Creed Weathers Success on Latest

Daily Cougar November 27 2001

The past two years have been pretty good for Creed. Its last release, 1999's Human Clay, has sold more than 10 million copies, largely off the strength of "With Arms Wide Open," a single that crossed over into top-40 and adult contemporary radio.

If that success has caused Creed some amount of backlash, it's largely because of lead singer Scott Stapp's "uplifting" lyrics (the band was branded a Christian rock act for the singer's obvious and implied religious imagery) and the band's penchant for appealing to the lowest common denominator in music pop.

So now, the onus is on Creed to produce an album that proves its worth, aside from that of keeper of the grunge flame. And it does that with the aptly titled Weathered.

Creed thankfully lays off the pandering until the second half, choosing instead to start off with songs that address its harshest critics. The simplistic "Bullets" isn't filled with subtle innuendo. Here the "bullets" are actually missives from Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst as Stapp "(laughs) aloud 'cause (his) life/ Has gotten inside someone else's mind."

It and "Freedom Fighter" form a good one-two punch of power chords, vocal theatrics, dynamics and pulsing drum beats.

There's nothing special about Mark Tremonti (guitars and bass) and Scott Phillips (drums and keyboards). Tremonti may write the music, but this is obviously Stapp's show. And there's no denying he's been blessed with rock's best voice since Soundgarden's Chris Cornell.

He may opt to sing in baritone (probably because that's what's hip now), but there are times, before he reels it in a bit, that you swear he's about to scream like an '80s hair metal banshee.

"Who's Got My Back?" is Creed's cursory epic rock song. There's no reason to have Native American chanting on a song, but every great rock band has to have at least one grand, sweeping tale, even if it mixes Cherokee Indian culture with Middle Eastern rhythms. For some odd reason, the mix works.

"Signs," intended for everyone who reads too much into the group's lyrics, and "My Sacrifice," Weathered's first single, close out the album's real hard rock selections.

"Signs" is as aggressive as Creed gets. Built around a dirty three-note riff, the song veers ever so close to being the band's answer to nu-metal before Stapp hits you with a pop chorus that seems ripped out of Def Leppard's catalog.

"My Sacrifice" is quite possibly the most perfect song Creed's ever recorded. It has a simple melody, starting with a classic "clean-then-distorted" guitar backed by an understated beat. The lyrics are pure cheese, but the hook will grab you before you notice them. Unlike Cornell, Stapp developed the early ability to keep the vocal histrionics to a minimum.

From there, it's on to the power pop, proving Creed doesn't owe as much to grunge as it does to hair metal. During that era, every band had to have at least one "power ballad." It was the song that got the chicks to the arena. For Creed, those songs are "Stand Here With Me" (a song that features one of only two guitar solos from Tremonti) and "Hide."

"Don't Stop Dancing" will have you checking the liner notes to make sure R. Kelly or Michael Jackson don't share songwriting credits. It's this album's "With Arms Wide Open." It could have been stronger with some better arrangement, but that won't stop it from being a hit. The band performed this live during halftime of the Dallas Cowboys' Thanksgiving football game, so it should be the next single.

Weathered is Creed's big chance to make a statement, not just to its critics, but about where it's headed artistically. It hasn't improved significantly since My Own Prison, but it is more polished and assured. If it can find the right balance of power and empty bombast, as it does on the first half of the album, it won't meet the same fate as the overly produced rock acts of the late '80s.

Creed
Weathered
*** 1/2 (out of five stars)
Wind-Up Records

.By Ed De La Garza