This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
This fifth album from L.A. alt-rockers Stone Temple Pilots puts you in a tough spot: On the one hand, you want to be supportive of singer Scott Weiland’s much-publicized battle with drugs; on the other, there’s no denying that this mediocre disc doesn’t hold a candle to the ones they made in his bad old days.
Most of the uninspired and formulaic Shangri-La Dee Da seems like a faded Xerox of 1999’s impressive No. 4 — these 13 cuts have the same Zeppelinesque guitar riffs and dark grunge-pop but none of the zip and spark. Weiland in particular seems (understandably) preoccupied, phoning in sleepy vocals weighed down by introspective, 12-steppy lyrics (“Alcohol, it’s a lie, stimulatate a needle in your eye”) that are a big buzzkill. Only a diehard fan would call La Dee Da anything but ho-hum.
