this album as you pointed out, I’m not sure if it was the time apart or a lack of ideas but that album was a huge anti climax, I was just like how can 4 talented guys with such a great track record come out with this?! ‘Contraband’ and ‘Army of Anyone’ were both albums that were far superior to S/T...
No love for 'Maver'? I think the album definitely has a few stinkers, but I've always loved that song. A shame it was never played live
Unfortunately not. The thing with ‘Maver’ is it’s probably one of the most interesting songs on the album musically but Scott was in story telling mode on a lot of songs lyrically on S/T and I just didn’t enjoy the whole ‘betting on the ponies’ thing. If he’d have wrote from a more personal perspective, like he usually did, to that music I think it could’ve been great. He got back to that a bit on the slower songs on Art of Anarchy and Blaster though. Songs like ‘Death of It’ and ‘Circles’ were quite touching.
Get on Down by Art of Anarchy made me think Scott had completely returned. I listened to that jam hundreds of times. Because of that, it made me feel like the Deleos failed om S/T as i was convinced Scott still had it and they lost it. Many of his melodies and lyrics made me sad he didnt stay with the group. I loved their music and find it to be umderrated. It was a good substitute but i think the band was too metal for Scott, but he seemed very comfortable. My opinion, but i think he wanted Blaster to be successful, but also wanted to keep hanging with people who didnt care if he did drugs or not. I just hate how they kept propping him up each night when he couldnt even put on his jacket without help.
Agreed. I feel like I’m in the minority around here but I really like the Art of Anarchy album with Scott on, more the slower tracks than the balls out rockers though. I enjoy it much more than STP’s S/T in fact, but again much of that is down to Scott’s personal and more introspective lyrics (again on the slower tracks) and some great unexpected vocal melodies (That high pitched vocal on ‘Long Ago’ is an example of what I mean). The album came out during a rough time in my life and songs like ‘Get On Down’, ‘Death of It’ and ‘Aqualung’ really helped me during that time. I was pleasantly surprised Scott could still write lyrics and melodies like these and his vocals sounded really good, despite being recorded in 2013 he sounded better here than on 2010’s S/T.
To be honest though if you listen to the instrumental tracks from S/T they’re pretty generic and uninspired and perhaps that’s why Scott took the storytelling route lyrically on that album, I mean it’s not like they handed him an ‘Atlanta’ or ‘Adhesive’ to work with, as I say the closest thing to that musically would’ve been ‘Maver’ as it actually had some interesting stuff going on. When I look back now I think perhaps at the time the music Art of Anarchy sent him just inspired him more. He was fresh out of STP and he had a lot of personal stuff going on and I think he poured that into those lyrics. Regarding his distancing of himself from the band, that was definitely due to ‘Blaster’ having just been released, he didn’t want anything to steal the shine from that.
Completely correct. When I place fault with the S/T record, I first of all cannot stand the music. So, I feel comfortable with an 80/20 fault with most of that resting on the shoulders of the Deleos. The music to me is crap. Although STP is my favorite group, I have honestly listened to that album once or twice and absolutely refused to talk myself into liking it. As a fan of the band for so long, I wasn't going to lie just because the record had the STP label on it and say it was great when it was terrible. I completely agree that Scott could not help the music he was given though. That entire album just felt like someone told them they needed to make an album of songs and they had one hour to do it.
When it came time for Chester to do his thing on their few tracks, I felt like those were just extensions of what I already heard on the S/T. Same quick songs, terribly constructed, and the music was just as annoying. And I honestly thought that if Scott stopped being Scott and couldn't turn crap music into beauty, that Chester could find a way. NOPE. High Rise was the first STP effort I passed on buying.
As far as Art of Anarchy goes, it was great to see Scott playing with such great musicians and I started to love him again as I did with VR. My belief in Scott seemed to have gone up and down over the years. I of course thought he did great things in STP, loved 12 BB, hated Happy in Galoshes, didn't like Blaster, loved VR, and loved his work in AOA. I just really can't get away from the fact that Scott continued touring with that Blaster group due to the drug usage going on there. Even Dean said in an interview those guys, "Continued to feed him all that he was." Very sad.
