Core was STP's first album and I would rate it just below Purple as far as my favorites go..but just barely. Core rocks the best of all of the albums, but falls short of Purple as far as originality goes. However, for the time it was released it was something very new (Critics can bite me as far as saying they were a Pearl Jam rip off). This is an easy album to listen to, and the bottom line is this music just never gets old! Not having this album in your collection would be horrible..HORRIBLE!!