| A brave and stunning direction change from STP. Most bands tend to repeat themselves on past successes, but not Stone Temple Pilots. With Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, they explore phsychadelica, pop music and layering to create an album full of rich textures and at times, intense rhythm. The album has a more rhythmic feel to it, with a lot of songs driven by Rob's bass and Eric's drums (Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart, Big Bang Baby). The albums still retains Scott's cryptic lyrics and throaty vocals, and Dean really experiments more with different effects and textures in his guitar playing (Lady Picture Show, And So I Know). This is probably STP's most underrated album, which is a shame because it shows an experimental and mature nature, while retaining the same raw and confronting power of their previous 2 albums. Too bad that Stone Temple Pilots were passed off as a Grunge-style rip-off... Maybe more people should give this album a spin. |