Weiland’s Solo Offering Musically Ambitious

In assessing the prospects of Stone Temple Pilots spin-off Talk Show and solo artist Scott Weiland, a record label executive once compared the situation to a game of blackjack, saying, “I got two aces, and I split (the cards).”

Using that analogy, Talk Show didn’t quite hit blackjack. The eponymously titled album from the band, featuring the instrumental core of STP, received some favorable critical notices, but failed to become a hit.

Now the spotlight moves to Weiland, whose solo debut, “12 Bar Blues,” came out Tuesday, exceeds the mostly straightforward rock of Talk Show in terms of musical ambition.

And there’s more good news for Stone Temple Pilots fans.

Following the promotion of “12 Bar Blues,” Weiland says, STP will regroup. “There will definitely be another Stone Temple Pilots record, and hopefully it will save rock ‘n’ roll at a time when it needs to be saved again.”

Listeners got their first taste of Weiland solo on “Lady, Your Roof Brings Me Down,” a sublime Beatles-meets-Kurt Weill slab of pop featured on the “Great Expectations” soundtrack and “12 Bar Blues.”

While “Lady, Your Roof Brings Me Down” fits nicely on “Great Expectations,” “Barbarella” is more indicative of the emotional tone of “12 Bar Blues.”

In that song and the album’s opening track, “Desperation 5,” Weiland addresses his muchchronicled battles with substance abuse.On “12 Bar Blues,” Weiland continues to explore the Beatles and glam rock influences heard on STP’s last album, 1996’s “Tiny Music … Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop.”

“12 Bar Blues,” produced by Weiland and Blair Lamb, was completed with the aid of several guests, including Porno For Pyros bassist Martyn LeNoble, guitarist Peter DiStefano, and former Samiam drummer Victor Indrizzo, “and a couple of other friends. They’re all people that I have used (drugs) with from time to time or met through rehab,” Weiland says. “All of us are individuals that have been to hell, seen that side, and come back.”