BLENDER (mag) JUNE/JULY 2004 ISSUE 27
CONTRABAND *** (3 out of 5 Stars rating = GOOD IN ITS GENRE)
RCA
Three ex-GN'R-ers finally find a singer who's crazier than Axl!*REHAB CAN'T STOP 'EM!*Velvet Revolver: Cold turkey for lunch again, fellas?"All that first-class drug shit brings me down, down, down," Scott Weiland sings on this debut from what is essentially a Weiland-fronted Guns N' Roses reunion. You wouldn't challenge his expertise - the revolving-door rehab trips of the former Stone Temple Pilots singer have eclipsed his reputation as a sexy, stylish hard-rock frontman. With all due respect to the reassuringly chunky ex-GN'R rhythm section of Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan, and the reassuringly histrionic guitar antics of Slash, all of whom riff away like it's still 1992 and it's still cool to have long hair, this long-delayed mega-group is really a showcase for Weiland's vocals. He howls his way through a thicket of thick riffs, including the first single, "Slither," filling them with drama and first-rate cursing. But the highlight is "Fall to Pieces," in which Weiland foregoes his often obtuse and drug-obsessed lyrics for a simple, touching ballard about his occasional propensity for being, well, quite mad.
CLARK COLLISDOWNLOAD THESE "Big Machine," "Slither," "Fall to Pieces"