Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music (LP) M

Stone Temple Pilots: Scott Weiland (vocals, percussion); Robert DeLeo (guitar, electric harpsichord, vibraphone, bass, 6-string bass, handclaps, percussion, background vocals); Dean DeLeo (guitar, bass, 6-string bass, handclaps); Eric Kretz (Fender Rhodes piano, drums, handclaps, percussion). Additional personnel: Dave Ferguson (trumpet); Brendan O'Brien (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Clavinet, tambourine, handclaps, percussion); Steve Stewart, Gena Rankin (handclaps). Engineers: Nick DiDia, Chris Goss, Tracy Chisholm. Recorded at Westerly Ranch, Santa Ynez, California and Hollywood Sound, Los Angeles, California. "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart" was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. On their third album, Stone Temple Pilots distance themselves from the grunge movement that was their springboard into the multi-platinum neighborhood. From the onset, TINY MUSIC... finds the group dabbling with their sound; "Press Play," a one-minute instrumental rides a slinky funk groove, juiced along by returning producer Brendan O'Brien on Fender Rhodes piano. From here, the DeLeo brothers and drummer Eric Kretz show a willingness to musically experiment with Beatlesque songs ("Lady Picture Show"), a Leon Redbone-like instrumental replete with slack-guitar phrasings ("Daisy") and a loung-ey track that lulls the listener with liberal applications of vibraphone and harpsichord ("And So I Know"). Lyrically, Weiland continues to enigmatically allude to matters of personal importance--whether it be the price of fame in "Adhesive," featuring a muted trumpet solo by Dave Ferguson that conveys the song's somber tone, or the shallowness of a fictional girlfriend in "Art School Girl." As a whole, TINY LIGHTS... gives Stone Temple Pilots the chance to shrug off the grunge mantle that many others continue to cling to.

• Format: Vinyl