Former dopers release 'Contraband'

What reads like a rock 'n' roll supergroup on paper is essentially just that. Velvet Revolver, which consists of Guns N' Roses vets Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums), as well as former Stone Temple Pilots frontman/ "rehab poster boy" Scott Weiland (vocals) and Wasted Youth expat Dave Kushner (guitar), come out of the gates with both guns blazing on the aptly-titled (given the group's sordid drug history), Contraband. The results are primarily what you'd imagine them to be: these guys might as well have dubbed themselves Guns N' Pilots, and believe it or not, that's not a bad thing.\nThe band is missing one key ingredient, though: the J.D. Salinger of rock himself, Axl Rose. I saw GN'R with its ever-changing line-up a little over a year and a half ago in Moline, Ill., and that show kicked the crap out of anything heard on Contraband, including material from the infamously oft delayed, Chinese Democracy. While Slash, and to a lesser extent McKagan and Sorum, are insanely proficient musicians, Rose (despite being bat shit crazy) was always the group's artistic compass. Such direction, while here in small doses, is sorely missing from the overall proceedings. Rose is twice the frontman Weiland is, and that's not to say the STP singer isn't talented, he is, I just can't see a "November Rain" coming out of the guy. \nThe album opens admirably with "Sucker Train Blues," which sounds akin to an Appetite for Destruction b-side. The band (Weiland especially) then bravely tackles its drug problems and media personas on the inspired "Big Machine" (propelled primarily by Sorum's bombastic beat) and "Dirty Little Thing." The "Stone Temple Roses" vibe is later heard to great effect on "Do It for the Kids" (where Weiland apes Rose), "Headspace" and "Slither." Velvet Revolver then oscillates between the cock/arena rock ("Illegal I Song," the ironically-titled "Spectacle" and the rip-roaring "Set Me Free," heard over the closing credits to the "Hulk") and power balladry ("Fall to Pieces" -- think "Sweet Child O' Mine"-lite, "You Got No Right" and "Loving the Alien"), which made their previous collectives famous. There isn't a stinker in the bunch.\nIdeally, the original GN'R line-up (minus drummer Steven Adler) would still be intact releasing records on par with Appetite and the Use Your Illusion discs, and Weiland would capitalize on the artistry seen most clearly in the STP compilation, Thank You. Alas, this is an impossibility amid an onslaught of lawsuits, incessant band infighting and frequent trips to rehab. From the rubble comes Contraband, and while the album doesn't reinvent the wheel, it sure as hell tweaks it. If nothing else, it beats waiting around another decade or so for Chinese Democracy. \nPerhaps I'm not being fair? Hailing from the Lafayette area (hometown to GN'R members/Velvet Revolver absentees Rose and Izzy Stradlin), I feel a loyalty to the boys from "Paradise City." What's here is good -- really good -- it just ain't GN'R.