When an artist comes back from the kind of trauma that dogged Scott Weiland following the release of Stone Temple Pilots' Tine Music ... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, said artist often comes back a changed person--and that's exactly what this surprising, fascinating solo bow shows Weiland to be. Middle finger pointedly directed at his past and eyes firmly affixed to his navel, Weiland slithers through the dauntingly dense disc with little of the simplicity implied in the title. Shaky and slurred, songs like "Where's the Man" and "Barbarella" conjure up some mighty frightening images without resorting to the brute force that was once Weiland's weapon of choice. Wrapped in grandiose post-glam, drag-heavy on strings, sequencers, and special effects, 12 Bar Blues is a daring leap, and it's clearly been done without a safety net.
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