Libertad

Work on the second album began in 2006 with Rick Rubin, who, Weiland said, was busy with other projects; the band lost its enthusiasm and soon turned to Brendan O'Brien. Work with O'Brien began in December 2006, and at the old A&M studios in Los Angeles the basic tracks were done in about two and a half weeks. During the sessions Weiland's brother Michael died of an overdose, and Weiland's note in the booklet dedicates the album to him. The title is Spanish for freedom: McKagan turned up at a session in a T-shirt bearing the word, and Slash found a coin stamped with it. Twelve of the thirteen songs are band originals; the other is a cover of Electric Light Orchestra's "Can't Get It Out of My Head". A hidden country-tinged song, "Don't Drop That Dime", follows the closing "Gravedancer". Slash called the record more upbeat than its predecessor and named the opener, "Let It Roll", its most aggressive song. RCA research picked "She Builds Quick Machines" as the first single. The CD carried a making-of film, and a Best Buy edition added a documentary DVD about the band's 2007 South American tour. In Europe the EP Melody and the Tyranny preceded it on 1 June, with two album songs and a session take of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer". The release slipped from 29 May to 3 July while the band played the new songs in South America, American clubs and European festivals. Released on 3 July 2007, Libertad entered the Billboard 200 at number five with 92,000 copies and reached number six in the UK, number two in Canada and number 13 on Japan's Oricon chart. "She Builds Quick Machines" rose to number two on the Mainstream Rock chart, and in August the band began a North American tour with Alice in Chains. Sales stood at only 302,000 by November 2008; Weiland had been dismissed that April, and that month the band left RCA, at its own request according to the band. Libertad was the last studio album by the five, and a show filmed in Cologne in March 2008 came out in 2012 as Let It Roll – Live in Germany.