Here's my take on Coutts: it's not him. Somebody has too much time on their hands and decided to post for fun. And whoever you are, I think that's a lame thing to do.
Here's what I'll also say about Coutts: he was coming on the heels of the best rock n' roll frontman of our era. Of course there were going to be comparisons, and of course he was going to get blasted because, quite simple, he's not as good. That said, I actually think his lyrics, songwriting and vocals are all three quite good. He was hired by the Deleo's for F's sake. You think they would have hired some hack off the street just for the hell of it? I think criticizing his songwriting is ridiculous.
I will say this: I think the Deleo's wrote the coolest riffs and music on Talk Show AND AOA. If you listen to the music on those two albums, it's almost cooler than anything STP came up with. Core was Core. Musically it was simple. Purple was awesome because Scott made it awesome. You look at songs like Pretty Penny, Vasoline, K&C, Army Ants, Unglued. Very simple song structures. Scott was at his peak during Purple and he's the main reason that album became so special to me. #4 and STP were mailed in efforts musically. Tiny Music and Shangri were the band's best MUSICAL efforts, and Scott watered those efforts down in some ways. This is all my opinion only.
But anyway, here's my theory. The Deleo's came up with really special stuff for both Talk Show and AOA because they were highly motivated to prove critics wrong and show that they COULD succeed without Scott. It didn't work out, but if you listen to the music, the riffs, songwriting and layers they put down are magical. It makes me sad in some ways because Scott could have maybe turned those both into truly special albums. But that's probably what I appreciate most about Talk Show. The Deleos got super focused and put down some truly awesome songs. The music in that album is very, very strong. As for Coutts, I thought he did an admirable job with some great material. It's a solid album front to back. How many bands can you say that about today? Is he as good as Scott? No. But you know what, the Colts may have to wait 50 years before they get a quarterback as good as Peyton Manning again. Does that mean that every QB they get sucks? By comparison, maybe, but I think most of us can agree Andrew Luck will at least be "pretty good". Just because Dave Coutts isn't Scott it doesn't mean he sucks. He had tough shoes to fill and he got criticized because of that. That's a tough hand to be dealt but it's certainly not the first time it's happened.
