Shangri-La Dee Da

Shangri-La Dee Da was originally conceived as a double album dedicated to the memory of Andrew Wood.[6][7] Around the time of the album's release, vocalist Scott Weiland stated his belief that creating a double album would have been a way to "free ourselves from the habits we got into of making records in the past", adding that not having preconceived ideas about the outcome of the record would have allowed the band to "approach everything equally — not just the rock stuff, not just because the producer or the label or management think it's a hit."[7] According to Weiland, approximately 30 songs had been recorded for the album.[7] Bassist Robert DeLeo was optimistic about the project, stating at the time: "Scott's in a space right now where we're not cramming to just get a single record done — he's in a space where I think a double record is possible."[8] However, Atlantic and O'Brien were hesitant about the idea, and the project was reduced to a single album.[7][8]

To record the album, the band rented a mansion in Malibu, California (credited as "The Malibu House" in the album's liner notes) in which they, along with O'Brien, his staff, the band member's wives/partners, and the documentary crew lived for the duration of the process.[9][10] While the cramped atmosphere sometimes facilitated confrontations, Weiland would look back on the experience as "an interesting experiment" with both ups and downs.[10] However, drummer Eric Kretz called the period "the happiest five weeks of my life", saying the relationship between band members was "at its highest point in six years".[11]

Much of Shangri-La Dee Da alternates between hard rock and psychedelia-inspired pop rock.[12] In the liner notes, Weiland's wife and newborn son were credited as inspirations for a large portion of the album's songs.[9] Additionally, much of the material on the album revolves around what he called "the evil inertia" of substance abuse.[13] "Dumb Love", one of the album's heaviest tracks musically,[12][14][15] was interpreted by some critics as being one of these tracks lyrically revolving around Weiland's struggles with addiction.[16] "Days of the Week" is a more pop-oriented track which, according to Weiland, took a "Beatles–style approach" to its lyrics and melody.[17] Dean also credited Joe Walsh's "Indian Summer" as an inspiration on the track.[13] Weiland described the song's subject as an "assessment of my feelings coming straight out of jail and being hit with sensory overload and a lot of new insecurities."[10] While he would later state he felt the band "probably shouldn't" have chosen the track to be the album's lead single, Weiland did name it as one of his ten favorite tracks from his career.[17] The industrial–tinged "Coma" features processing applied to Weiland's vocals which PopMatters described as "imitating a scratchy guitar".[16] "Wonderful" was written by Robert and Weiland in a dressing room while on tour.[10] Weiland initially wanted the song to go in "a Nick Drake kind of direction", until going through multiple different arrangements and creating the finalized song.[10] Written as a love song to his wife, Weiland once called it his favorite ballad the band has made.[10] "Black Again" was written as a waltz, being played in ³
₄.[13]

"Too Cool Queenie" tells a narrative of "a vindictive siren who prompts her musician-husband's suicide" which is widely thought to have been written about Courtney Love.[16][18] Described as a "day-in-the-life song", "Bi-Polar Bear" references Weiland's struggles with bipolar disorder.[10] In a June 2001 interview with VH1, he described its lyrics as a "snapshot" of a manic or depressive episode.[10] The song sees the band experiment with unusual instrumentation, with Robert playing autoharp and Kretz contributing banjo.[9] "A Song for Sleeping" is an acoustic ballad which was written about Weiland's newfound fatherhood.[15][16] The closing track "Long Way Home" sees Weiland return to the lower, "guttural growling" vocal style of the band's early work.[16]

• Scott Weiland – lead vocals, keyboards (2, 8, 9)
• Dean DeLeo – guitar
• Robert DeLeo – bass, backing vocals
• Eric Kretz – drums, percussion

• Shangri-La Dee Da at Metacritic