This is STP's follow up from Purple, Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop. The band tried to break away from their critics who considered them as 5th rate Pearl Jam ripoffs with Purple, but they were still harshly crticized for it. However, still carrying on with their hard rock roots from Purple in Tiny Music, they completely changed their sound into a more psychedelic like sound mixed with a little pop added with hints of grunge in the lyrics(just listen to Lady Picture Show). This, personally is one of my faves from STP. Anyway, let's go on with the review.
The tracks:
1. Press Play- A good opener for the band. Nice instrumental. Best one I have ever heard from the band. Gives you a little laid back feeling with as stated before, a psych pop sound. 4/5
2. Pop's Love Suicide- Now the band mixes the psych pop feeling with some hard rock, and it really sounds like a good combination, especially with the way Scott's vocals sound in this album. This is a good follow up track from the instrumental, with a great ending guitar solo from Dean. 4.5/5
3. Tumble In The Rough- This is where some of the traces of grunge begin. Nothing to do with the sound, just the lyrics. Not one of the moments where STP shines in this album, but not a lesser moment either. 3/5
4. Big Bang Baby- Probably one of the moments where STP shines in this album, but not so much. Once again, STP's hard rock sound is mixed with their new psych-pop sound. The video for it focuses more on the psychedelic feeling that you get from the song. Either way, this is truly one of STP's great songs. 4/5
5. Lady Picture Show- Continuing from where Big Bang Baby left off, Lady Picture Show combines all the descriptions I gave. The lyrics contain traces of grunge in them, and the band mixes their new found psych pop sound with their hard rock sound. Either way, this is a really good combination, and this is probably one of their strong moments heading into the second half of the album. 5/5
6. And So I Know- The band focuses more on their psych pop sound here, and the sound mixed with Scott's vocals and lyrics give you a laidback feeling, like your at the beach or even at a spa(but not the type pervs would absolutely LOVE to go to the type where you leave refreshed and not stressed, but they're pretty much the same damn thing). 4/5
7. Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart- Once again, the band does like they did in Lady Picture Show and mix the traces of grunge in the lyrics with their psych pop mixed with hard rock sound. Trippin' is one of the moments where STP does shine, but not to a point where it would be a masterpiece. However, it somewhat is. You decide. 5/5
8. Art School Girl- This song is one of Tiny Music's lesser moments as it focuses more on pop, but the only problem is that it's REPETITIVE. And we all know how much I hate repetitive songs. However, the song does sound good as the band continues to mix their psych pop sound with their hard rock sound we all know and love them for. 2.5/5
9. Adhesive- This is one of the songs that shines from STP, in my opinion. Again, the traces of grunge in the lyrics is mixed with the psych pop sound and hard rock sound that STP has focused on using in Tiny Music. Except the only thing extra this time is that it gives a slow jazz type feeling and sound, then it uses the new sound the band focused on before the chorus. This is really a masterpiece. 5/5
10. Ride The Cliche- Again, one of STP's lesser moments, but this time they focus on their hard rock sound at the beginning of the song, however, when it hits the chorus, the sound used throughout the album starts to come in. Then it just starts to take over until after the guitar solo from Dean. Then the hard rock sound comes in again, but the sound used for most the album comes back before the chorus, so this is an okay song. 3.5/5
11. Daisy- This is a solo instrumental with ONLY Rob playing all the guitars this time. Not much changes in the instrumental, it just sounds the same for the 1 or 2 minutes it takes. Overall, it's an okay instrumental. 3/5
12. Seven Caged Tigers- Not one of STP's greatest enders, but not one of their worst either. This is an okay ending for Tiny Music. Really, it's a short track, but the track drags a little after it's really over. But nonetheless, it mixes the grunge traces found in the lyrics with the new sound as I have been stating for the entire review. And it shines in this track. If there were some better lyrics for this, then it would have taken Tiny Music over and beyond their musical plateau. 3.5/5
Overall, the band uses a sound that they completely focus on throughout the album and Dean matches the sound they were going for perfectly and shows off some nice guitar work while he can. Probably the best guitars I've heard from any STP album. The consistency in this album has seemed to improve from previous albums, and Tiny Music is probably the most creative and artistic album from the band, however, the album could have used a better ender and by that, I mean the lyrics are pretty stupid for the sound contained in it. But their new sound is like a double edged sword. It can really pay off for some songs(Lady Picture Show, Adhesive) but it can focus too much on the sound from Seattle, but differently(Ride the Cliche) Nonetheless, Tiny Music is one of STP's greatest and any STP fan, grungehead, or person that wants to try something new, should get this.
