The big problem when two bands marry their fortunes is that they get the misfortunes as in-laws, and there are few bands that were as misfortunate that Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots. Those misadventures are semi-legendary and I’ve no need to recap them. Suffice it to say that these are stumbling blocks the band must overcome in order to be just that – an actual band and not just great marketing.

The whole supergroup idea is perilous, especially lately. Audioslave did all right, even though the band had officially broken up, and then reformed when the debut disc was released. Zwan was met with both critical and purchaser indifference and was abandoned not long after. So can Scott Weiland, Slash, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and one-time Suicidal Tendencies axeman Dave Kushner make it to the former and buck the traps of the latter? Contraband answers the question with a qualified ‘maybe’.

Where once there was a built-in audience for such a group, the die-hard Gn’R fans sick of waiting for Axl to rejoin the human race, and the STP loyalists, there is now a lot more blocking the path to success. It’s not enough that this release simply has to exist. Rock music, especially hard rock music, is surrounded by more demographically engineered genres than it used to be. When Gn’R came on the scene, they were brash and tough where their peers reeked of transvestitism. STP injected an almost bizarre lyrical stream-of-consciousness into the much too earnest and angst-ridden grunge of the early 90s. But now rap and r&b, Ozzfest metal, and teen pop dominate the charts. Everything rides on the first video, the first single and the all-important “clique factor”, meaning, are you going to look ‘uncool’ if you’re listening to Velvet Revolver?

I don’t think so. The disc is full of solid rock songs fronted by one of the best voices in the medium. Much as people may not like to admit it, Scott Weiland’s pipes are among the most versatile out there. He can growl and go deep or he can sing way up above it all without sounding like he’s stretching and, in essence, the man has range. The rhythm section of Sorum and McKagan (the building blocks from the Use Your Illusion discs forward) have the ability to raise a few fists in the air, and Slash has found a rhythm guitarist in Kushner that cooperates as nicely as Izzy Stradlin did.

So if the disc achieves its primary function, which is not to be a Mid-East peace treaty, but a solid chunk of rock music, what’s the problem? As you might expect when those in-laws previously mentioned come knocking on the door, they probably have serious baggage in tow. VR are no different. Songs like “Big Machine” and “Loving The Alien” are dangerously close to the STP cousins “Unglued” and “Wonderful”. “You Got Not Right” opens with a sound that recalls very much the song “Patience”, and there are all kinds of these déjà vu moments through the disc, sometimes throwing the listener out of a mood because the mirroring is just too close to ignore. I think a rock fan who has no prior notion of STP and Gn’R will make Contraband their new favorite disc, but I don’t think there’s anyone alive that fits that description, even peripherally.

That said, “Loving The Alien” still sounds good and makes a sly, intentional nod in the end toward an old band. The guitar figure outro directly mirrors the intro of “Sweet Child O’Mine” and is one of the few close calls on the album that seems meant to be. Weiland’s voice and harmonies in the chorus are stunningly effective and the lyrics, one of the few on board that aren’t peppered with expletives, are quite touching, saying goodbye to the past, the old days and old ways, “and I’m moving on”. “Do It For The Kids”, an angry barnburner about hanging in with the marriage for presentation’s sake, works on two levels: it directly relates to both Weiland’s ex-wife and ex-band. “Should we go out later? / Showtime for strangers?” is very clever and stays in the mind a good long while like a potent quote should.

“You Got No Right” and “Fall To Pieces” also are very good and the only outward misstep would seem to be the inclusion of “Set Me Free”, from the soundtrack of last summer’s misfire “The Hulk”. It’s not far from the spirit from the rest of the disc and yet still sticks out more than it should, no logical explanation why.

And this all leads us back to the beginning. If I admittedly liked the disc for what it is, feel that it accomplishes its major tasks and comes out the other side as a real thumbs-up, why the three and a half stars? Why not four? Why not more? Simply put, those who will gravitate to this disc will have already made up their minds to buy it long ago. This is because they are already fans of the former bands and they’re going to make all the obvious connections, and more, than I’ve now spilled. Should the band have been more conscious of that aspect and ironed them out, or is this how you ‘give the people what they want’? I can’t confidently answer that. I know that Contraband is good and enjoyable, but if the divorce is meant to be permanent, Weiland, Slash and Co. have to sever all the ties clean.

Otherwise, the Christmas card mailing list is going to be really ugly.